Urban Farm & Permaculture Gardens

Calgary growers, cookers and eaters loving and learning about our delicious home grown abundance

[calgaryleafninjas]

Stones of old reborn in their maker. A storms deluge guided by invisible gravity. The soils are requesting life and we will listen. Who lives on the scorched edge of the pond? Who thrives on the arid shaded north slope? Who likes the the organic soils in the rocky water? How will you grow old? When will you flaunt to the bees? What's colour will you wear? The quest goes on. Thanks @plantideas for your clever enthusiasm #garden #drycreek #landscape #yyc #calgary #zengarden #japanesegarden #rock #nature #naturescape

[calgaryleafninjas]

Crazy Cayenne!! So here's a little secret. All of these peppers are going to get smoked over apple wood and the like with fresh garlic, tomatoes and others and puréed together to create the world's greatest home grown hot sauce. Some of you have sampled the legendary Jay's Blaze sauce before... Now wipe up that drool and get back to work. #foodie #superhot #calgary #food #yyceats #hotsauce #cayenne #yyc #growyourown #grow

[calgaryleafninjas]

Put together some perennial planters with indigenous wild flowers from Arden at Wild About Flowers, some edibles from our greenhouse like strawberries and some other fun selections. Mixed a custom batch of soil in our mixer on site for the intense rooftop exposure and setup an automated irrigation system for them. They are going to do very well and look great under the fireworks tonight. #crescentheights #calgary #rooftop #planter #wildflowers

[calgaryleafninjas]

The Bearspaw backyard apricot orchard is in full leaf now. The plants are establishing well. Only one rabbit bite and one bug in a branch other than that totally healthy. Just going to adjust the stakes and let the season play out. #yyc #calgary #food #orchard #apricot

[calgaryleafninjas]

This Food Forest was planted in 2013 and it's really something special. A family of bluejays have made it there home. Honeyberries are loaded right now. Saskatoons are starting to ripen, the pear trees are setting fruit, raspberries are in bloom with the blueberries and strawberries and pineberries, and the ground is supplying greens for salads and smoothies. It is quite the garden and these are all perennials... #food #foodforest #yyc #calgary #gardening #permaculture #culinary #superfood #chef #backyard #zone3

[calgaryleafninjas]

Meanwhile out near Armstrong BC, a few of the ninjas have recently completed a full-on 10 day work stint on this beautiful acreage.. We put up 4 acres of page wire fencing, 5000 feet of electrical fence, water, and power for an old barn that is now home to 7 of the happiest forest-grazing pigs. The rustic grand staircase in the photo is just a small part of a 120 foot long dry-stacked rock wall with two terraces totaling 7 feet tall to make up one of the most amazing home garden features we've ever created. Next step is to plant it out with a diverse selection of food forest plants. What a blast and such a great way to start the 2015 season off with a bang! #permaculture #pasturedpork #holisticmanagement #rockwall #staircase #foodforest #paradise #ninjasgrowmyfood

[calgaryleafninjas]

It's been a devastating few days of #snow damage for #yyc trees, and we are seeing some of the worst of it on the front lines with our #arborist crew doing emergency tree #pruning and removals. It's been very humbling to see the scope of this natural disaster that has so significantly affected our urban forest... Today we managed to save a seriously leaning maple from falling on a power line and showed up to multiple sites where vehicles, houses, garages, fences and etc. had all been hit by trees; roads and sidewalks were blocked, power was out, and a few close calls where people were nearly hit by falling trees. We showed up to one site a few hours after enmax and the fire department had recently finished pulling a burning tree off of a power line. It's going to take months to clean up from this event and our city will show the scars for decades to come. It is truly a sad day and we mourn the loss of so many trees... But on the bright side, what to do with all that new sunlight that's recently opened up in the city's tree canopy?? Maybe plant some trees or start planning a new #garden? #urbanag #gardening #foodforest #arboriculture #trees #permaculture #theproblemisthesolution #ecologicalsuccession #plantsomeshit (at Calgary, Alberta)

[calgaryleafninjas]

#YYC, keep your eyes peeled for #ninjas working WAY up there in trees near you! Despite the stormy weather @leafninjas and crew safely completed a #dangerous #treeremoval today in #inglewood. Many years ago the prior homeowner tied a rope around this poor old spruce and left it there.. The tree slowly became strangled by the forgotten rope which recently resulted in its death; leaving a massive monarch posing a danger to the surrounding urban homes. We came in and harvested the tree for use in the clients future #foodforest as mulch, stools, and pathway cookies, then stored the rest of the firewood for keeping warm this winter. Every ounce of this old beauty was put to productive use in the #local #community. We recently partnered with an experienced #arborist crew to offer comprehensive tree #pruning and removal services... Got a tree question? Call the ninjas :) #arboriculture #permaninja #ninjasprunemytrees #ninjasgrowmyfood #permaculture #upcycle

[calgaryleafninjas]

Meet One-Eyed Jack, the new resident rabbit at Leaf Ninjas' urban #foodforest base in #Ramsay, inner city #yyc. Jack showed up feeling a little under the weather due to his lost eye, and started eating all of the dandelions and other "weeds" we were chopping and dropping, without damaging any of our living crops (well ok he chewed our perennial onions a little but that's it!). Now Jack has a few sitting spots he's claimed in the garden and he continues to eat dandelions and weeds in our garden. It's amazing! Oh the wonders of #workingwithnature #welltrainedrabbits #permaculture #yycpermaculture #permaninja

[calgaryleafninjas]

In the #foodforest near #cranbrook BC... A bridge now crosses an open #swale; the channel will bring tens of thousands of liters of life giving water into the garden each year, and the bridge provides a pathway and viewpoint that overlooks the rest of the #terraces and food forest. Big thanks to all of the locals & travelers @tanderella who came out to the Permablitz and made this beautiful site possible! #permaculture #zenfoodforest #waterharvesting #permaninja #community #permablitz

[calgaryleafninjas]

During the last trip to the #cranbrook #homestead we created this #waterfall #staircase that also functions as the main spillway for the top terrace in the garden. The center stone was in place already, and just took a little excavating to incorporate it into the terrace wall, along with some natural stone steps. We love making #waterharvesting artwork!

[calgaryleafninjas]

From #pergolas to the public #foodforest, and now this #mural on the side of a huge #raintank, @NewUrbanYYC has been such an epic supporter of both @leafninjas and #lightandsoul... And tonight is the grand opening of their new Art Passage gallery! featuring some stunning artwork & sculpture, not to mention hot chocolate and cookies from @cafferosso, come check it out this evening from 4-8pm at 803 24th ave SE :) (at Caffe Rosso)

[calgaryleafninjas]

Ninja Kai is at it again filming the next Leaf Ninjas video for the #realfoodcontest. Clever and creative as usual, he's used a ladder, a portable coat rack, some up cycled wood, some bricks, a long board and a pillow to create a smooth sliding shot of our #studio #bookshelf. #DIYsolutions #permaculture #permaninja (at urban homestead studio)

[calgaryleafninjas]

We were doing some yard cleaning at the #urbanhomestead this weekend only to find we had delicious fresh #dandelions growing underneath a translucent soil bag! In late January! #growyourown #yyc #foodforest #eattheweeds #workwithnature #microclimates

[calgaryleafninjas]

We did it.. With @car2go we transported 60 5 gal buckets, 4 vermiculture systems, over 40 carboys for the students, 5 5gal carboys of our own, 8 trays of micro greens, 100 unplanted trays, a block of soil, 5 tubs of honey, a full set of edible landscaping tools, 5lbs of worms and a lot of loads of the Ninjas. All for the amazing few weekends at @marketcollective for the DIY workshops. Thanks for creating the space for us to share our passions MC! Looking forward for two more weekends of "how to plant a good forest"! #permaninja #car2full #diy #alternativetransport #ninjasarecrazy

[calgaryleafninjas]

It's COLD outside in Calgary... Great time to cozy up in doors and grow some food!! #nofilter #urbanag #urbangardenersrep #snowdoesntstopus #growyourown #permaculture #homesteading #urbanhomestead

[calgaryleafninjas]

What a victory to see so much land slated for community #foodforest and #urbanag in @NewUrbanYYC's development plans for Dominion Bridge! Great community consultation today. #raingarden #permaculture #urbangardenersrep #community #communityconsultation #communitycommons #permaninja #picstitch (at ramsay community association)