Permaculture Database

[Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino@comcast.net>]

Don't worry Scott, a robust bureaucracy can spend $3000 an hour just 
talking.

> So to build a guild one needs to know what any given plant needs and then
> try to provide those needs on site.  A partial list would be nitrogenous
> plants, birds for nitrogen, phosphate and seed dispersal, predator insects
> for insect control as well as plants to support those insects, bulbs to keep
> the soil open around the root zone, and etc.
>  
for the purpose of database work, the "and etc." part is critical to 
flesh out.  I suspect that even with creating splitting this list of 
'forest support functions' could be satisfyingly short for the majority 
of applications, and then be used as an attribute linked to species.  I 
have a list somewhere I can't find right now.

> I don't think that we would want to include in this data base
> pruning tools, or grafting techniques that would be for another discussion
> and catalog.  
>  
I agree that coming up with 'plant-animal target composition' tool that 
is user friendly and encourages socialization with interactions 
considered over the seasons is a substantial challenge, if you are 
feeling cocky then add successional vectors to it... still feeling 
tough... add disturbance regime.. got hair on your chest?! dry on 
climate change for size!

> I would love to see one guild developed, how about the apple?  And receive
> as much input as we can handle on this one specie and then move on to stone
> fruit or what ever.
>  
So I will pretend I am a user.  I have a modest knowledge of 
conventional gardening, a weak mental catalog of plants, and I just got 
turned on to some agroecology ideas, and took some classes but cannot 
talk myself into a PDC and I am ready to try to create a forest based on 
one of my favorite fruits... the apple.  I live in a poorly drained silt 
soil running from moist to wet, currently in grasses and forbs I can't 
identify, the site runs from moist to wet, and I understand that pretty 
well because I like digging holes.  I live in the lowland pacific 
northwest at 47 degree N latitude, and my winters rarely get below 10 
degrees F.  I have 3-5 months of drought.

I've gone to PFAF.. and every time I try to search I get a query with 
150 species that I have never heard of and they all seem to do well 
anywhere, but I am unsure if they would really do well on my site...

I go to the NEW FANCY PERMASPHERE WEBSITE!  What do I get... what do I 
do with my information?

Step 1 -- I should be able to immediately enter as much information 
about where I am... soils, climate, temperature, rainfall, bioregion... 
and that should serve to sort available information by relevance.  I 
should be able to put in precise info where I have it... and generalized 
info where I am uncertain.

Step 2 -- I should be able to enter 'Apple' to start my quest.

[apple is a node... the 'apple' query provides a series of nodes sorted 
by relevance using some kind of relevance metric.]  the DB uses my 
search term in combination with my place information to search 
information somehow related to my apple node  AND the place I am asking 
about.

Step 3 -- I should be given a list of possible directions to enter the 
dataset based on my unstated intent... do you want to find plant 
associates? do you want to learn more about the limitations and 
opportunities of apples? do you want to learn about animal associates?

Step 4 -- after reading up on general apple stuff... I want to come up 
with some associates... I get a query page... do you want to filter by 
any of these attributes... do you want to sort or group using any 
attributes...  yes... I want to find bulbs that grow in my place that 
make nice cut flowers that grow in the sun but can tolerate some shade 
as my apples grow.  I want to find ground covers that make nice tea, I 
want fruit bushes that fix nitrogen... I want another useful plant that 
produces mulch.  I want some self sowing annuals that do some neat 
things...I want to stuff some natives in there... I want a few small 
trees for those low spots that get really wet.

So I end up with a Apple(on carefully selected 
rootstock)-Goumi-Peppermint-Comfrey-Fennel-douglas 
iris-thimbleberry-willow forest...

Step 4 -- I can save my guild with my contact info.  I can come back and 
report on how it is working.  The next visitor with similar conditions 
who comes to the site may depending on their query, find my guild and 
associated comments, and can then leave their comments.  The 
thimbleberry makes getting around hard... contain them to certain 
areas... my 10' circular clump produces 20 plants a year for sale, and 
10 oatmeal toppings a year, but the chickadees really love them in 
winter...The peppermint is getting lost... I harvest my other species 
hard to favor the peppermint... wow.. goumi tastes weird...

Someone else has some suggestions... the guild becomes a composite guild 
with several variations being discussed by different people... a small 
lot version with espalier... a wild version on a forest edge with pigs 
involved...

How about something like that
How does this work!?

Paul