permaculture

["Kirby Fry" <peace@totalaccess.net>]

Hi Jamie,

 

When I wrote the drylands article we were living further north than we are now, close to Dallas, Texas. 

Alan Savory, put the site close-to but not-quite-at brittle.  Meaning, that biological decay and the build up of organic soils was possible without assistance from grazers, but just barely.

 

The ash juniper, neglect bacharis and yeopon are about the only evergreens.  Red oak, shin oak, elbow-bush, flame leaf sumac and juniper cover the ridges and bluffs.  The land is steep limestone hills and valleys.

 

Some Pc guilds we observed included robins dropping lots of juniper and hackberry seeds under the solitary oaks left out in the pastures, mocking birds on posts and fences doing the same.  Gray squirrels ate and hid acorns and nuts from the white and red oak species as well as the pecan and walnut trees.  Fungi were clearly evident in the thick dark mats of juniper duff.  Raccoons left huge numbers of Texas persimmon and elbow-bush seeds in their scat.

 

The Pc guild concept is an interesting creature that I don't totally have a grip on.  Is a Pc guild measured or determined by how well its members work together and / or what they do for one another?  Is it some degree of symbiosis, are guild members also simbionts?

 

The notion of a tree not being simply "itself" but a conglomeration of all of the organisms that work with it is getting close to the mark, I think.

 

In our current perennial gardens, about three hours closer to the Gulf Coast, we've introduced many native plants and trees which will hopefully attract the members of any local guilds.

 

Kirby