permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

Subject: Permaculture guilds
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 13:49:53 -0500
From: Steve Diver <steved@NCATARK.UARK.EDU>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

"Lawrence F. London, Jr." wrote:
> I, too, am interested in guilds, the permaculture concept. I would be 
interested in
> reading a definition of guilds and seeing websites with examples of them.
>[also from original message and another question: What requirements, if any, 
are there
>for a community of organisms to be considered a guild. How does this differ 
from companion planting?
>How does one design a guild and what tests could be carried out to determine 
whether such
>a constructed guild, not necessarily observed in nature) would survive as 
such without
>excessive maintenance and manipulation?]

Yes it will be very helpful to get a clearer idea with
accompanying examples of permaculture guilds and how they
relate to or differ from ecological guilds; how they can be
designed and established; expected and hoped-for results.

Agroforestry, permaculture, polyculture, intercropping,
mixed cropping, farmscaping, planned biodiversity,
understory, overstory, multi-story, stereo farming, canopy
layers, riparian buffer strips, border strips, shelterbelts,
hedgerows, alleycropping, forest farming, forest gardens,
multi-tierred, multi-layered.... and so forth; all these
inter-cropping systems that involve perennials and annuals
and woody plants and herbaceous plant mixtures can
probably benefit or generate additional synergy from the
concept of a permaculture guild.

Here's one item on polyculture that came to mind. The
summary page below points to a 115-page PDF report.
The acknowledgement section provides an interesting
story about Bill Mollison that provides insight to the
origins of permaculture with its emphasis on ecological
design.

"In November 1959, watching marsupial browsers in the
floristically simple rainforests of Tasmania, I wrote in my
diary: 'I believe that we could build systems that would
function as well as this one does.'"  .....  Bill Mollison

Polyculture Production Principles, Benefits and Risks
of Multiple Cropping Land Management Systems for
Australia
RIRDC | Australia | May 2001
http://www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/ORG/01-34sum.html

Best,
Steve Diver
ATTRA