Permaculture Design Software - Plan Food Forests & Guilds

Permaculture design organizes a property into concentric zones based on how frequently you visit and interact with each area. This is not an arbitrary system - it is a practical framework that minimizes wasted effort by placing the most labor-intensive elements closest to where you spend your time.

Zone 0 is your home or primary shelter. This is the center of your design and the place you visit most often. Design decisions here focus on energy efficiency, comfortable living spaces, and the interface between indoor and outdoor life.

Zone 1 is the area immediately around your home - the kitchen garden, herb spiral, compost bins, chicken coop, and anything you tend daily. These elements need to be within easy reach because you interact with them multiple times per day. If you have to walk 200 meters to pick herbs for dinner, you will stop doing it.

Zone 2 includes orchards, main crop gardens, larger livestock housing, and composting areas. You visit these several times per week but not every day. Design them for moderate maintenance - mulched paths, drip irrigation, and perennial plantings reduce labor.

Zone 3 is the farm zone: commercial crops, large pastures, and managed woodland. Visits might be weekly. Systems here should be largely self-maintaining - rotational grazing, rain-fed crops, and natural pest management.

Zone 4 is semi-wild land managed for timber, foraging, and wildlife habitat. Zone 5 is unmanaged wilderness that serves as a reference ecosystem and wildlife corridor. In Fincabout, you can map all five zones on your actual terrain and place appropriate tiles within each one.

A guild in permaculture is a group of plants that support each other when grown together - a designed plant community that mimics the mutually beneficial relationships found in natural ecosystems. Unlike simple companion planting pairs, guilds involve multiple species working together across different ecological functions.

The classic example is the apple tree guild. The apple tree is the central element, providing the primary harvest. Around its base, you plant comfrey and dandelion as dynamic accumulators - deep-rooted plants that mine minerals from the subsoil and make them available to the tree through leaf mulch. Nitrogen-fixing plants like white clover or lupine feed the soil. Dill, fennel, and yarrow attract beneficial insects that prey on apple pests. A ground cover of strawberries or creeping thyme suppresses weeds and protects soil moisture.

Designing guilds at scale is where visual planning becomes essential. A single guild might occupy a 5-meter radius circle. An orchard of 20 fruit trees, each with its own guild, creates a complex tapestry of interlocking plant communities that is nearly impossible to keep straight in your head or on paper.

In Fincabout, you place each species as a tile within the guild zone. The 3D view shows how canopy heights interact - tall trees above, shrubs in the middle, ground covers below. Over time, you can use the growth slider to see how the guild matures and how shade patterns change as canopies expand. This makes it possible to anticipate and plan for the inevitable competition for light and space that occurs as a guild develops.