An ecological guild is a grouping of plants, trees, animals, insects, and other components that work together to help ensure their health and productivity. Within a guild each species provides a unique set of diverse services that work in harmony. A grouping of these guilds is called a Forest Garden or Food Forest.
An Edible Forest Garden is a food producing landscape that mimics the natural forest ecosystem, designed to feed both people and the soil by including edible species and integrating protector plants with other natural elements to maximize benefits to the environment. These permaculture-style guilds create a self-regulating, sustainable system by featuring fruit and/or nut trees, surrounded by companion plants that provide nutrients, pollination, habitat, mulch, pest & disease control to benefit the whole plant community.
Everything has a purpose in this nature-inspired system, with ground cover crops helping to retain moisture and preventing weeds from taking over, the canopy offering filtered light to the plants below and dropping leaves that act as mulch for the winter, strong smelling plants that deter pests and offer habitat for beneficial animals and insects, and other beneficial species that add minerals and nutrients to the living soil, which in turn feeds its neighbours.
