A permaculture guild is a strategic design of organisms benefitting the whole. Like all the best concepts of permaculture, this mimics the way nature designs.
The photo above shows an abandoned fenceline along Oak Grove Lane. I started thinking about this fenceline when I noticed the Nannyberry bush, which is in the left of the photo with yellow, red, and green leaves.
It’s a little bit humbling, but I realized if I’m successful with my edible windbreak planting, in fifteen years it will look like this abandoned fenceline. It’s also reassuring to know I’m mimicking nature, which uses space so wisely.
The amount of solar energy turned into food and fodder for everything from microorganisms to birds to humans is amazing. Just in this photo there is the Nannyberry bush, growing under a Chokecherry tree, which has Wild Grapes hanging from its limbs. Grasses and forbs cover the ground. The rest of the life in this area would take a lifetime to catalog.
Curiousfarmer 
And where average yearly precipitation is low not only is it possible but it
is very important to do so. One of the largest
permaculture communities in the US, Earthhaven Ecovillage,
is located in the nearby town of Black Mountain. The wildlife they are exposed to is often mediated by technology or educational curriculum that just doesn’t offer the
allure of a virtual world.