@Phillip Greenwood Yes, I think that cooking-card comparison is a good way to look at it. Any predator cycle or permaculture graphic is going to simplify things because the real system has far more relationships than we can fit on one page. We use what is present, watch how the pieces respond, and adjust as we learn more. What I are working on and value all your input, is a way to help new members understand the difference between the short-term YouTube message of “look how easy we grew all our food in four months” and a longer-term understanding of how nature actually works. I do not want to hand out a recipe or imply like YouTube there is one right way to build a garden. We know quick production can come from tillage, soluble fertility, irrigation, and purchased inputs, and many of us grew up around gardens that produced well that way. Although, we know now that that path leads to depleted soil and pest pressure in the long term. From a permaculture standpoint, we begin with observation. The harder question I think for a beginner is, what are we actually observing? That is what I am trying to do with these first infographics. Water, light, soil, biology, succession, and the relationships between living things all give us clues about what is already happening and what the land may be ready to support. I am hoping to add understanding by building a small series of simple charts and examples that help families think while they observe and maybe stir some curiosity. What I would like to avoid is another set of “do it this way” instructions, but give families enough background to begin understanding the why behind what we are doing.

@Phillip Greenwood One quick answer wanted by most... YouTube although that is really not how it works. People do not want confusion or a path that takes them down multiple unknown trails... or maybe because everyone likes a good adventure.

@Phillip Greenwood Martin Crawford makes a lot of sense when it comes to temperate forest gardens. His work helps us carefully understand about layers, plant function, spacing, succession, and how those relationships change as the system matures.

@Susan S

I like your short and long-term thinking. The wood chips and leaves are doing most of the long-term soil-building work by protecting moisture, feeding decomposers, and gradually adding organic matter that can improve structure and nutrient-holding capacity. I typically view the molasses and humates as supporting inputs rather than foundational components. Molasses provides a quick carbon pulse for microbes, while humates help with nutrient interactions and biological activity. The lasting change comes from continually returning leaves, roots, wood, and other organic matter to the soil. Molasses feeds the moment, and humates help the transition. Plant residues and wood on the other hand build the system over time.

@Jon Shobe solid plan young man; I was reading the other day where there are carbon credits available for farmers that continually add carbon into the soil… if some every asks me what is the number one thing in regeneration, my answer would be add carbon.

I think the comparison gets even more interesting when we look at what both plants are actually doing. Comfrey and pokeweed both take sunlight, water, carbon, and available soil nutrients, including nitrogen, and turn them into a lot of biomass. Neither creates fertility and both take up nutrients already available in the system. If we chop and drop either plant where it grows, we keep much of that fertility cycling in place. If we repeatedly carry the biomass somewhere else, we are moving nutrients from one part of the landscape to another. So pokeweed may be free to establish, but the fertility contained in that biomass still came from the land.

@Jon Shobe Yes, it is an easy plant to keep in control of and will give you biomass to shade the new soil... nature just trying to cover all bare soil. When you cultivated, you might have given the disturbance the dormant seed needed. Although old timey information has folks eating pokeweed after boiling the toxins out and used in mountain and Indian medicines as a strong lympathic mover, there are friendlier herbs like cleavers + calendula that are much safer and do the same, just not as strong.

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