Just a bit thrown in. I
think a guild may be healthy but it's still kind of like controlled
gardening. The tree guild might
be nice and it might do well. It might not.
I'm kind of at the point where part of my food-forest, guild islands, etc, are starting to shift into doing their own thing.
This is year three and I'm noticing that the health of everything is way up. I've heard and read from the professionals that year five is the tipping point but I'm starting to see the synergy in year three.
In my unprofessional opinion, guilds are the building blocks for a food forest. Kind of like Leggos. These guilds are islands that start to connect and make a food forests.
I have guilds close together, some stuff did well and some didn't, nature is now making the decisions in heavily planted areas. If I got hit by a bus, part of my "food-forest" doesn't need my help. These areas would move along and do their thing. Of
course, I will manage these areas to get what I want but there is
enough age,
biodiversity and soil health that the "food forest areas" are self-sustaining. Just my two cents.