What would you like included in a beginners book about permaculture in warm climates?

I am writing a book. The book is about how normal families, living in warm climates, can feed their families using permaculture principles. It will include a timeline about how our own has matured and changed over the 10 years, that has passed since we started it.
Right now some of the topics are:
What are permaculture and poly culture and how are they connected?
How to build a food forest garden
How to decide what to plant and when to plant
Working with nature creating ecosystems
Working with wildlife
Creating climate zones
Plants that are perennials in warm climates, that are annuals in cold climates
How to change dirt to soil
Tips and hacks for less work
Food preservation tips
Logistics and planning
Livestocks to think about.

What am I missing? I would love some feedback from people here, on topics that would be good to add.

Master Ula,

I would include a separate chapter dedicated to shade.
Not all warm climates are extremely sunny (especially in eastern Asia). The south western regions will be usually too sunny and even there there exists a lot variation. In California - the lowlands have less intense sun than higher elevations like mine where sun is simply brighter than agricultural lands that are located low and west of me (they are also enshrouded in agri dust). Sun intensity at lower temperature will be more destructive than higher temperatures with clouded skies. This extremely bright radiation will overheat the plant even if the temps feel fresh and pleasant.

I just built an experimental garden (6x9 m) in my eucalyptus grove. It gets some direct afternoon sun. Everything grows just better. I'm having strawberries and will have blackberries that were getting completely scorched before in full sun - no matter how much mulched or watered. The herbs grow better and lush and out of my 40 grape cuttings only 5 died so far (last year at this time 90% were dead). For the first time thyme and also lovage have germinated.
Morning shade garden with figs and grapes is also much better for them as compared to growing in the open frying pan. My theory is that in extremely sunny locations the evaporation rate is so high than watering can not account for it at the given species level of plant physiology.

All of it may seem obvious to some who lived with higher elevation sun for a while, but in my case creating a shaded growing area did way more than soil improvement, irrigation and mulching.
If the garden proves itself throughout the year I will built more and will try raspberries and my beloved currants.

Cristobal Cristo wrote:Master Ula,

I would include a separate chapter dedicated to shade.
Not all warm climates are extremely sunny (especially in eastern Asia). The south western regions will be usually too sunny and even there there exists a lot variation. In California - the lowlands have less intense sun than higher elevations like mine where sun is simply brighter than agricultural lands that are located low and west of me (they are also enshrouded in agri dust). Sun intensity at lower temperature will be more destructive than higher temperatures with clouded skies. This extremely bright radiation will overheat the plant even if the temps feel fresh and pleasant.

I just built an experimental garden (6x9 m) in my eucalyptus grove. It gets some direct afternoon sun. Everything grows just better. I'm having strawberries and will have blackberries that were getting completely scorched before in full sun - no matter how much mulched or watered. The herbs grow better and lush and out of my 40 grape cuttings only 5 died so far (last year at this time 90% were dead). For the first time thyme and also lovage have germinated.
Morning shade garden with figs and grapes is also much better for them as compared to growing in the open frying pan. My theory is that in extremely sunny locations the evaporation rate is so high than watering can not account for it at the given species level of plant physiology.

All of it may seem obvious to some who lived with higher elevation sun for a while, but in my case creating a shaded growing area did way more than soil improvement, irrigation and mulching.
If the garden proves itself throughout the year I will built more and will try raspberries and my beloved currants.

Good idea. We are located in SoCal close to the Mexican boarder, but inland. Our Growzone is 10b and we will get temperatures at 118+ from July through October. I use shade cloths a lot, and I have microclimate zones in our food forest garden, where I grow my berries.

We get a lot of temperature fluctuations here, so the main goal is to keep the soil temperature and moisture levels stable. To do this, we have installed drip irrigation and I use a lot of straw mulch, and mulch I get from chop and drop.
The way we have planned it though, are so that eventually I won’t have to use shade cloths in the food forest garden, but I will probably always need them in our raised bed garden. We have planted a lot of trees with different highs, and once they all have matured, they will provide more stable temperatures and higher humidity levels. This will also improve once I get the swales for the aquatic layer added. Right now the main canopy is a large pecan tree, but I have planted a cashew tree just outside the reach of the pecan tree. I have also added another avocado tree and two sapote trees, to supplement the trees we already have. I love using trees to provide shade, but most take a long time to mature. To compensate I grow cassava in the middle of all of my strawberry beds, I use a 50% shade cloth for my blueberries, tea and long pepper, and for my coffee and shampoo ginger. I am also slowly expanding my banana clusters, that provide shade and moisture for arrowroot’s and grains of paradise.
I will definitely add a chapter on shade and temperature control. Thank you for asking.

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Anne Miller wrote:How to compost, make compost tea, use organic or better, ...

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How to incorporate animals into the system, ...

Thank you for helping with the topics.
I am already planning on adding a chapter on animals,  how they fit into the eco system and what we use them for.
As for compost, it’s the one things I am extremely bad at. Partly because I don’t have the physical strength to turn it. We also don’t produce enough. I will talk with my husband thought since he does the composting.
I will also add the other things to the list.

One thing I'd find useful is a chapter on managing the transition period, the first 2-3 years before the system starts producing reliably. Most beginners give up during that gap because they don't know what to expect. Knowing roughly when things start to pay off, and what to do in the meantime, would help a lot.

Joao Winckler wrote:One thing I'd find useful is a chapter on managing the transition period, the first 2-3 years before the system starts producing reliably. Most beginners give up during that gap because they don't know what to expect. Knowing roughly when things start to pay off, and what to do in the meantime, would help a lot.

Thank you. I will add that to the list.