I knew of "agro-froestry" before learning of permaculture. Agro-forests are planting tall native hardwoods, shorter fruit trees, fruit bushes, the perennial short plants, then annuals, then reverse on the other side.
The PATTERN can be conceived as 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.... like a "waveform" up and down up and down... that's the CONCEPT
The Concept repeats in a pattern because of its effective nature, which mimics nature. The edge of a forest where it opens to a pasture of native grasses will look like this.
Some like to add more "style" and "decoration" to it all, but I focus on the plants / food. There will always be a "pattern" that emerges anyway, because it's nature and then nurture.
If your priority is beauty, focus on style. If your priority is food, focus on the plants. If you want BOTH, start with focus on the plants, and then go back through adding style to it all.
I find that the longer I wait to "decorate" the more useful and natural ideas seem to come to me, because I am using the space (functionality) after I have seen it (beauty) in every season, and I can work with nature, instead of trying to make it obey me.
My advice- ignore the "rules" of permaculture, and pay attention to the "patterns" that emerge from any "system". If you look at successful pictures of others projects, you will see how layers are in every pic. Elevation changes are in every pic. variety and close planting in every pic, etc. The other thing to do which will make this clearer to you, is to visit a local state park or wildnerness area and spend time sitting on the edge of the forest. Note that nothing is flat, nothing in a straight line, nothing is monocropped, etc. Nature will show you how to lay it out. People will show you how to "style" it afterward.
As for your outhouse, build a rock wall around it to catch the water off the roof, or dig a hole and line it with a billboard liner (craigslist) for storing water in the ground, a wildlife pond, etc...
I dont even like the "zones" idea of permaculture, around a central structure, as I prefer to have MULTIPLE zones around multiple points of interest, and repeat plantings of the same things (redundancy)
The very first thing I let the land tell me about how it is to be laid out, is water drainage. Water is the biggest threat to any home. It can steal your soil, rot your structures, drown your food, etc. So if you handle the channeling, dispersal and storage of water first (based on terrain of your land), everything you do after that will "make sense" and "mirror nature" because water is the primary force shaping any landscape, followed by sun/shade/temps. Even the soil does not matter as much (you can raise a bed, dig out a bed, amend a bed, or just use in ground as-is). My soil was sand when I moved to my land, and now it's all rich black humus full of organics, 10 years later, and I dont buy any soil. All mulch and composted stuff changed my soil rapidly and to root-depth, with zero digging.
This is your dream to build, you will learn by failure, but no failure is a catastrophe. It's leveling up.
