I am reading a really book set of books called "Edible Forest Gardens" by Dave Jacke and Eric Toesnmeier, and I'm picking up so much from these books that I feel the need to start sharing what I learn here! I'm into the soil chapter right now. So here's the first tidbit of many to coem that I'll share:

Many types of plants, especially those that grow in degraded environments and places where nutrients are not distributed really well (these plants are the weeds) evolved an interesting strategy, among others. They send out a thing called a "rhizome" which is a modified stem adapted to creeping through the soil. It creeps and then spawns new and connected plants. But here's the cool part...

If one plant ends up in a predicament with little soil nutrients or water available for a period of time, it actually gets a subsidy of those resources through the rhizomes from other plants in the system! These plants can establish a living by grabbing nitrogen from one place that has it, calcium from another place that has it, and sunlight from yet another place that has it, and all of these are invested into the whole so everyone gets a share. GENIUS! Fungal mycelium does exactly the same thing. This is the true benefit of using a network as a design.