The runoff from rain (46 inches min. per year), which often comes in great downpours and causes erosion to the nearby lane, my 19 year old son Jeshua built this Bamboo Circle, patterned after Geoff Lawton's Banana Circle in his Introduction to Permaculture Video.

This is a winter picture, so it's a little hard to see, but the Bamboo here is a Timber type that is quite spreading.  The water runs off the roof into a deep swale that is filled with large, fibrous mulch, mainly tree trimmings.  The swale holds the runoff so that it doesn't continue to degrade the road.  The Guild includes Yucca, Gopher Bane and Edible Daylillies, all chosen both for their utility, but also for their shape and growing habit. 

Since the Bamboo is a spreader, we are directing it to line the lane going back into the acreage and we hope that it will follow true to form and give us a nice, cool Bamboo forest that we can harvest from for craft and building materials.