Hi all. Thought I would try a survey of lifestyles.

I live in a  small town about 2 hours from Chicago.

When I bought this house over a year ago it had 3 apple trees, a mulberry
tree, and a plum tree. One apple turned out not to produce good fruit, so I
cut it down. It was too close to the other trees anyway and made too much
shade. The plum appears to be a pure ornamental, it makes big fruit, but
they all fall off before they begin to ripen. The mulberry has lots of fruit
right now. There are also hickory trees overhanging my back fence (the
squirrels got them all last year) and a young walnut growing.

I planted strawberries, which are about finished bearing, grapes,
blueberries, raspberries black and red, and blackberries. Eventually I am
thinking to pull out most of the ornamental shrubbery and replace it with
berry and fruit bushes, probably some dwarf apples, cherries and pears, and
more blueberries.

I have also planted asparagus and a few annual veggies.

There are lots of small animals around the house, hordes of rabbits and
squirrels, possums and raccoons, as well as lots of bird species. I hope
that my plantings will give good animal habitat so my kids can see lots of
wildlife. The number of rabbits has certainly increased since we started
planting, and as the berry bushes expand I expect to see more.

So, my survey.

Where and in what circumstances do you live in?

What foods grow near you that you eat?

What animals?