Hi Penelope

I'm in Massachusetts, I think zone 6a or 5b.

I will purchase a field guide, thank you.

I have access to over 10 acres where I was given permission to plant.
It only takes a few minutes to ask someone, and most people don't say
no.

I don't mind if you come on my private property to take whatever you
want. That holds true for any wildlife as well. Keeping the animals
healthy is in our interest, since if there were a food shortage they
would make for tasty snacks.

You might be right that I don't have a grasp of what it takes to grow
those things. But last summer I did a small experiment, planting
various things in a patch of dirt, and besides watering them every now
and then, I did no other maintenance. The result was the ugliest garden
you'd ever see, but plenty of squash, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and
herbs grew fine.

The melon plants grew into something, but never produced anything I
could eat. I would call it a success since it required no work. The
animals did eat some... but they seemed to mostly just take bites and
leave the rest for me. If the animals were to get more aggresive and
take more, my solution would be to plant more.

I think that the minimum area of land required to sustain one person
for a year would be around half an acre. Depending on the types of
foods you eat, and the quantity, it might take 4-10acres.

The native plant movement is interesting, but it might be futile. Yes,
non-indigenous plants can throw the entire local ecosystem upside down,
but the Earth is not static. The fact is that I am genetically adapted
for a specific region, and that right now I am non-indigenous to the
USA. My people came here and wreaked havoc on the natives. Change is
scary, but it is necessary and good.

To pretend that your polluted yard, and asphalt smothered landscapes
can somehow restore balance with the old local ecosystem is odd when
you yourself don't belong here. Go home, tear down the city, and let
nature restore itself. Otherwise, I think the effort is naive. Things
change, and while many natives will die in the process, new adaptations
will emerge.

I have a list of native plants to my area... but I don't know how I
could help propogate the already established wild plants. I guess I'd
have to find some local nursery that could sell me a bunch of seeds
(didn't see a place listed in the link you gave), or I'd have to learn
to identify them in the wild, as well as how to get the seeds from
them.

I definitely have a lot to learn, and am not afraid to do so. But I
don't think that planting various plants everyone is familiar with, and
are available in stores, is going to be a concern. Afterall, when you
eat them outside the seeds end up in the ground anyways.