Ranger Steve Mueller

By Ranger Steve Mueller

How far must you travel for basic food, water, and shelter needs? Are they readily available in the neighborhood? Who fills your specialized nature niche to provide essentials that keep you healthy?

I reminisced about my early childhood with such thoughts. I grew up in a city of 100,000 people that provided many of our neighborhood family needs within a half-mile home range. Ecologically a “home range” is the area an organism roams in pursuit of basic needs. In addition to food, water, and shelter those needs must be arranged into an appropriate living space.

Until I was two, we lived in an upstairs apartment at my grandparent’s house. My dad built a house across the street from Grandpa and Grandma’s. My older brothers recall the move but I was too young. I remember going to my grandparent’s. A friend of my dad’s moved his family into the apartment we vacated. I played with his daughters Kris and Lynn. With those girls and other neighborhood kids, we learned social and life skills that supported life in our small neighborhood community nature niche.

Two houses to the south of ours, brothers Paul and Gus Herm had their home. Paul owned the Texico gas/service station located at the corner to the north where several businesses supplied our needs. I do not know where Paul’s employee’s lived but I expect they lived nearby. Three houses to the north from ours was Dr. McCarty’s dentist office where he lived in half and had the office in the other half. Across the street from that office lived Mr. Art Persale, who had a remnant small farm.

The farm was near the Texico service station at the intersection of State and Bay Streets in Saginaw. A privately owned Strand Drive-in restaurant, comparable to an A&W, was on one corner, our barbershop on another, and Granger Nitz Pharmacy on the fourth. Rupprecht’s Meat Market was next to the pharmacy, followed by Miller Bakery. The bakery smell was the best smell in the neighborhood. People would line up for the fresh baked bread in the morning. Mr. Miller would not cut it until it cooled, otherwise it would crush in the slicer. I still cannot find pineapple or cinnamon rolls as good as he made. An appliance, furniture sales and repair shop was near the bakery.

Across the street was the Daniel Theater that showed double feature movies preceded with the “News of the World and two cartoons. Between the movies when film reels were changed people bought popcorn and candy. I liked the Chuckles candy in its five-piece packet or a box of Milk Duds. White’s Bar, owned by my friend Bill’s dad, was next to the theater. Whites lived near Fuerbringer Elementary School that was a half-mile walk from my home. There were other neighborhood businesses that I do not remember that supplied things I did not use like a women’s beauty parlor and tax service. Not every person used all the services available. Specialized services met the needs for different people similar to services provided to organisms in natural wild habitats.

Behind our house was an extensive field that had been a farm field before my memory. We could see the row homes across the field on Avon Street where the Filiatrauts lived. My dad went to school with Mrs. Filiatraut and I went to school with her daughter Jane. The field was our playground full of rabbits, insects, excavated holes and forts we constructed.

Some essential products came and went from greater distances like city water and city sewage removal.

Neighborhood raspberry, strawberry, corn, potato, and tomato gardens supplied personal needs. A local farmer with his horse drawn fresh produce wagon visited weekly. The milkman came often to deliver milk and it was necessary to bring it in from the milk box before it froze on cold winter mornings.

Utilize the local farm markets, support local producers and neighborhood suppliers for basic needs. In turn become the supplier that maintains healthy wild nature niche needs for native plants and animals in your yard.

Natural history questions or topic suggestions can be directed to Ranger Steve (Mueller) at odybrook@chartermi.net – Ody Brook Nature Sanctuary, 13010 Northland Dr. Cedar Springs, MI 49319 or call 616-696-1753.