The Woodland Indian Tribes of the Great Lakes area and throughout the eastern and southern part of the United States were farmers. In the fall and winter they hunted and trapped, moving in small family groups to winter hunting camps. Beaver, muskrat, raccoon, deer, elk, bison and black bear were taken for the meat and hides. In the spring, the Indians made maple sugar in large quantities. It was a staple in their diet. They also harvested nuts, berries, wild plums, wild cherries, and pawpaws. Wild rice was gathered around the Great Lakes.
Corn, beans, squash, and pumpkin were widely grown in North America, north of Mexico. Besides multi-colored Indian corn the Indians developed varieties of eight and ten-row corn. Beans grown by the Indians included the kidney bean, navy or pea bean, pinto, great northern marrow, and yellow eye bean. The Indians planted corn and beans in the small mounds of soil and often pumpkins, squash, or melons in the space between.
Many other vegetables were grown by the Ohio Indians: turnips, cabbage, parsnips, sweet potatoes, yams and "Irish" potatoes, onions and leeks. Watermelon and muskmelon were introduced into North America in the 17th century and were being grown in the interior within a few years. The nature and extent of Indian agriculture are revealed in the observations of George Will, a soldier in General Anthony Wayne's campaign against the Indians along the Auglaize and Maumee rivers in the summer of 1794. "Here are vegetables of every kind in abundance," Will wrote, "And we have marched four or five miles in cornfields down the Oglaize [sic], and there is not less than one thousand acres of corn around the town."
