Before you plant trees, check to see how big they will get. Always plan for the mature size. You see maples and other trees that people have planted under neighborhood power lines, and every year they have to be butchered so they don't pull the lines down during storms. Eucalyptus has no food value as far as I've ever heard, and it will dry up water sources. They are one of the trees Mussolini used to dry up the Pntine marshes. Willows are rather pointless, too.

Plant what your family will eat. If you want to try natives, try to find some fruit and taste it before you plant it. Native edibles and the kind of food you're used to eating tend to be world's apart.

Get your soil tested by a lab that knows what it's doing. Kinsey Agricultural Services can help [http://kinseyag.com/]. Bring your soil up to par; if it's out of whack, you'll have nothing but problems. Keep in mind that many of the local cooperative extension services still go by federal/chemical company advice.

I hate homeowner associations, and I don't trust them any further than I can throw a grand piano. Make up your main plan, have them okay it, have them give you permission IN WRITING to do what you want to do. That won't keep the next set of them from cutting down anything over 3" tall, but it might slow them down.

Trog's advice on Permaculture is excellent. Find Mollison's books: Introduction to Permaculture; Permaculture Two; Permaculture: A Designer's Manual. Gaia's Garden by Hemenway is good, too. All Mollison's books are collector's items these days, but you can usually find them in a library, or through the interlibrary loan system. Lots of drawings.

Sue