Strawberries, of course.
Currents for great jelly.
North Star dwarf cherry tree. (I had to net this tree)
Service berry trees. (if you can beat the birds to the fruit)

You started off asking about edible perennials and then mentioned fruits and nuts. As for perennials, I only know of asparagus and rhubarb that are hardy here ;-)...other than some herbs.

tj

Be careful how close you plant the fruit trees to that walnut tree - if I'm not mistaken - the walnut tree will affect the fruit trees producing. I would check it out first. Mary

I am in Janesville just south of Madison and have blackberry, mulberry, strawberry, raspberry, blackcaps and black walnut here. All grow like weeds and have since I bought the place over 10 years ago. You do have to be careful planting anywhere near the walnut. You can find lists online (I did after planting flowers that withered away!)to help learn what grows and what doesn't. Enjoy!
Paula

Raspberries are easy to grow - you just have to keep them contained. I've got red, black, and this year put in some yellow ones. I ordered the yellows from Nourse Farms and they were huge bareroot plants. I bought some blueberry plants from Jungs this spring. The Jungs store in Madison has a bareroot room where they'll have all sorts of fruit trees and plants this spring and it's a good place to get them since you can pick out the best looking ones. I've also got a Danube cherry tree, two peach trees, and a Honeycrisp Apple tree. They're all young except for one old peach tree so I can't say for sure how well they'll do over the long run but so far they're all pretty easy. I should get five apples from my tiny second year tree this fall. I bagged the apples in ziploc bags and that's worked pretty well to keep the pests off them.

Oh, and I'm planning on ordering a grape vine, a second cherry tree, and a second apple tree from Raintree in the spring. They've got a good reputation and have many varieties that aren't available locally.

Since 7 years have passed, it would be interesting to me (living in same location) what you did in the end, and how it's gone ...

And have squirrels gone wild like in my yard, and you have walnut trees coming up everywhere? They are hard to kill organically, I just have to lop them off over and over. I also highly recommend red currants, and rhubarb. Rhubarb likes rich soil and lots of water, though. Gooseberries will be eaten by birds and planted everywhere, we have them as a sort of weed here but I leave them where I can. And yellow raspberries are the best but you have to sort of pamper them, they can't handle a lot of weeds, quackgrass and things will smother them out. Black ones are like weeds so that is what I have the most of. I had good luck with Miller brothers nursery out of New York state some years back when I actually bought plants and fruit trees.

Carmine Jewel bush cherry is great, also Serviceberries/Juneberries are pretty and easy. Gooseberries if you can contain their spreading habit.

Favorite Nurseries: St. Lawrence in NY, Oikos Tree Crops in MI, Jungs and Chief River Nursery in WI

Emily, Zone 5 WI