On becoming a reluctant farmer

I got a good closeup look at what global warming does the other day when we brought little sunflower plants home from preschool that the kids had started from seeds. I left my daughter's plant in the car on a gorgeous sunny day just like today. For a bit too long. I did not think to crack the windows. In a very short time, her two little sunflower seedlings went from perfectly healthy to near-death experience. Over the next few days, I hid the paper cup with the sickly flowers on a window ledge in the kitchen. They died a slow and painful death. Today I pronounced them dead. But sneakily, I'd stuck two new sunflower seeds in and those have now sprouted. So as long as I keep the flower seedlings out of the car, I think we're in pretty good shape with those. You should know that last year I killed her zinnia seedling outright when I accidentally dropped it coming out of the car on the way home. Who would have thought driving plants could be so hazardous to their health?

So it was with a fair amount of reluctance than I accepted free plant starts of peas and beans at the opening day of the Hillsdale Farmers Market. My daughters love to water plants more than anything else in the world, so they are doing pretty well. I think I managed to find a decent place for them in the garden. But I gotta confess, I'm scared to death. I don't think I've ever grown and eaten anything since the radishes my dad helped me with when I was 5 years old. And come to think of it, I don't think I ever actually ate any of the radishes.

I love the idea of eating locally. It doesn't get much more local than your own yard. But I am scared and feeling way over my head here. Can someone be my farming mentor? Please, please, please? Or just give me some suggestions or words of encouragement?