Early inThe Wisdom of the Radish, Lynda Hopkins admits that she's not a farmer. She¿s not even a farmer's wife. She's an aspiring farmer's girlfriend. With this tentative start, she and her boyfriend become the country's newest sodbusters. Their goal is to earn a living wage selling the fruits of their labor at the local farmers' market in Healdsburg, California. What at first sounds pastoral and idyllic quickly devolves into disaster: crop failures, worm-riddled corn, flood, and an episode involving a fox that's right out of Aesop's Fables. But with perseverance, Mother Nature's strong inclination for plants to grow, and sage counsel from Internet message boards, a working farm rises from humble soil. Hopkins is a winning storyteller, and her account of seedlings, harvests, chickens, and goats is gripping. She ruminates on the value of radishes, considering their economic and sentimental profit and loss. She makes the classic greenhorn error of becoming emotionally involved with her chickens, and comes to the shocking realization that her roosters are serial rapists! Ultimately, the farm becomes home and not just an endless set of chores. Sometimes it just takes a little heart to become more than an aspiring farmer's girlfriend.