It was back in September, when I received an email from Nicole Calmels, a sixth grade science teacher at Hill Middle School in Northern California, asking for parent volunteers. The school's garden had been neglected for the last 3 years and she wanted to resurrect it with her class. I told her I'd come by once or twice to lend some of my master-gardening advice, but I wasn't going to be conned into a long-term parent-volunteer commitment. I'd been around the block. "I'm from New York. I can smell a rope-a-dope operation two zip codes away," I told her.

Sigh ... I've been helping out weekly at the school garden now for the last 5 months. How can [...]