my little peeps are alll watering the field, but no crops have grown for a long time (they used to grow fine). We're out of food, and even if i drop them on the bush, they grab one basket and then go back to watering the sahara. any advice, before they all STARVE??? AAHHHHHH!!!

You don't say how long is a "long time," what your current game speed is, or how many villagers you have. If you have more than, oh, 15 villagers or so, it's possible to run out of food before the new crops come in. These are hungry villagers!

Your farmers will want to water the farm whenever there are no crops, although you can make them gather from the berry bush. Most people get to level 3 of Harvesting as soon as possible so that the food source is constant and plentiful.

hi again-
10 villagers, normal speed.

You said i can "make" the farmers forage- can i make them do it perpetually, or are they going to keep watering the non-providing field whenever i stop paying attention... i'm just worried they'll starve rather than forage from the perfectly good bush.

They typically require supervision to make them forage from the berry bush once they've discovered farming.

The crops should regrow after approximately 4 hours on normal speed. There have been rare reports of occasional "famine" but the crops always come back at some point. I have found that leaving the game running with the Palm on AC power helps "straighten out" a wacky food situation if one occurs. The farm is getting some attention for the v1.1 update. Hopefully your crops will come in soon and you won't have to worry about it!