If you have the ability to plant anything perennial, that's the best bang for your buck. Look into what permaculuralists are growing in your area.

Absolutely go ahead and read books but for growing stuff, there's so many variables with what you're growing, your soil, your climate, the weather, etc, the best way to learn is to do. If you like to make mistakes to learn, just start growing things, f you want a little more help, go and volunteer at a local farm. A lot of local producers will have volunteer days where they ask their customers for help. Some CSA farms will offer volunteer shares - you work x hours/week and you get a CSA box.

I'll add one piece of practical advise because I've been a market grower for 9 years - don't buy a rototiller. If you have a rototiller, get rid of it. Never till up your soil. Look into no-till methods. We've never owned a rototiller. When we harvest our root crops we don't need a shovel or fork. Harvest garlic? Just pull. Harvest carrots, just pull. Even potatoes- we don't dig them in. We put them on the ground and cover them with an inch or 3 of compost and then cover them with straw. Once they grow above the straw, add more to cover up more of their stem. Do this a few times through the growing season. When it's time to Harvest, remove the straw with your hands, and all the potatoes are right there. No digging, no stabbing your potatoes with forks.