Welcome to Gaia! ::

The first thing you do is find the right reeds for you. A lot of beginners start with Jones (Medium strength). They're a good beginner brand and available at most music stores but in a couple of years, you'll probably want to start ordering a better brand off the internet. Second thing to do is get the Weissenborn book. It's the bassoon bible... er, I mean, method book. Third, if you can find a teacher, get private lessons.

As for the bassoon itself, if it's wood, half the instrument has metal tubing inside. When you empty the spit from the boot joint, pour it out on that side. You want to keep the wooden side from getting too wet. Taken care of your bocal - never walk anywhere with your instrument without taking the bocal out of the instrument. You'll see a lot of bassoonists who hang it upside-down in the bell but I usually just carry it. Also, the seat strap is infinitely preferable to the neck strap but it takes some practice to get comfortable carrying the instrument or even just standing with it without the neck strap, especially if the joint on your instrument are loose. Cradle the instrument in your arm and hold the strap in that same hand at about the same length as it is when you sit on it. Joint care is very important with the bassoon becuase wooden ones expand and contract seasonally. If you have thread wrappings on your joints, never use cork grease on them. That can cause them to come unwrapped. They should be fine by themselves. If they get dirty on them, wipe them clean with a barely damp paper towel. If you have cork joints, use cork grease.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but I'll edit later becuase I have to go to class now. There are probably some advice pages on bassoon.org, if you want to check that out.