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Books Movies & Music Staff Recommend... Nonfiction Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer
Books Movies & Music Staff Recommend... Nonfiction Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer
| 17 Sep 2009 |
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 So what's a locavore to do when finding themselves firmly planted in the city or suburbia? Herb garden - check; vegetables in flower beds - check; join area CSA - check; hide chickens in back yard - well that's where most stop, but not Novella Carpenter. Farm City is an amusing memoir about the genesis of her Ghost Town Farm, and it's place among the gritty landscape and rough characters that are her neighbors. When relocating to inner city Oakland, Novella was drawn to the vacant lot next to her apartment. What begins with a few raised beds and fruit trees grows to include chickens, bees, turkeys, ducks, geese, rabbits, and two 300 pound pigs. She spends one month on a 100-yard diet and is challenged to eat only what she grows, forages, or barters from other farmers. It's also the story of a real farmer raising her animals for the meat they will provide and trying to honor their lives with a humane harvest. You can visit the Ghost Town Farm at it's website: http://ghosttownfarm.wordpress.com/. For more on our relationship with our food supply try: The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan or Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover.
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