Publisher : Tantor Media
Publication Date : 2009 07 01
>> Urban farming to the very limits inspiring for anyone
Whether you live in the city the country or somewhere in between the story of Novella Carpenter and her urban squatter farm will suck you in It s the amazing story of two inspired and dare I say slightly radical people who turned an empty lot in an Oakland ghetto into a true working farm I m always inspired by tales of urban renewal of guerrilla gardeners of folks sprouting bits of green in a very rocky world Novella s story captured me right from the start She planted gardens had some chickens some bees things I m working toward myself in my little corner of suburbia As her story progressed she and I veered onto different paths Novella butchered rabbits turkeys and had two enormous hogs on her city lot feeding them from frequent dumpster runs but I still found the story fascinating She relayed things I never would have done things I would like to do but lack the bravery and things that wouldn t appeal to me in the slightest but her storytelling style and sense of humor made this book something I literally couldn t put down until I finished it Her path might not be your path but you ll enjoy the walk with her nonetheless
For those squeamish about animal butchery and who really don t want to know what goes into a great sausage you might want to think twice I flinched myself a few times though I did get a crazy craving for some excellent prosciutto If squatter gardening makes your blood boil if donating weekly greens to social change groups seems like a waste if free range turkeys on city streets would cause you heartburn then stick with books about manicured lawns and pruning roses For the rest of us this is one wonderfully crazy ride that you won t want to miss Get inspired be a little subversive grow a salad
>> ANIMAL farming just FYI
This isn t a bad book but it s not quite what I thought it would be While the author Novella does discuss vegetable gardening the focus really becomes the ANIMALS she raises on the small empty lot behind her rented apartment in the run down city of Oakland CA That s all fine and dandy but since she s raising them for food it s a little depressing
Now I am a mostly vegetarian so there s that factor And I get the whole I raised the animals myself so they had a better life prior to dying deal But a lot of times I feel like people are just trying to convince themselves in that case And still Novella is looking at bunnies and ducks and pigs and thinking how cute they are and how happy they are and how DELICIOUS they will be all in the same breath I get that meat comes from somewhere and blah blah blah but it s kinda disturbing to me I read the passages where she kills the animals and I m fine with it but it still just seems gross
I don t think I could be friends with Novella even though I DO admire what she does and think it s really cool She s got that kind of self righteous thing going on that you probably have to have to raise 200 pound pigs in a small city lot And she kind of admits it and all but in a way that makes me think we would never get along Which is fine Just saying
So anyway it s a good book for what it is but I thought I was going to be reading more about veggie gardening and general garden experiences the animal raising dreaming about eating of and butchering takes up probably 90 of the book The veggies and beehive even are really incidental
>> A snapshot into the very challenges we face as a culture reacquainting ourselves with food
As a reader of the Ghost Town Farm blog I picked this book up in hopes of getting a guidebook with good tips and bits of knowledge What I got was that and more
At times heartwarming others heartbreaking Farm City is a snapshot into the very challenges we face as a culture reacquainting ourselves with food and each other again The author Novella Carpenter allows us to see through her direct experiences the blunt inner workings of a place that is grappling with major societal issues at every turn and she still manages to put bacon amazing tasting to be sure on the table
As an aspiring urban farmer I found valuable insights and instances of hope and in Farm City Here we are nearing the brink of sorts and yet here is Novella Carpenter doing what needs to be done breaking ground raising animals and growing food in a place that is far from a rural picturesque setting in fact in an urban setting that is more like a place where over 50 of the worlds population now lives
It is the reapplying old knowledge in a new setting that is encapsulated in this book A lot of what is presented in Farm City is old knowledge but it s for a new generation that now lives in cities in apartments or postage stamp lots that want to take control of what they are eating Feeding ones family from the land was common knowledge a mere 50 years ago yet here we are teaching ourselves in new ways adding knowledge and know how with books like Farm City
