[Anonymous]

Anonymous #73027

Farm City
The Education of an Urban Farmer
by Novella Carpenter

? Farm City | READ MORE ?

• Publisher: Penguin Press
• Format: hardcover, 276 pages
• Release date: June 11, 2009
• Author: Novella Carpenter
• Language: english
• Genres: food, memoir, gardening, biography, agriculture, environment, sustainability
• ISBN: 9781594202216 (1594202214)

About The Book

Novella Carpenter loves cities-the culture, the crowds, the energy. At the same time, she can’t shake the fact that she is the daughter of two back-to-the-land hippies who taught her to love nature and eat vegetables. Ambivalent about repeating her parents’ disastrous mistakes, yet drawn to the idea of backyard self-sufficiency, Carpenter decided that it might be possible to have it both ways: a homegrown vegetable plot as well as museums, bars, concerts, and a twenty-four-hour convenience mart mere minutes away. Especially when she moved to a ramshackle house in inner city Oakland and discovered a weed-choked, garbage-strewn abandoned lot next door. She closed her eyes and pictured heirloom tomatoes, a beehive, and a chicken coop.

What started out as a few egg-laying chickens led to turkeys, geese, and ducks. Soon, some rabbits joined the fun, then two three-hundred-pound pigs. And no, these charming and eccentric animals weren’t pets; she was a farmer, not a zookeeper. Novella was raising these animals for dinner. Novella Carpenter’s corner of downtown Oakland is populated by unforgettable characters. Lana (anal spelled backward, she reminds us) runs a speakeasy across the street and refuses to hurt even a fly, let alone condone raising turkeys for Thanksgiving. Bobby, the homeless man who collects cars and car parts just outside the farm, is an invaluable neighborhood concierge. The turkeys, Harold and Maude, tend to escape on a daily basis to cavort with the prostitutes hanging around just off the highway nearby. Every day on this strange and beautiful farm, urban meets rural in the most surprising ways.

For anyone who has ever grown herbs on their windowsill, tomatoes on their fire escape, or obsessed over the offerings at the local farmers’ market, Carpenter’s story will capture your heart. And if you’ve ever considered leaving it all behind to become a farmer outside the city limits, or looked at the abandoned lot next door with a gleam in your eye, consider this both a cautionary tale and a full-throated call to action. Farm City is an unforgettably charming memoir, full of hilarious moments, fascinating farmers’ tips, and a great deal of heart. It is also a moving meditation on urban life versus the natural world and what we have given up to live the way we do.

(jacket)

MOBI ebook Farm City download. Paperback Farm City by Novella Carpenter read iPhone on Book Depository. EPUB book Farm City buy cheap for iOS on IndieBound. FB2 book Farm City Novella Carpenter. Hardcover Farm City Novella Carpenter buy.

Hardback ebook Farm City on reader on Amazon. PDF book Farm City by Novella Carpenter download PocketBook on Kobo. FictionBook ebook Farm City read online. Online Farm City by Novella Carpenter for Mac. TXT Farm City read on Walmart.

MP3 ebook Farm City Novella Carpenter download on iPad. Hardcover book Farm City buy on Books-a-Million. EPUB book Farm City Novella Carpenter read online. PDF Farm City download on PC on Powells. FictionBook ebook Farm City by Novella Carpenter buy cheap for Android on Barnes & Noble.