farm city

In "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer," Novella Carpenter documented her adventures in gardening and raising livestock in an inner city environment in Oakland. She replaces our ideas of a farm as a bucolic pasture with the gritty scene of homeless people, an attempted mugging at gunpoint, thieves of her produce, junkyard dogs killing her poultry and a turkey crossing the freeway. It's an extraordinary story - definitely a few levels beyond what the ordinary person would do. She has a great sense of humor about her craziness. She dumpster-dives for food to feed her livestock - including two pigs. She spends a month relying solely on her garden for food. She befriends a fancy restauranter who teaches her how to cure pork into salami and the like. It's all very engaging. I did have to skim over some of the gory descriptions of butchering -- I am squeamish, I don't even eat meat! I do eat fish, but lately I've been worried about the mercury and overfishing issues.

But I totally admire her resourcefulness - I also hate waste and think it's fab she fed her pigs garbage. I was in awe of her willpower with her month-long garden-only diet -- she even goes to a Mexican restaurant and doesn't eat anything. I'd be scarfing down the chips immediately!

Anyway, she tells an inspiring story - makes me want to get some chickens. She connects to the awesome and challenging process of raising food so we will appreciate every bite.