MADreads

The ultimate urban farmer (or would that be urban squatter?)

September 11th, 2009 Mary K. - Central

The idea of growing vegetables on an abandoned empty lot in Oakland doesn’t seem too unreasonable; expanding to include rabbits, poultry, and even pigs makes it seem like a bigger undertaking, but Novella Carpenter and her partner take it all in stride.  Carpenter documents their experiences in her charming and often humorous book Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer.  This is more than a book about growing one’s own food; it also describes the neighborhood, the people, and life in what seems a dangerous and deteriorating place.

Novella and Bill relocate to Oakland, into a neighborhood referred to as “Ghost City” and one that could best be described as an urban ghetto.  With permission from the owner of the vacant lot next door, they begin gardening there - with a growing season and variety of plants that would be the envy of any Wisconsin farmer or home gardener.  Soon they add bees, chickens, and other poultry, and finally 2 pigs.

Although they learn as they go, for the the most part they are successful although they face some unexpected dilemmas with the animals along the way.  When they purchase the pigs, they have no idea what they were getting into and, in what is the most amusing section, Carpenter details how they fed them.  This involves the decision to dumpster dive for the food (for the pigs <g>).  In a nice twist, the dumpster diving turns out to be advantageous.  At an upscale restaurant dumpster, Carpenter meets a gourmet chef with experience preserving meat, who then helps her make salami and other sausages from the pig.

This was a fascinating read and an excellent audiobook.  Karen White is the perfect reader, who reads as though it is her own story.  And the best news of all, Novella Carpenter is on the presenter list for this year’s Book Festival.  Her program will be a Book Fest highlight for me.

Entry Filed under: Nonfiction