Farm City

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer - Novella Carpenter

From Amazon: "Highways roared in the distance. Gunshots could be heard a few blocks away. And a homeless man slept in an abandoned car down the street. Among these modern-day urban scenes, author Novella Carpenter put down roots literally turning a vacant lot in Oakland, California, into a working mini-farm, complete with vegetables, herbs, chickens, ducks, and bees. Karen White reads these lively accounts of missteps and delicious victories, including recipes, with the author's intelligence, humor, and devotion to the American ideal of hard work and self-sufficiency. Farming is about food, and food is always about people. Carpenter's encounters with third-world neighbors, block parties, and the boy who came to buy a rabbit are beguiling and inspiring"


I really, really enjoy reading books about farming, food and things like that. Not sure why - I don't think about eating all the time, just most of it! Maybe I'm missing the abundance of fresh fruit and herbs from Mom's garden, but reading this book made me want to do more with the tiny deck that I have, and figure out a way to make things grow.

While I'm not really keen on the idea of growing animals to kill them for food (yes, I realize that this is natural and the way that we've been living for a long time, but I'm not really that into knowing my food), I think that the amount of food that our society wastes is insane, and perhaps a few urban farms with some pigs would do the city some good. We'd certainly reduce the amount of food wasted, and probably have some healthier animals and meat for ourselves.

I really enjoyed this, despite a few gruesome parts (mostly slaughter), and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about food.