Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer

by Novella Carpenter Narrated by Karen White

Overview

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 300-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 or tomatoes on their fire escape, or who has 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.

Editorial Reviews

Novella Carpenter has always been of two minds. She has always loved the density and culture of cities, but this daughter of a pair of back-to-basics hippies also feels yearnings for homegrown vegetables and the clucking noises of geese and ducks. When she moved into a dilapidated house in inner-city Oakland, she didn't despair; she began working hard to clear the garbage-strewn abandoned lot next to her house. By the time she finished, she had grown not only a quite un-urban looking vegetable plot but also spawned a populous farm, complete with pigs, bees, turkeys, chickens, and the aforementioned geese and ducks. Ten years later, Novella's neighbors still think that she's crazy, but that's because they haven't read this uplifting, can-do memoir.

Dwight Garner

Fresh, fearless and jagged around the edges, Ms. Carpenter's book…puts me in mind of Julie Powell's Julie & Julia and Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love. Like those writers Ms. Carpenter is not a pampered girl or a trustafarian; in fact she has a beautifully cranky side and can drink and swear like a sailor. Like them too she is hyper-literate…And finally, like Ms. Powell and Ms. Gilbert, Ms. Carpenter is very, very funny…Farm City is filled with terrific stories.
—The New York Times

Dominique Browning

…easily the funniest, weirdest, most perversely provocative gardening book I've ever read. I couldn't put it down…[Carpenter's] tone is clear, relaxed and amiable
—The New York Times Book Review

Nora Krug

Urban-agrarian tension emerges at almost every turn in this entertaining account, as Carpenter's chickens meander into neighbors' apartments (during the avian flu scare!) and her farm is threatened by various forms of the city's indigenous wildlife: opossums, guard dogs, hungry vagrants, real estate developers. Carpenter rolls with it all…
—The Washington Post

Kirkus Reviews

Urban eccentricity meets rural thrift and tradition in a charming debut memoir about the author's farm in downtown Oakland. Carpenter, the progeny of two hippies whose attempt to go "back to the land" ended in near disaster, was drawn to farming yet unwilling to give up the cultural and intellectual perks of an urban environment: museums, bars, libraries, etc. Already an amateur apiarist and avid gardener, she moved with her husband from the Seattle suburbs to "Ghost Town" Oakland, attracted by its energy and diversity, undeterred by the nightly drive-bys. Of equal interest to the author was the garbage-filled abandoned lot next door. Soon, her visions of heirloom tomatoes, peach trees, fresh squash, even watermelons, became a reality. Inspired, she added a few chickens, then some ducks, geese, two turkeys, a few rabbits and two pigs. Carpenter found herself increasingly enveloped in the beautiful yet brutal circle of life that rules a farm. She gives heart-rending descriptions of her emotions when stray dogs killed one of the turkeys, but also admits that she intended to harvest the remaining bird for Thanksgiving dinner. In warm, witty prose, she describes feeding her livestock with scraps foraged from neighboring restaurants, as well as visits from local children, Vietnamese monks and eccentric neighbors, many of whom joined the author for meals and enjoyed the fruits of her labors. The special relationship between farmer and food was driven home for Carpenter when a local chef taught her traditional rural Italian techniques for harvesting every part of her pigs to create delicacies from headcheese and pork broth to prosciutto and salami. Experiencing Carpenter's trials andtribulations, readers will get an honest portrait of where meals come from and an understanding that connecting with the food chain, even in the smallest ways, can enrich the palate and the soul. A fascinating, vividly written story about city and community that will change perceptions about the local farmers market.

From the Publisher

Easily the funniest, weirdest, most perversely provocative gardening book I've ever read. I couldn't put it down . . . The writing soars.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Captivating . . . By turns edgy, moving, and hilarious, Farm City marks the debut of a striking new voice in American writing.” —Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and Food Rules

“Fresh, fearless, and jagged around the edges, Ms. Carpenter's book . . . puts me in mind of Julie Powell's Julie & Julia and Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love.” —The New York Times

“Carpenter, with [her] humor and step-by-step clarity, make[s] it seem utterly possible to grow the kind of food you want to eat, wherever you live.” —Los Angeles Times

SEPTEMBER 2009 - AudioFile

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. B.P. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170232536
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	07/23/2009
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos