Urban and rural collide in this wry, inspiring memoir of a woman who turned a vacant lot in downtown Oakland into a thriving farm
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reviews
Sep 01, 2011
Kara
rated it: 
I had fair warning: the sections of this book are named turkey, rabbit, and pig.
Still, I was willing to read about the killing and eating of animals because of the good things I'd heard.
The book is as much about living in the down-and-out part of Oakland and general D.I.Y. as much as urban farming. Carpenter's sense of humor is on target for the first half of the book, as is the charm in her descriptions of her neighbors, her farming projects, and even of the animals she keep More...
Still, I was willing to read about the killing and eating of animals because of the good things I'd heard.
The book is as much about living in the down-and-out part of Oakland and general D.I.Y. as much as urban farming. Carpenter's sense of humor is on target for the first half of the book, as is the charm in her descriptions of her neighbors, her farming projects, and even of the animals she keep More...
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Nov 12, 2011
Tamara
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I absolutely loved this book. The paralells between Novella's backyard city farm and my own rural spread are uncanny. Both of us are running a veritable shit show where things go wrong, animals are cavorting along public roadways, animals die...and yet neither of us can imagine a life doing anything else. Novella is my kind of gal. She's ballsy, hilarious, adventurous and kind. The people she encounters through her adventure are so genuinely bizarre. I adore her homeless "neighbour" Bobby and fe
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Mar 14, 2009
Erica
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This is the best memoir of urban farming I have ever read.
Novella relays her joys and hardships of farming in Oakland with enthusiasm, intelligence, candor and humor. Aside from growing vegetables and fruit, she merrily upgrades her stock from chickens and turkeys to rabbits finally ending at pigs.
I laughed so hard at the image of hauling pigs in the back of a station wagon! I'm thinking of making hubby Tal read it so he can realize that just chickens aren't so bad in c More...
Novella relays her joys and hardships of farming in Oakland with enthusiasm, intelligence, candor and humor. Aside from growing vegetables and fruit, she merrily upgrades her stock from chickens and turkeys to rabbits finally ending at pigs.
I laughed so hard at the image of hauling pigs in the back of a station wagon! I'm thinking of making hubby Tal read it so he can realize that just chickens aren't so bad in c More...
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Nov 20, 2011
Mariel
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My fiance's been reading a lot about permaculture and urban farming lately, and while I appreciate the idea of self grown organic produce, I haven't been too motivated to read into it myself. But he insisted I read Farm City, Carpenter's account of squat gardening and raising livestock in inner city Oakland, and I'm so glad he did. She explains how she grew vegetables and fruit trees, as well as raised turkeys, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits and even pigs over the course of several years. At o
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Dec 10, 2011
Jessica
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With bemused frankness, Carpenter opens the doors and gates to her urban farm and invites the reader to come in from where her life of raising bees, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, rabbits, and finally pigs in an abandoned lot in an Oakland ghetto seems crazy and chaotic, to a place where it seems completely normal, and only a little crazy. The first chapters are bumpy, but by the fourth or fifth, Carpenter hits a stride that is the perfect blend of narrative, fact, and insight, without any of
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Nov 26, 2011
David
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Novella Carpenter's Farm City is an endearing look at the author's journey to eat well and live simply. The child of 1970s back-to-the-land hippies, Novella spent her first 10 years on a farm in Idaho until her parents split and rediscovered the joy of growing in college. This book recounts her and her long term boyfriend Bill's efforts to create a small farm in a ghetto neighborhood in Oakland, California. At first she has a large garden and bees, but soon she adds in chickens, ducks, turkeys,
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Oct 13, 2011
Francine
rated it:
Inspiring book for an urban gardener who dabbles in poultry and dreams of farming...like me. The book tells her memoir but doesn't sugar coat. The idea of having a flock of chickens for meat purposes has crossed my mind on more than one occasion. It is easy to see how one becomes enamoured with the idea of self sustained living and being a locavore. I don't see myself being a locavore because in the Pacific Northwest I would not get very much citrus and the lack of sunshine means I need alternat
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Jul 31, 2011
Barky
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Novella Carpenter moved with her husband to an apartment in a bad part of Oakland, CA. Their home was located next to an empty lot, on which Novella (being the child of two hippie parents) planted her first squat garden (squat, because she was squatting and hadn’t asked the owner, initially, for permission). Once the garden was flourishing, she expanded her farming operations to bees, chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, and even pigs. Some of her neighbors were puzzled or intrigued by h
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Mar 31, 2011
Robin
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What a wonderful, light, often funny read! It has inspired me to plant a bigger and better garden this year, learn more about community gardens in our area and to help support school gardens. I very much enjoyed the book and the author's sense of humor. I have many favorite quotes, but here are just a few. I read off my Sony Reader; hope page numbers correlate.
"That I could borrow a firearm like a cup of sugar sure felt neighborly." P. 81
"Even in this ghett More...
"That I could borrow a firearm like a cup of sugar sure felt neighborly." P. 81
"Even in this ghett More...
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Mar 14, 2011
Margot
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I have to admit that I'm biased in my review because this book is set 3 miles from where I live. One of the things I really enjoyed about reading this story of urban farming adventures was the forthcoming nature of Carpenter's narrative, sometimes to the point of oversharing. For instance, I would probably not have written a book in such a way that my readers could figure out quite easily where I live (28th at MLK in Oakland, you can see her empty-lot farm on Google streetview!). But this kind o
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Jan 07, 2011
Danielle
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So, I read this book for the second time to try to give it another chance. I just WANTED to like it so much. The premise is something that is near and dear to my heart as I want to move from a heavy gardener to someone who is very deeply rooted in the farming scene. I grew up in a farming community and now live in the city, so shouldn't this book be right up my alley? The second try has confirmed, I hate this book. Maybe hate is a strong word, but who the hell told Novella to end her chapter
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Dec 01, 2010
Michael
rated it:
What a wonderful book! From the first page, this book charmed me, made me think, made me laugh. It ended too quickly and left me wondering what Novella's and Bill's latest urban farming adventures are.
This is an account of a young couple who move into the upper floor of a Victorian that's been converted into a duplex. The house is in a rough, a very rough, part of Oakland, California. We're talking people shooting up and shooting each other in broad daylight. We're talking Interst More...
This is an account of a young couple who move into the upper floor of a Victorian that's been converted into a duplex. The house is in a rough, a very rough, part of Oakland, California. We're talking people shooting up and shooting each other in broad daylight. We're talking Interst More...
Oct 24, 2010
Rachelle
rated it:
I'm pretty surprised at how highly this book has been rated and how many impressive blurbs (Michael Pollan, NYT Book Review, Oprah) it has received. I picked it up to read as a comp title for a narrative I'm working on now, and I thought about putting it down at least half a dozen times as I made my way through it. It took me at least the first third of the book to become invested, and even then I only stuck with it because I wanted to read it for comparison.
Basically I think Novell More...
Basically I think Novell More...
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Aug 18, 2010
Ty
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I haven't been very good at sleeping lately, so for a while this is what I was reading in the middle of the night when I didn't want to think about anything or have any emotions. It's about a lady in Oakland who has a garden and some bees and chickens and ducks and turkeys and rabbits and pigs. Towards the end I realized she was giving away quite a bit of her eggs and honey and vegetables, and I wondered if maybe I ought to be a more generous person. As soon as I wondered this I fell asleep.
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Aug 09, 2010
Lan
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This book definitely makes a compelling read with Carpenter's stories about her childhood, family, and life experiences. Carpenter writes well and I admit I read the entire book in two sittings with an hour break between reads.
While I enjoyed the narrative quality of the book, there were things that I felt could be improved with Carpenter's writing. Carpenter's attitude throughout the book towards "wealthy people who farm as a hobby" was bothersome to me. While I completel More...
While I enjoyed the narrative quality of the book, there were things that I felt could be improved with Carpenter's writing. Carpenter's attitude throughout the book towards "wealthy people who farm as a hobby" was bothersome to me. While I completel More...
Aug 02, 2010
Bob
rated it:
Why is this book excellent?
First, it's a story worth telling. Carpenter transcends the "personal essay/memoir" genre by focusing on the story, rather than herself as narrator. Daughter of rural hippies lives in the Oakland ghetto and ends up raising bees, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, pigs, and a complete garden.
Second, it's excellently written. The egoless approach to memoir is relevant here as well. She focuses on the story and the action, with the perf More...
First, it's a story worth telling. Carpenter transcends the "personal essay/memoir" genre by focusing on the story, rather than herself as narrator. Daughter of rural hippies lives in the Oakland ghetto and ends up raising bees, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, pigs, and a complete garden.
Second, it's excellently written. The egoless approach to memoir is relevant here as well. She focuses on the story and the action, with the perf More...
Jun 23, 2010
Anne
rated it:
I end up on the "it was OK" rating of two stars mostly because Novella simply rubs me the wrong way. She unfortunately comes off to me as someone with just a bit of a holier-than-thou attitude toward her neighbors and neighborhood, although it's difficult for me to pinpoint just how that attitude gets communicated to me. Many times the scenarios are humorous and the interactions zany in a good way. Yet when she confesses that it took her two years to get up the courage to walk off her
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May 25, 2010
Rosa
rated it:
This book came across my desk at the office and I'm so glad that it did! I burned through this book in a couple of nights. I am absolutely fascinated with Novella's approach to farming. Her writing is quick, witty and personable. I would say that she writes like you are speaking with her over a cup of coffee--except that I don't know if I'm tough enough to roll with her.
In fact, my favorite part of the book is when she has to summon the courage to ask the chef to help her learn how to cure More...
In fact, my favorite part of the book is when she has to summon the courage to ask the chef to help her learn how to cure More...
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May 19, 2010
Justin
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This book riveted me and intrigued me, even though I wasn't such a fan of its author. Even though she retains a dry, slightly detached perspective on her own life throughout the book, urban farmer Novella Carpenter comes across as kind of smug, especially when ranking on her "trustafarian" friends who yearn to be urban farmers too, despite the fact they have all the money in the world and no need for such a hobby.
To those trustafarians, I say: Farm on! Don't listen to your More...
To those trustafarians, I say: Farm on! Don't listen to your More...
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May 06, 2010
Adele
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(Audioversion) (Two and a half stars.) The story, which apparently sprang from her blog about how she moved to inner-city Oakland California and began growing her own food—moving quickly from fruits and vegetables, to bees, to meat-birds and rabbits, and finally to raising pigs—by squatting on a vacant inner-city lot, next to an apartment she rents. I had some mixed feelings about this one. The book is engaging, and there is a part of Carpenter that seems to have honorable intentions and a g
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Nov 22, 2009
Becca
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Because I have a secret desire to turn my front yard into a vegetable garden, I loved the brazen confidence with which the author tackles becoming an urban farmer - complete with chickens, turkeys, rabbits, and even pigs. I didn't particularly care for the author's writing style (I found it a little bit annoying; I'm still not exactly sure why), but the story was so interesting and informative that it didn't matter. Novella Carpenter's memoir of urban farming in Berkley, California addresses sev
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Nov 16, 2009
jess
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Novella Carpenter moved from rainy Seattle, WA to Oakland, CA. More accurately, she moved to Ghosttown, an especially rough part of Oakland where "tumbleweaves" roll across the abandoned lots. She took an apartment near an abandoned lot, and began a "squat garden," (illegal occupation of land you do not own for the purpose of growing plants). That squat garden grew into a squat farm, which grew into this book. The book is highly readable, often funny, and I was charmed by the
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Nov 06, 2009
Sarah
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The author and her boyfriend move to a nasty part of Oakland and make a go of raising vegetables and livestock on their deck and the empty lot next door. It has a lot more discussion than most urban-gardening books about raising animals other than chickens in a city, including space issues (entire apartment is filled with chick brooders and equipment), neighbor issues (especially when you let your animals escape on a daily basis), and the ability of animals to subsist on dumpster-dived food (ama
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Nov 02, 2009
Helen
rated it:
When Novella Carpenter and boyfriend Bill move from Seattle to Oakland, they choose their apartment for its cast of eccentric neighbors and the empty lot behind the building. In short order, Novella has taken over the lot, not only with a garden of heirloom vegetables, but chickens, bees, and even pigs. Because she is essentially squatting on another’s property, she is very generous about allowing strangers to partake of the fruits of her labor, while waiting for bulldozers to clear her space fo
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Oct 09, 2009
Erica
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The best book I have read in ages, seriously. This is a story about a woman my age who started an urban farm deep in an Oakland ghetto, and the saga of going from bees to fowl to rabbits to pigs. She has a sardonic, witty tone that kept me right with her while she illuminated her awkward, sweaty, brutal, and difficult quest.
She really gets to the heart of what is important about food, and what is lacking in our food culture, without sounding preachy. She addresses the class issues of l More...
She really gets to the heart of what is important about food, and what is lacking in our food culture, without sounding preachy. She addresses the class issues of l More...
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Jun 23, 2009
Randy
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Admittedly, this is a strange read for a vegetarian. There was a time in my life when I might have closed it up and moved on. Perhaps I'm more open minded about meat than I used to be though Novella Carpenter's lust for flesh hasn't moved me to change my diet. Yet her story is compelling and she is an engaging and honest writer. At least I think she's honest. I like to read books that take me to places I would never go to. The Oakland, California ghetto is one of these places. Here Novella creat
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Sep 11, 2010
Jay
rated it:
I did enjoy reading this book about the trials of growing crops and raising animals in an inner city part of Oakland. Based on other things I've read recently, however, this was a bit derivative. This books takes the "Julie and Julia" formula (start blogging an odd, obsessive quest mixing in interesting backstory) and add on lots of talk about growing and raising food, as well as making food. Very much like Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life" (both books
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Jun 19, 2010
Matt
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This is the memoir of a postmodern American pioneer. I've been researching an article about urban farming in New Orleans, and was recommended to read Novella Carpenter while interviewing an urban homesteader here. I was lucky enough to interview Carpenter for my article, too, and she was very gracious. Her memoir, about raising a variety of livestock on a vacant lot adjoining her rental property in Oakland, is a creative, optimistic look at food scarcity and affordable food production in apocaly
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Oct 19, 2010
Diane
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This was such a fascinating book to read. I felt like I learned a great deal about food and where it comes in a way that was not instructional. The author described her experience with her urban farm beautifully. I find it fascinating that she was able to create such a bountiful harvest in such a desolate area. I have heard much more about city flower gardens, but never one that more closely resembled a farm. While I'm not about to run out and buy some chickens, I get why she did it and adm
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Oct 02, 2009
"I have a farm on a dead-end street in the ghetto." So begins Novella Carpenter's charming, engaging account of her experience establishing a farm in the middle of Oakland, California. She and her cuddly boyfriend, Bill, start simply enough by planting vegetables and keeping bees. Gradually, they increase their stake in the farm by adding poultry, then rabbits, and finally pigs. She and Bill, not wanting to feed their menagerie manufactured chow (never mind that they couldn’t afford su
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