Farm City

As I’ve already mentioned, I dove headfirst into this urban farming thing. Fortunately, once on my rocky journey, I had some words of guidance from some wise folks who have done this already. They helped me steer around pitfalls, and reassured me that all this sweat was going to grow into something edible and eventually meaningful.
Farm City, by Novella Carpenter, gave me the push I needed to go beyond the potted tomato plant (which by the way is a beautiful thing). This gal went whole hog, literally, she raised and ate her own hogs. But there is a backdrop to this story you must hear to understand how sensible, and at the same, how revolutionary this gal is.
Novella (I know I should refer to her as Ms. Carpenter, but I love that name Novella so much I just need to use it) and her partner in crime, Bill, settled into their downtown Oakland apartment specifically because it had a vacant lot next door. Over the course of the story she uses that space, her balcony, her little yard, and a room in her house to raise food. She begins right away with the business of hijacking the lot space for a rich vegetable garden. Her neighbors, a diverse and open-minded group, don’t seem to mind at all when she dumps copious amounts of horse manure into the lot, but by that point, they too are benefitting from the shared bounty. By the end of her tale, there are plants and animals of all edible varieties living happily and filling every available space around her.
Midway through reading this book I was not only convinced that I could raise food for my family, but that it would not require that I be a master gardener or even a green thumb. I could do it with attention and labor, and by god I actually have those! But this wasn’t a self-help book, far from it. In her story, Ms. Novella struggles through failures and disappointments with self-effacing humor and an innocent stubbornness. No matter what people say, she is going to grab that crate of lettuce out of the trash behind the Vietnamese restaurant because she needs to feed her rabbits. And, as she waddles after her wandering turkeys down King Boulevard, you realize you are dealing with a true devil-may-care attitude. In short, Novella is a refreshing answer to all those stooges and prims who tell you to make your garden perfect or get out.
So if you have ever felt like telling your HOA to bite it, and/or you want to see the best in people of all walks and stations, than pick this one up. Farm City is more than inspiration for those with dirt under their nails. It is a story of dedication to an ideal, and the good things that can happen when you let your natural enthusiasm take over.