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The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter
(available summer 2009)
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 three-hundred-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, tomatoes on their fire escape, or 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.

Urban and rural collide in this wry, inspiring memoir of a woman who
turned a vacant lot in downtown Oakland into a thriving farm
Novella Carpenter grew up in rural Idaho and Washington State. She majored in biology and English at the
University of Washington in Seattle. While attending Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, she studied under
Michael Pollan for two years. Her writing has appeared on Salon.com, Saveur.com, sfgate.com (The San Francisco
Chronicle’s Web site), and in Mother Jones. Her urban farm began with a few chickens, then some bees, until she had a
full-blown farm near downtown Oakland, where she lives today.
ISBN: 978-1-59420-221-6
Price: $25.95/$28.50 Can.
EAN: 9781594202216 52595
On Sale: 6/11/09