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. When Carpenter moved to a ramshackle house in inner-city Oakland and discovered a weed-choked, garbage-strewn abandoned lot next door, she decided that it might be possible to have it both ways: a homegrown vegetable plot, as well as museums, bars, and concerts mere minutes away. She closed her eyes and pictured heirloom tomatoes, a beehive, and a chicken coop.

Every day on this strange and beautiful farm, urban meets rural in the most surprising ways. What started out as a few egg-laying chickens led to geese, ducks, and two turkeys, Harold and Maude, who tend to escape on a daily basis to cavort with the prostitutes hanging around just off the highway nearby. When rabbits and two three-hundred-pound pigs were added to the mix of livestock and crops, they were fed from the dumpsters of the city's finest restaurants. And no, these charming and eccentric animals weren't pets; she was a farmer, not a zookeeper. Novella was raising these animals for dinner.

For all those who have ever grown herbs on their windowsills, tomatoes on their fire escapes, or obsessed over the offerings at the local farmers' markets, Carpenter's story will capture their hearts. And for those who have ever considered leaving it all behind to become farmers outside the city limits, or looked at abandoned lots next door with gleams in their eyes, Farm City is both a cautionary tale and a full-throated call to action.

Novella will be joined by Nathan McClintock, doctoral candidate in geography at U. C. Berkeley and member of the Oakland Food Policy Council, to discuss the broader implications of how agriculture fits into cities now and in the future.

Reposted from the Society for Agriculture and Food Ecology:

April 7, 2010, 7:30-9:00 pm
U. C. Berkeley