Farm City Wrap and Link-Fest

On Saturday, November 13, 2010, just a week after Novella Carpenter spoke about her book and her farm, the Readers Roundtable book group met in the San Leandro Library to discuss
Novella Carpenter's book Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. Of the 11 present, 9 liked the book, 1 was indifferent, and 1 hadn't read it.

Everyone found the book entertaining at least at some point. Several people said they liked the first part of the book better than the last part. At least one person, having been to the talk the week before, felt Novella Carpenter was better as a speaker than as a writer. I mentioned that I cried when "Harold" became Thanksgiving dinner. A number of us had tales of our own urban gardening triumphs and disasters. No one present had any prior urban livestock experience. In fact, Linda shared with us an ordinance from the San Leandro Municipal Code which prohibits the keeping of any animals except "...cats, caged birds, caged birds, not over two spayed or neutered pot-bellied pigs, not over 2 dogs, and not over four doves..." kept as household pets or pet-shop animals and further prohibits the keeping of bees within 600 feet of any dwelling.

Link-Fest

• Novella Carpenter's own blog.
• Article about books on ethical eating, which appeared in the Chron the same week I started reading Farm City.
• The Murray McMurray poultry catalog. This is the catalog Novella Carpenter ordered her first batch of meat birds from and was a major wish-book for me back in the days when I dreamed of "getting back to the land." (Disclaimer: I had never even been to the land, so getting back to it was a double-layered fantasy). Did you ever imagine there were so many kinds of domesticated fowl?
• I read this article about one man's attempt at urban farming in Brooklyn when it first appeared in New York Magazine back in 2007. I noticed a post on Novella Carpenter's blog which indicated that she had taken a second look at this article recently and had softened on her earlier harsh criticism of it (so apparently her initial impression was not favorable). I personally found it humorous and well written, and probably more like what my experience would be like if I ever tried urban farming for real.
• For those of you who have a place 600 feet from a dwelling to keep bees, a link to the Alameda County Beekeepers Association.
• Novella Carpenter mentioned Detroit's place in the history of urban farming. Detroit is also a pioneer in the renaissance of urban farming. Here is a link to an article and video clip about Detroit's revived urban agriculture movement from the Guardian in the UK.