Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer

 

I just finished Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter.  Ms. Carpenter is an urban farmer in Oakland and Farm City chronicles her experience with animal husbandry on plot of land smaller than my yard.  Urban farming is all the rage these days and it's easy to dismiss the likes of Ms. Carpenter and her hipster following as a passing fad, except for the fact that everywhere—from containers on DC condo patios, to community plots, to the White House lawn—a garden is growing.  Granted, gardening is not farming, but considering the egg crisis and the number of articles I’ve read on people raising their own chickens, interest in raising animals, to be eaten, qualifies as trend. (Note: most of the laws in the Washington region, including DC, MD, and VA, either prohibit or make it difficult for people to raise chickens).

I’m not saying that I’m going to become a farmer any time soon.  Just look at that photo of me above.  Need I say more?  If anything, Ms. Carpenter’s book persuaded me that raising chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, and, yes, pigs, is a job left to someone who looks better in overalls then I do (and, now that I think of it, someone who doesn’t really care what they look like in overalls). 

I enjoyed Farm City, but reading about dumpster diving to feed urban pigs was a little too much for me to consider taking on my own animals.   But I sure did like the sound of the prosciutto and salami that Big Guy, Ms. Carpenter’s pig, turned into.  I do care about where my food comes from, but, for now, I'll stick to farmers markets.