Novella Carpenter

Lately, in times of trouble and tribulation, I've found myself asking "what would Novella do?" I'm sure you are all sick of me talking about Novella Carpenter, but she basically lives the life I want to live. Novella Carpenter is an urban farmer in downtown Oakland and I saw her speak at the Los Angeles Public Library series, ALOUD. Our dearest Heng (of UEPI) sent me the link to the event and so I biked (let it be known that my bike tires were actually slashed during the lecture)/ metro-ed/ walked all the way to the Central Library downtown on a hot sunny July afternoon.
Novella Carpenter is basically a squatter, she farms on the empty 4,500 square foot lot next to the duplex she lives in with her boyfriend in the Ghost town neighborhood of Oakland, where the wind howls through the "ghetto" and "the crack zombies come out at night." She describes her farm as jankity, with most of the beds and sheds made from found objects throughout Oakland there "is no Martha Stuart happening" in her garden. Ghost town Farms, the name of her urban farming venture, has bees, pigs, goats, bunnies, chickens, and turkeys. Novella slaughters her own animals, except for the goat that her halal Yemeni neighbor/liquor store owner offered to slaughter for her. She explains that through raising and slaughtering her own animals, she has learned to see what its really like to eat meat. She actually teaches slaughtering classes at her farm (FIELD TRIP), and as it seems from her blog she also flies other places to teach other eager meat eaters.
Novella's lecture was very very funny, everything on her farm is funny. When describing what it was like to raise her pigs she says, "I felt like the witch from Hansel and Gretel, thinking 'when can I eat you, when can I eat you?!!'" She describes herself as a "robo-hippie," someone who has a blackberry but also slaughters her own animals. For her first slaughters, she said she pulled up a you-tube how-to video.
Things really picked up, Novella recounts, when she and her boyfriend learned about dumpster diving. Most of the pig feed came from the dumpster behind their favorite Chinese restaurant. Yes, her pigs eat Chinese food, "like good urban pigs."
When describing neighbors and other Oakland residents coming into her farm and picking her food, Novella exclaims "YES! Someone at some great produce today!"
Novella and her boyfriend get about 80% of what they eat from the garden. She said that she has been able to get all of her food from the farm, "but then we lose weight."
She mentioned a couple of books which I haven't checked out yet, but:
The Encyclopedia of Country Living
The Integral Urban House
The Good Life by Scott and Helen Nearing

One audience member asked her what her future plans were, again Novella's response was hilarious: she wants to commandeer the nearby abandoned play field for sheep, maybe a mule and then she wants to ride her mule through downtown Oakland. But, then she ended on a more serious note "maintain what you have." I think these words are appropriate for more than just farming.

Check out her book:
Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer: June 2009, Penguin Press

(it's really good)