Scan barcode
A review by sarabz
Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter
3.0
A quick read and well written, but be prepared for some graphic descriptions of animal slaughter.
Carpenter explores urban farming from a distinct perspective, and does a decent job of connecting her efforts to an earlier diy, back-to-the land movement (of which her parents were a part). She also touches on her privilege and her lineage as a white, college-educated person who has chosen to explore farming because of her interest in and enjoyment of food production and having a connection to her food. And that is the heart of the book - building a relationship with food production, especially the food produced by/with animals.
Towards the end of the book, when I was started to get annoyed about the omission, she touches on the prevalence of urban farming outside of the U.S. and on some additional urban farming histories/traditions in this country. Being me, I wanted more about those stories and about the social, cultural, and racial politics of food and food production. But the book is really a memoir about her own relationship to farming and food and she doesn't pretend that it is anything more, so I don't fault her for not exploring those topics in depth.
Carpenter explores urban farming from a distinct perspective, and does a decent job of connecting her efforts to an earlier diy, back-to-the land movement (of which her parents were a part). She also touches on her privilege and her lineage as a white, college-educated person who has chosen to explore farming because of her interest in and enjoyment of food production and having a connection to her food. And that is the heart of the book - building a relationship with food production, especially the food produced by/with animals.
Towards the end of the book, when I was started to get annoyed about the omission, she touches on the prevalence of urban farming outside of the U.S. and on some additional urban farming histories/traditions in this country. Being me, I wanted more about those stories and about the social, cultural, and racial politics of food and food production. But the book is really a memoir about her own relationship to farming and food and she doesn't pretend that it is anything more, so I don't fault her for not exploring those topics in depth.