Farm City
The Education of an Urban Farmer
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Narrated by:
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Karen White
About this listen
Ambivalent about repeating her parents' disastrous mistakes, yet drawn to the idea of backyard self-sufficiency, Carpenter decided that it might be possible to have it both ways: a homegrown vegetable plot as well as museums, bars, concerts, and a 24-hour convenience mart mere minutes away - especially when she moved to a ramshackle house in inner-city Oakland and discovered a weed-choked, garbage-strewn abandoned lot next door. She closed her eyes and pictured heirloom tomatoes, a beehive, and a chicken coop. What started out as a few egg-laying chickens led to turkeys, geese, and ducks. Soon, some rabbits joined the fun, then two 300-pound pigs. And no, these charming and eccentric animals weren't pets; she was a farmer, not a zookeeper. Novella was raising these animals for dinner.
Novella Carpenter's corner of downtown Oakland is populated by unforgettable characters. Lana (anal spelled backward, she reminds us) runs a speakeasy across the street and refuses to hurt even a fly, let alone condone raising turkeys for Thanksgiving. Bobby, the homeless man who collects cars and car parts just outside the farm, is an invaluable neighborhood concierge. The turkeys, Harold and Maude, tend to escape on a daily basis to cavort with the prostitutes hanging around just off the highway nearby.
Every day on this strange and beautiful farm, urban meets rural in the most surprising ways. For anyone who has ever grown herbs on their windowsill or tomatoes on their fire escape, or who has obsessed over the offerings at the local farmers' market, Carpenter's story will capture your heart.
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When Novella Carpenter and her boyfriend decide to move to an apartment at the end of a street in a rough neighborhood in Oakland, California, they base their choice on the large and vacant lot next door. Already experienced with raising chickens, gardening, and keeping bees, Carpenter wants to take on a larger challenge: creating an urban farm. Farm City is a memoir chronicling her development of the vacant lot, the acquisition of livestock, and the rich and diverse characters that populate her new neighborhood.
Carpenter's voice comes through Karen White's narration as having matter-of-fact sensibility, dotted throughout the book with dry humor and a healthy sense of irony. Carpenter is constantly planning to take the operations of her farm a step further than the season before, starting with raising ducks and turkeys in addition to her chickens; but as much as she plans, something unexpected is always around the corner. White's narration at once reflects Carpenter's excitement and frustration at setbacks, as every project turns out to be something slightly other than what she bargained for.
As the narrative of Farm City unfolds, Carpenter routinely reflects on herself in relation to the tradition of farming, and it is clear she sees herself in line with both the people of the past who farmed out of necessity and writers and scholars who have written about man's connection with earth as an intellectual exercise. Instead of trying to obtain a novel and unique experience, Carpenter wants to see herself as part of a very human tradition, and White's voice commands authority when she quotes the people who have inspired Carpenter. As Carpenter describes her rationale for deciding to raise livestock for meat and the daunting task of butchering the animals herself; White is unflinching. She conveys a confidence that what may seem brutal about killing her livestock has been a mere fact of life for human beings up until recent decades, and her candid descriptions and frank tone force the listener to wonder why it's the idea of having one's own farm that seems strange, and not the fact that so few of us has any connection at all with what we eat every day. Erin Ikeler
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Freshly disengaged from her fiancé and feeling that life has not turned out quite the way she planned, 30-year-old Ruth quits her job, leaves town, and arrives at her parents' home to find that situation more complicated than she'd realized. Her father, a prominent history professor, is losing his memory and is only erratically lucid. Ruth's mother, meanwhile, is lucidly erratic.
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Hello Sweet Sweet Book
- By Syd Young on 08-06-17
By: Rachel Khong
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Seedfolks
- By: Paul Fleischman
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 1 hr and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Thirteen lives. One garden. Set in Cleveland, Newbery-Award-winning author Paul Fleischman's poignant book is a large lesson in connectedness and community for all. When a derelict vacant lot is gradually transformed into a community garden in inner city Cleveland, the people of this community find their differences are less apparent and their isolation dissolved. Performed by thirteen multicuturally and age-authentic voices, this audiobook is designed for listeners of all ages.
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Excellent to listen
- By Rina on 10-12-09
By: Paul Fleischman
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The Hundred-Foot Journey
- A Novel
- By: Richard C. Morais
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Born above his grandfather’s modest restaurant in Mumbai, Hassan first experienced life through intoxicating whiffs of spicy fish curry, trips to the local markets, and gourmet outings with his mother. But when tragedy pushes the family out of India, they console themselves by eating their way around the world, eventually settling in Lumière, a small village in the French Alps.
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Great details & writing in a flawed story
- By David Shear on 02-12-14
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A Muddied Murder
- By: Wendy Tyson
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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When Megan Sawyer gives up her big-city law career to care for her grandmother and run the family's organic farm and cafe, she expects to find tranquility in her scenic hometown of Winsome, PA. Instead, her goat goes missing, rain muddies her fields, the town denies her business permits, and her family's Colonial-era farm sucks up the remains of her savings. Just when she thinks she's reached the bottom of the rain barrel, Megan and the town's hunky veterinarian discover the local zoning commissioner's battered body in her barn.
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Well Written and Entertaning
- By Beatrice on 09-16-16
By: Wendy Tyson
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Death al Dente
- Food Lovers' Village Mystery Series, Book 1
- By: Leslie Budewitz
- Narrated by: Rebecca Mitchell
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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The town of Jewel Bay, Montana - known as a Food Lovers' Village - is obsessed with homegrown and homemade Montana fare. So when Erin Murphy takes over her family's century-old general store, she turns it into a boutique market filled with local delicacies. But Erin's freshly booming business might go rotten when a former employee turns up dead.
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Four and a half stars
- By Beatrice on 05-01-17
By: Leslie Budewitz
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Sheepish
- Two Women, Fifty Sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet
- By: Catherine Friend
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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What do you do when you love your farm...but it doesn’t love you? After 15 years of farming, Catherine Friend is tired. After all, while shepherding is one of the oldest professions, it’s not getting any easier. The number of sheep in America has fallen by 90 percent in the last 90 years. But just as Catherine thinks it’s time to hang up her shepherd’s crook, she discovers that sheep might be too valuable to give up. What ensues is a funny, thoughtful romp through the history of our woolly friends, why small farms are important, and how each one of us - and the planet - would benefit from being very sheepish, indeed.
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We're all a little sheepish
- By Pam on 12-23-14
By: Catherine Friend
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A Year in Provence
- By: Peter Mayle
- Narrated by: Peter Mayle
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
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Peter Mayle and his wife had been to Provence as tourists. They had dreamed of one day trading the long, grey winters and damp summers of England for the blue skies and sunshine of the coast of southern France. And then they made it happen. They moved into an old farmhouse at the foot of the Luberon mountains and embarked on a wonderful, if at times bewildering, new life.
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Ban abridged versions
- By marlowe on 03-30-15
By: Peter Mayle
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Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance
- A Novel
- By: Ruth Emmie Lang
- Narrated by: Piper Goodeve, Peter Berkrot, Cassandra Campbell, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Stopping a tornado was the first of many strange events that seem to follow Weylyn from town to town, although he doesn't like to take credit. As amazing as these powers may appear, they tend to manifest themselves at inopportune times and places. From freak storms to trees that appear to grow over night, Weylyn's unique abilities are a curiosity at best and at worst, a danger to himself and the woman he loves. But Mary doesn't care.
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An Accidental Wonder!
- By Brandy Pendergrass on 02-16-18
By: Ruth Emmie Lang
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The Last Tribe
- By: Brad Manuel
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 22 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Fourteen-year-old Greg Dixon is living a nightmare. Attending boarding school outside of Boston, he is separated from his family when a pandemic strikes. His classmates and teachers are dead, rotting in a dormitory-turned-morgue steps from his room. The nights are getting colder, and his food has run out. The last message from his father is to get away from the city and to meet at his grandparents' town in remote New Hampshire.
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A perfect year in the post apocalypse.
- By Andrew Pollack on 06-18-16
By: Brad Manuel
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Prodigal Summer
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Prodigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives in southern Appalachia. At the heart of these intertwined narratives is a den of coyotes that have recently migrated into the region. Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, watches them from an isolated mountain cabin where she is caught off-guard by Eddie Bondo, a young hunter who comes to invade her most private spaces and her solitary life.
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Amazing!
- By Lily on 10-12-08
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The Way Life Should Be
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Caitlin Davies
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Angela can feel the clock ticking. She is single in New York City, stuck in a job she doesn't want and a life that seems to have somehow just happened. She inherited a flair for Italian cooking from her grandmother, but she never seems to have the time for it - these days, her oven holds only sweaters. Tacked to her office bulletin board is a photo from a magazine of a tidy cottage on the coast of Maine - a charming reminder of a life that could be hers if she could only muster the courage to go after it.
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Simple story
- By Dianna Bogart on 06-09-15
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The Winemaker's Daughter
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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When Brunella Cartolano visits her father on the family vineyard in the basin of the Cascade Mountains, she's shocked by the devastation caused by a four-year drought. Passionate about the Pacific Northwest ecology, Brunella, a cultural impact analyst, is embroiled in a battle to save the Seattle waterfront from redevelopment and to preserve a fisherman's livelihood. But when a tragedy among fire-jumpers results from a failure of the water supply - her brother Niccolo is among those lost - Brunella finds herself with another mission.
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Obviously Not Read By A Washington Resident
- By John C Schuyler on 04-24-19
By: Timothy Egan
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The Garden of Happy Endings
- A Novel
- By: Barbara O'Neal
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In Barbara O’Neal’s novel of hope and renewal, two very different sisters discover that life is like a garden: Tend to it daily, nourish it with patience and optimism, and then watch the beauty unfold. After tragedy shatters her small community in Seattle, the Reverend Elsa Montgomery has a crisis of faith. Returning to her hometown of Pueblo, Colorado, she seeks work in a local soup kitchen. Preparing nourishing meals for folks in need, she keeps her hands busy while her heart searches for understanding. Meanwhile, her sister, Tamsin, as colorful as Elsa is unadorned and steadfast, finds her perfect life shattered when she learns that her husband is a criminal.
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Spiritually Stunted
- By Dina on 01-28-14
By: Barbara O'Neal
What listeners say about Farm City
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- THoward
- 09-30-09
Hmmm.
I got this book because I love gardening, have bees, raise chickens for eggs and meat, and like the idea of being self sufficient. Listening to someone SQUAT on another's land, use their station wagon (tarped the inside, are you serious?) to haul manure, and use the F word wasn't in my plan.
While the book does offer some insight into a way of living I don't understand (daily shootings, sirens, punk kids with no adult supervision) and the gardening of a city dweller with country roots, I didn't like the book. If a person is living in the city and doesn't mind their station wagon having poop in the back then this book is for you.
If you want to read a book with better inspiration of living closer to YOUR land, raising your own food, and gardening for a purpose, then read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
Because some people find humor in the F word, and wouldn't consider a truck as a vital vehicle, I gave this book a 3. If you were my closest friend, I would take the book out of your hand and put it back on the book store shelf.
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20 people found this helpful
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- Karen
- 08-30-13
awesome
What made the experience of listening to Farm City the most enjoyable?
The reality, the fact that she actually carried out her dream in all odds
Who was your favorite character and why?
Both her and her friend
Which scene was your favorite?
the pigs and dumpster diving
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I loved it very real and honestly sustainable
Any additional comments?
This is one of my favorite books, she is real I love the way she utilizes her resources and makes things work, how she reaches out to her readers and makes them feel comfortable about the farming experience. also she shares how you can be a farmer in less than optimal circumstances which is where I feel the strength of this book lies. hats off to you I would love to meet you!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Carol Grosser
- 10-17-11
Fantastic book
As a listener/reader the same age as the author's parents and part of the mindset to "return to the land," but not successful either as her parents weren't, I could relate to the author's background. However, I would have loved to see my offspring grow up to be her. I loved every minute and every word of this book. I will probably listen to it numerous times. She makes no mention of the impending food crisis in our nation as farmers who try to live by farming all die off with no replacements, except for a few stalwarts like the author of this book. And, with the impending loss of cheap transport fuels, urban farms will be the only option for a viable food production system in the future.
This book should encourage more and more urban farms, including the raising of a pig. Modern research has shown that humans evolved our big brains from meat protein and cooking.
And, once you taste, "natural" meats and vegies, you won't go back to the shipped stuff unless you are indeed starving!
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- Steph
- 09-12-20
My kinda people! I am a farmer... an urban farmer
Loved it! the people. the animals. the stories. the idea. very enjoyable. heartwarming. I recommend!
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- Kindle Customer
- 11-22-11
Unexpected
When you choose a book like this you expect to read something that's a little more educational than entertaining. In other words, informative but not as liesurely a read as maybe a Stephanie Plum novel. However, this one surprised me. It WAS educational in some ways, and definitely autobiographical, but it was also quite entertaining. I was very pleased by this book, and by the end of it I wished I had a neighbor with a secret restaurant in her basement and a pair of turkeys in my back yard. I would almost consider this story to be the Eat-Pray-Love of urban farming except Novella Carpenter's final revelation doesn't have quite the umph of Elizabeth Gilbert's. Still, the story has a similar feel and was worth my time & credits. I would recommend it to others (in fact, I am) most certainly.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Walter
- 08-14-12
Fantastic story, lots of great info!
A great adventure in farming in the worst part of Oakland, CA. The adventures and misadventures of Nouvella Carpenter, hippy farmer are by turns touching and hilarious. Dumpster-diving to feed her pigs, hauling horse manure from farms outside the city, losing her geese and ducks to an opossum - all told from a singular point of view. Even if you're not as big a bleeding heart as Nouvella (and I'm not), there's lots of food for thought, along with stories of food for her neighbors.
Nouvella's more than just a latter-day hippie farmer, though - along with lots of references to to the literature on farming, self-sufficiency, ecology and environmentalism, I caught mentions of Icarus and Nobel Prize laureate Maurice Maeterlinck.
I'm a complete city-slicker, with more a black thumb than a green thumb, but this book is making me rethink a bit of how I live my life - and certainly making me change what I plan to read next. And to think I only got it on a whim, as $4.95 members-only special!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Sarah
- 08-19-10
Not an instruction book but a fun read
First, for those upset because this woman is a "squatter," maybe should read/listen closer. She has permission to have a garden on that lot and says so at around the 45 minute spot. She just likes to call herself that because she was for about a week. Then met the owner and got permission.
This book does not give you directions so much as tell an entertaining story though you will hear tips on urban farming here and there. If hearing the four letter word for excretion rather than a more polite term for it upsets you, then move on. If the idea of putting well-rotted, composted horse manure in your car (at this point it's just a really rich soil - horse stuff is just plants ground up pretty much anyway) upsets your sensibilities then you'll hear things that will upset you. Being a former horse owner and long-time organic gardener, none of this upsets me in the least. I was jealous of her for being able to get so much of it.
For me, this was a very entertaining book and I enjoyed it a lot. Giving 4 rather than 5 stars though as I reserve 5 for only the greatest. Again, I enjoyed this book very much.
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11 people found this helpful
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- M. Pepper
- 02-21-16
Really enjoyed the story
The fact that it's mostly true was neat. The narration was excellent. I'm just sorry there's not a sequel.
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- Jaime
- 01-01-12
Funny, educational, relatable
What did you love best about Farm City?
I loved how real it was. The author seemed like a regular person, making her very relatable. I appreciated her honesty with her interests, struggles, triumphs, and learnings. She didn't filter unnecessarily- she described things as they were, with a healthy balance of humor, reality, and gratitude.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Farm City?
How the author related to us her realizations of a greater connectedness and cycle with living things, communities, and herself. You could tell she had a healthy respect for what she was doing and how it impacted the world around her.
Have you listened to any of Karen White’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I have not; this was an excellent first.
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- Richard
- 10-09-12
Superbly interesting story
Although not someone I would normally choose to listen to, the story of Novella in Oakland, what animals she went though had me at times in tears of laughter and I learnt a great deal from her story! Before this story, I had considered keeping a Pig but no-way now! Bees are still a possibility.
Karen's Oratory was superbly on target, it just had an air of authenticity that I've only ever heard from Bill Wallis, really made the trials and successes a joy to listen to!
One of the best of this genre of audio books I have heard.
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