Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer

One of New York Times “Top 10 Books of 2009” (Dwight Garner)

“Easily the funniest, weirdest, most perversely provocative gardening book I've ever read. I couldn't put it down . . . The writing soars.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Captivating . . . By turns edgy, moving, and hilarious, Farm City marks the debut of a striking new voice in American writing.” —Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and Food Rules

“Fresh, fearless, and jagged around the edges, Ms. Carpenter's book . . . puts me in mind of Julie Powell's Julie & Julia and Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love.” —The New York Times

“Carpenter, with [her] humor and step-by-step clarity, make[s] it seem utterly possible to grow the kind of food you want to eat, wherever you live.” —Los Angeles Times

NOVELLA CARPENTER grew up in rural Idaho and Washington State. She studied biology and English at the University of Washington, where she had many odd jobs, including assassin bug handler and 16-millimeter film projectionist. After moving to California, she attended UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism where she studied with Michael Pollan. Her writing has appeared on Salon.com and sfgate.com and in Mother Jones and Food and Wine. Her adventures in urban agriculture began with honeybees and a few chickens, then some turkeys, until she created an urban homestead called GhostTown Farm near downtown Oakland, where she and her boyfriend, Bill, live today. Her most recent book, The Essential Urban Farmer (co-authored with Willow Rosenthal), was published by Penguin Books in 2011.

www.novellacarpenter.com.