www.chow.com Novella Carpenter started small, with some plants in an empty lot next to her house in Oakland. A couple of years later, she was tending to a full-blown farm, with goats, turkeys, ducks, pigs, and a robust garden. This video tackles questions of neighborliness (which is more offensive: police sirens or roosters crowing?), environmental poisons (raised beds are key), and the all-important slaughter question. The answer: Yes, she does (and yes, there is some bloody footage).
25 thoughts on “OBSESSIVES: URBAN FARMING – CHOW.com”
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“The dumbest thing to grow is corn!!”…hmmm America grows a whole lot of corn!!!
She needs to write a book for bay area specific urban farming.
god damn she is so cool and down to earth great vid !
It’s not a moral contradiction, she raises goats and chickens and obviously formed an attachment too them, much like a pet. Ask any pet owner if they saw their dog or cat being eaten by a possum, they wouldn’t bludgeon that possum to heck.
Raising an animal which u will eat, doesn’t mean you don’t respect the animal and try to give it a good “life”. It’s up to each persons moral judgement, most people don’t even give it a single though and just “go” with the crowd.
@simonschuster So you would prefer if people were to be heartless and raise animals poorly?
There’s no way that people are going to stop raising animals for food, but raising them healthily and with care is a matter of ethics, not just desire for better meat.
@simonschuster I am in the midst of reading Farm City right now and she does actually address her contradiction and rage over the oppossum fiasco. One’s life and moral fiber cannot be detailed in a 12 minute YouTube video.
@simonschuster shut the fuck up.
I dont know what about this video made it really interesting. Maybe it was her monotone voice, or her humor, but this video was really…really.. cool
@wolframald Her gleeful tale about bludgeoning the opossum to death is incredibly disturbing – especially considering the fact that she just got finished justifying her meat-eating by saying humans are predators. If she’s so concerned about the “cycle of life,” then why would she be so angry and violent toward a truly natural predator? And what was she planning on doing? Keeping the ducks as pets? No! She’s killing them. Such twisted thinking and pathological behavior.
“I still feel horrible on days when I have to slaughter something.” Then don’t do it. I’m so absolutely sick and tired of people romanticizing the “humane” raising of animals when the only reason they do it is so that the “pork tastes amazing,” as this particular animal killer says. We have no nutritional requirement for animal flesh. These people aren’t heroes – they betray the animals they say the care so much about and then give it a label to make them feel better about themselves.
Very real and inspiring story about urban farming. I’m mostly vegetarian but not too disturbed about the domestic slaughter of farm animals. Obviously, in most urban situations, poultry will probably be the best companion to the garden. The slaughter of the opossum did disturb me. FYI, the opossum is one of the oldest mammals surviving in North America. The opossum is a marsupial and more intelligent than dogs. Many associate opossums with rodents, which could not be further from the truth.
Very real and inspiring story about urban farming. I’m mostly vegetarian but not too disturbed about the domestic slaughter of farm animals. Obviously, in most urban situations, poultry will probably be the best companion to the garden. The slaughter of the opossum did disturb me. FYI, the opossum is one of the oldest mammals surviving in North America. The opossum is a marsupial and more intelligent than dogs. Many associate opossums with rodents, which could not be further from the truth.
This chick had me cracking up the entire interview. Funny sense of humor
@TreyNitrotoluene
Vegan’s are the hipster’s newest manifestation. The hipster finds a niche in American culture that is neutral, genuine, and passionate, and turn it into some superficial materialistic political club.
Thats the way… Organic Farming…
WOW this woman nailed it! The closer I get to nature threw my urban farm the farther away I am from the vegan types who simply cannot understand prey species. I raise them well, treat them well and kill them clean. Far more humane than any wolf, though they too deserve a place at nature’s table.
Nice farm.
I am planting cold weather crops this saturday and i cant wait!!!!
The idea of chickens and vegetables is great. I also like how you commandeered the empty lot next door. The idea of drawing a small amount of personal liberty out of the anarchy of a depressed area is a real triumph. A $50 bolt action .22 rifle might do you a lot of good when it comes time to harvest your animals. A .22 short fired to the head is a non-traumatic clean way to kill animals and .22 shot cartridge would allow you to dispatch rats, possums and the like. It would not make much noise.
i live near you. i have not seen your farm. im starting my farm i have been gardening for years but now im going for a flock of chickens. i am currently working on my coup and run. your video was awsome. were ghetto urban farmers. your niebhor with the gun was so funny! now thats what makes it oakland- pistols everywhere! keep it up!
The chickens and the pigs are too much.
Their Fecal matter stinks up to high heaven..
However, I grow corn, tomatoes,squash etc. It would be interesting too to raise rabbits.. URBAN FARMING IS THE FUTURE…. Specially since fields are being urbanized at an alarming rate…
Hey the opossum was not friends with the duck. You can’t blame him.
Your poor pigs were your friends, they trusted and befriended you and you killed them!
What is more natural?
Loved the rest!!!!
from what I could tell she learned that lesson the hard way after the ducks got attacked because she did mention later talking about the chickens that all they need is food and to be put in a secure place at night
Wow…within just a few minutes watching this video, i know now what i will and will not do…i will have chickens for sure, but forget the rest, as i would make all of them family. Great crash course on the benefits/draw backs on farming your land…Organic gardening is awesome too though, still learning how to harvest my veggie seeds….thanks for this!
@rayogram2 No , they are not . You are trying to use a philosophical argument to defend a losing scientific postulation . This cannot be done , but nice try .