Top 12 Quotes & Sayings by Novella Carpenter

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an author Novella Carpenter.

Last updated on September 17, 2024.

Novella Carpenter is the author of the 2009 memoir Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. The book describes her extensive garden in Ghost Town, a run-down neighborhood about a mile from downtown Oakland, California. Farm City was listed by some reviewers as one of the top books of 2009, and it was the 2014 selection of the Marin County Free Library, City Public Libraries of Marin County and Dominican University of California "One Book One Marin" reading program.

Author | Born: 1972

Source: Wikipedia

I think that's part of people wanting a wholesome life, to surround yourself with farm animals and fields. That's sort of an American ideal.

Novella Carpenter

My argument for that is: Why not create urban farms that are like parks, on public land? There actually is a park that I see as a model: Dover Street Park in Oakland. They took this park that has swings and playground-type things and turned it into a farm. There's not chickens, just annual vegetables interspersed with fruit trees. And it's super cool because you see people playing with their kids and then they go pick raspberries and some greens for dinner.

Novella Carpenter

As cities get more dense, you have people saying, "Why would you have an urban farm when you could have affordable housing on that property instead?" So there's an argument against it. Another huge thing is there's a brain drain toward growing marijuana. You know, if someone has a green thumb in an urban area, especially in places like Washington or Oregon where it's now totally legal, why wouldn't you just grow pot?

Novella Carpenter

There is this really intimate connection that people have with the animals they're going to eat. A lot of people who eat meat say "I would never kill my own animals." Well, that means someone else is doing it for you, ultimately. This is the modern attitude that we have: Somebody else will do that for me. And to me, it just seemed wrong. I wanted to be part of the process of what it meant to eat meat. I wanted to be responsible.

Novella Carpenter

I didn't think that at the beginning. I just wanted to have a garden and a farm and have animals around me. But I do think there's a craving for people to feel a connection. Honestly, it's building on an immigrant tradition, where you bring your country to America. You bring your seeds from Italy. My neighbors are Vietnamese, so they're growing their herbs and stuff that they miss from Vietnam.

Novella Carpenter

I don't know Hillary's Clinton stance on urban farming. I don't know Donald Trump's stance or Bernie Sanders's for that matter. But the Obamas have been amazing. You know, Michelle Obama, she planted that garden. She keeps bees there at the White House. Little known fact, though, is that Laura Bush also had an organic garden but she never told anyone about it.

Novella Carpenter

Even if you live in New York City, you can have a little basil plant in your window, and that could be considered urban farming.

Novella Carpenter

I don't think people are like, "I'm going to save the planet by planting my own herbs." But on environmental issues like climate change, there's a sense of hopelessness and despair. Maybe it's really a small gesture but if you can have a garden it may make you feel like you're helping in some way, or that you're making a connection. You can't change the world but you can change your backyard.

Novella Carpenter

You have to make people understand that things cost something. Otherwise it seems like they have no value. I can't just be giving away rabbits. No. It costs five bucks, so make it work for you.

Novella Carpenter

I feel that anyone can do farming. But people who are in it for the long haul have to have a little bit of tenacity. You have to do it because you love it, not because it's cool, because there will be moments when it's not cool.

Novella Carpenter

Urban farming appeals to people on the right and the left. People have different reasons for getting into it. Some people are like doomsdayers, they think there's going to be some horrible catastrophe and how will we survive? And then there's people that are more like, "We want to be socialists and have communal chicken coops." It really runs the whole gamut.

Novella Carpenter

Anyone who has kids knows that children like to be around chickens, goats, whatever. My kid loves to go out and feed the chickens and collect the eggs. It's a nice way of living.

Novella Carpenter

Top 12 Quotes & Sayings by Novella Carpenter

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