Author to bring backyard farming know-how to Sacramento - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:
"Novella Carpenter grabs a cup of coffee, heads out to her backyard, where a Discount Market stands just beyond a chain-link fence, and watches four chickens scratch at the ground, chase bugs and lie in the sun.
It's an oddly bucolic scene for urban West Oakland, where Carpenter lives.
'It's very soothing,' she said. 'If you think about it, a chicken's life is very cool.'"
With chickens, three goats, six rabbits and a beehive, 36-year-old Carpenter has created a country oasis in a backyard that measures 1,000 square feet. That includes the wooden steps rising to the top floor of her Victorian duplex, and a side walkway leading to the front of her house.
"Novella Carpenter grabs a cup of coffee, heads out to her backyard, where a Discount Market stands just beyond a chain-link fence, and watches four chickens scratch at the ground, chase bugs and lie in the sun.
It's an oddly bucolic scene for urban West Oakland, where Carpenter lives.
'It's very soothing,' she said. 'If you think about it, a chicken's life is very cool.'"
With chickens, three goats, six rabbits and a beehive, 36-year-old Carpenter has created a country oasis in a backyard that measures 1,000 square feet. That includes the wooden steps rising to the top floor of her Victorian duplex, and a side walkway leading to the front of her house.
The author of "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer" (Penguin Press, $25.95, 276 pages) speaks in Sacramento today as part of an educational series on farmers and growers, sponsored by the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op.