Urban Farming in Oakland
Farms aren't the first thing you think of when you hear "Oakland." However, just over a century ago when Gertrude Stein was growing up in Oakland , the city was covered with farms. Webster Street in Downtown Oakland in 1889. (Courtesy Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room) Novella Carpenter and Willow Rosenthal are two urban farmers bringing back this Oakland tradition. Carpenter is known for her book Farm City about her experiences farming on a lot in West Oakland. She teamed up with Rosenthal who runs City Slicker Farms in Oakland to publish the encyclopedic how-to gardening book called The Essential Urban Farmer . I went to Novella Carpenter's Ghost Town Farm for her April 1, 2012 yard sale , and found a small farm teeming with life: bees, birds, and butterflies were in the air. The plant beds are on top of concrete, but filled with greens, fruit trees, and various vegetables. Below are some images from Ghost Town Farm. Check out the full ph...
