Novella Carpenter

Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City, delivered on her promise to open her Ghost Town farm to visitors yesterday and arrive they did on surely the hottest day in Oakland so far this year. I mean it was fricking hot!! We narrowly missed her chicken slaughter demonstration–ok with me–and yet still landed in the [...]

Oakland has hit its Indian Summer stride with early morning powder blue skies and all day sunshine making way into effortless, balmy nights. Neither my daughter nor I could sleep last night and she ended up in my bed. By midnight I was still tossing and turning, throwing off the quilt, moving her long legs [...]

Beauty lies in the unexpected, like the singular flower in a jam jar on the table or a hint of green outside a windowsill. And in larger more hidden places too, like the garden off Glen Ave in my neighborhood. Lemon balm, verbena, mint, borage, and pole beans thrive there. Tomatoes and basil and wild [...]