The WELL: inkwell.vue.356: Novella Carpenter, Farm City

#79: Sharon Lynne Fisher (slf) Fri 27 Nov 09 04:00

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST

That's great! I didn't hear much about it after this interview. [Read entire topic]

#78: Steve Bjerklie (stevebj) Fri 27 Nov 09 03:52

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:52:00 PST

Dwight Garner, one of the NY Times' three book critics, names "Farm City" one of his 10 favorite books of 2009:

http://www.nytimes.com/gift-guide/holiday-2009/giftguide-garner/list.html [Read entire topic]

#77: Gail Williams (gail) Wed 22 Jul 09 16:50

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:50:00 PDT

That's excellent. [Read entire topic]

#76: Area Woman (booter) Thu 16 Jul 09 18:54

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:54:00 PDT

Well, I was so inspired by this discussion that I got my first "farm" animal. I now have a juvenile English angora rabbit who should be providing wool in a few months and every 4 months after. [Read entire topic]

#75: Gail Williams (gail) Thu 9 Jul 09 14:48

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:48:00 PDT

I just got email from Slow Foods about a San Francisco event that could be cool, this Sunday - http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/71943

Screening of a new movie called Mad City Chickens.

"Mad City Chickens is a story about chickens in the city, or more appropriately, a set of several stories. As close to universal as a food source can be, chickens and their eggs were once a regular element of many a family's lives in the U.S., and remain so throughout the world. That way of life largely disappeared in this country, though, due to the rise of industrial farming, but is slowly returning to many cities as people rediscover the experience of keeping the birds in their backyards." [Read entire topic]

#74: Sharon Lynne Fisher (slf) Thu 9 Jul 09 06:52

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:52:00 PDT

Thanks, Novella and other participants! [Read entire topic]

#73: (dana) Wed 8 Jul 09 15:06

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:06:00 PDT

When I was young, my family had friends on a ranch in Northern CA. Upon my first visit there, I was shocked that they could transition from caring to killing with nonchalance, but now that I know what goes on in CAFOs, I realize their coldness was actually kindness.

Thanks to everyone for this conversation. We're beginning a new discussion today, but feel free to continue here as long as you like. [Read entire topic]

#72: Steve Bjerklie (stevebj) Wed 8 Jul 09 14:31

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:31:00 PDT

>>> i think the message that i have is that we would all eat a lot less meat if we knew more about what eating meat means: that an animal had to be fed and raised, and then killed (a bad day, yes indeedy), then cleaned and processed. <<<

Back when the majority of Americans lived on farms and raised and slaughtered their own meat, meat consumption was less than it is now, yes -- but chiefly for economic reasons, not because of squeamishness. [Read entire topic]

#71: Novella Carpenter (novellacarpent) Wed 8 Jul 09 14:20

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:20:00 PDT

howdy again! the film, the film--someone is talking to someone about it but i can't imagine it. there's not really a plot line, is there? chris lee and i joked that they would make it into a romantic comedy where chris and i fall in love while rubbing a pig leg. very hot. i've been seeing lots of vegans and vegetarians at my readings and none of them are mad at me (which is surprising to me) but i think the message that i have is that we would all eat a lot less meat if we knew more about what eating meat means: that an animal had to be fed and raised, and then killed (a bad day, yes indeedy), then cleaned and processed. it's an elaborate process that we take for granted when we order chicken on everything. i find myself ordering more fish and vegetarian things these days. been passing out copies of the book to people who appear in farm city today. ran into "bobby" and gave him a copy, and just dropped another off with mosed, the liquor store owner. lana read the book and liked it but felt like i made her sound weird (earth to lana: you are weird). and my mom said it was strange to read about her life in a book but she liked it. it's tough to put something out there, esp something that will affect the ones you love. all in all it has been a good experience. thanks for reading and posting and continuing the discussion! [Read entire topic]

#70: Sharon Lynne Fisher (slf) Tue 7 Jul 09 18:27

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:27:00 PDT

I remember taking my ducks to the processor, which was a family-run operation; Mom and Dad and a couple of teenage kids were in the shed, and younger kids were doing things like collecting my ducks and taking them in. One of them spread out a duck's wings and was stroking the plumage in admiration. A minute later, they were stripping it off. The transition from live animal to meat is very swift. [Read entire topic]