Ghost Town Farm

a young fan

Before I headed over to Jack London for the Eat Real festival, I spent a few hours on Saturday helping out at Ghost Town Farm. It's a small farm in the middle of the Ghost Town / Hoover-Foster neighborhood, with bees, rabbits, chickens, goats and all sorts of fruits and vegetables. It's run by Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. This isn't some one-time stunt to ride the green wave; Novella has been urban farming for over 10 years. In conjunction with the Eat Real festival, Novella had an open house...er...open farm, including a workshop on chicken slaughtering, and another on taking care of goats.

Grandma's cobbler

There was a lot of interest in learning more about what she's doing, but there's not much parking on her street. So she encouraged people to bike there if possible, but as many people were coming from out of town, that wasn't a good option for them. I directed parking for a while: bikes at the back fence; cars, well, your best bet is along MLK. There were also people there to sell Goat Town t-shirts and copies of Novella's book, and provide refreshments. One of her neighbors, Grandma, made an awesome peach cobbler.

removing the innards

I did get to see part of one of the chicken slaughtering demonstrations. I wasn't particularly interested in that, as (a) we don't have any chickens (yet) and (b) I'm a vegetarian, but it was still interesting to see. Sort of like what I remember from high school biology, though nothing I remember dissecting ever had organs that looked as readily identifiable as what came out of the chicken.

After the Eat Real festival, my wife and I stopped by so she could see the farm. It's pretty amazing what a variety of food is produced in a small area. Currently we grow some potatoes, but have plans to plant a garden again once I finish the house remodel. Now I'm thinking bees and chickens (for the eggs) would be good, too.