Novella Carpenter Update

We posted yesterday about author and urban farmer Novella Carpenter running afoul of the law in Oakland for “agricultural activities”. She has a clarification on her blog and some new, alarming information. She makes clear that she was busted for selling vegetables not growing them. The disturbing news is information she received that the people who reported her may have been animal rights activists upset that she eats her rabbits. Read more on her blog Ghost Town Farm.

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6 Comments

  1. Wow, I’m sorry, but that is really, really lame. Of all people to target, they pick her? Not the huge agribusinesses abusing many thousands of animals every day?

  2. What I want to know is, when are the vegetable rights activists going to show up and start looking out for all those poor vegetables that never had a lousy chance in this stinkin’ world….

  3. Ha! Get ready—PETA is moving in to the old mattress store on Sunset near the fire station. World headquarters.

  4. Argh geeze I had this huge response but blogger didn’t take. Ok.. it’s not so much about animal rights, but animal welfare. I adopted a house rabbit myself, and from what I’ve seen, the rabbit rescue scene have a *lot* to deal with as do any other animal rescue (a lot of very emotionally heart-breaking stories and volunteered effort involved when it comes to rescuing these animals from abusive situations or re-homing rabbits). Rabbits are the third most abandoned/surrendered animal after dogs and cats, and it’s only natural that they would feel fairly upset at someone breeding them. My house rabbit has so much personality and is dear to me, but the same goes for my chickens. It’s just that here in the U.S., while chickens are widely accepted as food, rabbits are considered more so as pets first. I also have to add, awhile ago when Novella first got some negative responses from the rabbit community to her rabbit raising, she did not respond in a very understanding or sensitive fashion. I would not be surprised if this incensed the community further. I really support her urban farm and it really is not my business what she does on it, but even I was a bit upset at her attitude. It’s clear that it’s a sensitive subject, but for her to brush off the rabbit rescue community that way was not very tactful and this is likely the result.

  5. I hate to read about situations like this, but somehow I always find myself reading them. The last article that I read, a guy was jailed for growing too many vegetables on his property. Really? Too many vegetables? This is a shame, how can we be “free” when can not even legally grow chards on our land?

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