Encyclopedia of Country Living

So how did I get into urban farming?
One book. It’s called the Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery.
I was an editor at Sasquatch Books, a regional publishing company in Seattle when I first encountered the book. It had how-to info for homesteaders mostly, but I realized some of the skills could be applied in the city. That was back in 1999. That’s when William and I first got chickens and bees. Carla and I corresponded every now and again, and then I found out she knew my mom! Carla lived and farmed in Idaho for a long time, and my mom remembered hearing about book binding parties at Carla’s house (the book had a world record for being the longest mimeographed book for awhile). Each section had a different color, so each person would take their colored chunk, walk around the table and pick up the other colors in order, then they would bind the book with tape. That was back in 1969. Anyway, the book is in its 9th edition now, and sadly, Carla has since passed. She was a lovely woman, and an inspiration for a new generation of farmers.