Carpenter is a young Seattle biologist who grew up on a farm in Idaho, Washington, where she developed a growing passion for agriculture and self-reliance. He currently lives in Oakland, California, in a neighborhood where stray bullets fly and it's not uncommon for neighbors to use guns to solve their everyday problems. It is a dead city, full of decrepit buildings, old cars and garbage bags piled up in the streets, inhabited by a unique mix of races, cultures and experiences.

After moving into a ramshackle house, Novella discovered an abandoned plot and thought she might have a plot of crop vegetables. It started with a small vegetable and a couple of laying hens, and ended up raising turkeys, geese, ducks, rabbits and even two pigs of one hundred and fifty kilos. Today he lives off his farm, producing meat, dairy, sugars and everything necessary for a healthy life in the middle of the city. The urban farm is a memoir full of charm, hilarious moments and fascinating tips. It's the story of an exciting, difficult and sometimes ridiculous dream. But it is also a meditation on urban life and above all that we have stopped living those who inhabit cities. Carpenter shows us that, despite tiredness, small achievements and huge disappointments, it is possible to create a self-sustaining home in the middle of a big city.