Backyard Homesteads: Honey, I Shrunk the Farm

Photography by Lori Eanes | Captions by Della Watson

Sierra
July/Aug 2011

Excerpt:

Nope, this herd’s not lost. Urban farmer Kitty Sharkey often takes her four Nigerian dwarf goats for walks through her Oakland, California, neighborhood. The milk-producing goats’ small size makes them well suited for life on a bustling 4,000-square-foot homestead (which includes Sharkey’s 1,500-square-foot house). The breed is known for its gentle, affectionate demeanor; the goats even protect Sharkey’s chickens from predators.

Sharkey is part of a burgeoning movement of city dwellers who carve out a small-scale pastoral existence amid the bustle of urbanity, reaping the health and environmental benefits of hyperlocal food. Bay Area photographer (and frequent Sierra contributor) Lori Eanes documents the lives of some of these unconventional agriculturalists in her Urban Farm project.

Read the complete article here.