Homesteader Novella Carpenter, author of the book “Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer,” says she will not sell produce from her "Pop-Up Farmstand" as planned because she was threatened with a fine by an Oakland city worker.

Yesterday, Carpenter reported on her blog Ghost Town Farm that she was visited by someone from the city who took notes and pictures of her lot, and then notified her she was going to be fined up to $5,000 for not having a Conditional Use Permit for her Pop-Up Farmstand. The permit costs $2,500 annually.

Carpenter was formerly voted Best Hippie by the East Bay Express, which wrote:

...her middle-of-downtown Oakland residence and backyard farm is a testament to her beliefs. Chickens, rabbits, Nigerian dwarf goats, and two beehives share her space. She turned an abandoned lot next door into her vegetable garden too, because, "We're too far removed from our food sources," she says.

More on the story and on Carpenter at SFist and the Oakland Tribune. And Twitter is also a-tweet with the news...

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City of Oakland Fines Urban Homesteading Author Novella Carpenter