You have to make people understand that things cost something. Otherwise it seems like they have no value. I can't just be giving away rabbits. No. It costs five bucks, so make it work for you.

Anyone who has kids knows that children like to be around chickens, goats, whatever. My kid loves to go out and feed the chickens and collect the eggs. It's a nice way of living.

Even if you live in New York City, you can have a little basil plant in your window, and that could be considered urban farming.

I think that's part of people wanting a wholesome life, to surround yourself with farm animals and fields. That's sort of an American ideal.

There is this really intimate connection that people have with the animals they're going to eat. A lot of people who eat meat say "I would never kill my own animals." Well, that means someone else is doing it for you, ultimately. This is the modern attitude that we have: Somebody else will do that for me. And to me, it just seemed wrong. I wanted to be part of the process of what it meant to eat meat. I wanted to be responsible.

I don't think people are like, "I'm going to save the planet by planting my own herbs." But on environmental issues like climate change, there's a sense of hopelessness and despair. Maybe it's really a small gesture but if you can have a garden it may make you feel like you're helping in some way, or that you're making a connection. You can't change the world but you can change your backyard.

My argument for that is: Why not create urban farms that are like parks, on public land? There actually is a park that I see as a model: Dover Street Park in Oakland. They took this park that has swings and playground-type things and turned it into a farm. There's not chickens, just annual vegetables interspersed with fruit trees. And it's super cool because you see people playing with their kids and then they go pick raspberries and some greens for dinner.