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.

Urban farming appeals to people on the right and the left. People have different reasons for getting into it. Some people are like doomsdayers, they think there's going to be some horrible catastrophe and how will we survive? And then there's people that are more like, "We want to be socialists and have communal chicken coops." It really runs the whole gamut.

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 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.

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.

As cities get more dense, you have people saying, "Why would you have an urban farm when you could have affordable housing on that property instead?" So there's an argument against it. Another huge thing is there's a brain drain toward growing marijuana. You know, if someone has a green thumb in an urban area, especially in places like Washington or Oregon where it's now totally legal, why wouldn't you just grow pot?