Power Heat and Water Even in the Winter

I’m really excited about power heat and water even in the winter at Mezzacello. Especially as I enter my third season of summer camps. Why am I excited about winter for the summer?

I’m so glad you asked! The reason is these systems are integral to all four of the camps that I focus on at Mezzacello. Bio technology, bio engineering bio renewables and energy, and bio chemistry.

I have found that my summer camp kids love the fact that Mezzacello is a living machine. It seems magical to them and they really love problem-solving to help all the various animals plants ecosystems micro biomes and systems live together in a fun way. This applied stem playfulness is at the very heart of the success of Mezzacello.

Why sustainability is cost-effective

As a farmer and a scientist I am intensely Interested in how all four of these systems integrate throughout my farm. The energy components, the bio chemistry components, the animal safety, and the natural resources are all very important. Also, they are impossible to replicate and financially difficult to replace by hand.

Let’s look just that water. If I were to pay for all the water that I regularly use on my farm annually my water bill would be OVER $1000 US dollars – I’ve included a currency calculator here. That is not affordable.

Nor is this sustainable. But my systems for storing and using water cost me under $1000 to implement and they re-integrate rain and snow back into my water table. That costs me zero dollars.

What’s the catch?

The one caveat to water is that it needs one further treatment before I can use it to grow food or water animals. So do I buy an expensive water treatment system? Or do I use gravity and natural filtration systems to clean the water on demand?

if you guessed option number two congratulations you were right. What are the benefits of the Bioreactor tower is that it pulls water from rain barrels. But only water from the top of the rain barrel. All of the heavy elements and dangerous elements sink to the bottom and baffles where they can be cleaned in the spring.

Interoperability and integrated sustainability

This interoperable and integrated sustainability method is a life changer. But it did require an initial capital investment three years ago. Since then the system has run entirely through wind and solar power including in the winter when I need it most.

I recently gave a lecture on the 17 UN sustainable development goals to a group of high school kids here in Columbus. I’m very pleased that all of my integrated systems at Mezzacello touch on almost all 17 of those UN SDG. It is a point of pride for me.

in 2023 I plan on talking more about these integrated systems and what they have to do with the UN 17 SDG to avoid climate reality and ensure sustainability is an easy option for anyone. I don’t have a title for the series yet, maybe you could help me out with that. I’ll probably be work shopping it in my summer camps.

After all, who is better suited at coming up with clever ideas for sustainability than the very people who will inherit this world well after I’m gone. I hope you’ll join me. And of course you’re welcome to give options in the comments and I hope you do.

Bakki Shower and Biofilter Combo

This combo is the latest foray here at Mezzacello to care for the koi and the water quality of our aquatic ecosystem. It is called a bakki shower and is paired with an efficient biofilter combo. I am showing a breakdown of the bakki shower and biofilter combo systems here.

I will cover all of these systems in a later blog. This is just a detail of the systems for now. Check back and read how my systems integration plan went.

Seeds at the Farmers Market

Seeds are universal. You can save them back from your plants, you can buy them new. Or you can get your seeds at the farmers market.

Every gardener knows that good seeds are the start of any good garden. Often times I purchase seeds from heirloom or organic seed houses. I also source heirloom seeds at the Farmer’s Market.

After all it can’t get any fresher, right. It is also very cost effective. I bought as much seed garlic (of the cultivar I like) for 1/3 the cost for seed garlic from a distributor. And I can eat what I don’t plant; Win Win!

This year, I have been working really hard to better understand the physics and chemistry — as well as the biology and structures of my #Zerodirt Martian growing beds. This has been a good year and a disastrous year. But I learned a lot and know exactly what I will do with these seeds next season!

When To Plant and When To Store

Every seed and plant is different. Oftentimes I consult my two oracles: YouTube and JuliaLynne Walker of the Bronzeville Agricademy. If you don’t follow JuliaLynne you really should!

Every year JuliaLynne hosts her Agricademy and every year I learn something new. This is how I got the idea to source fresh heirloom seeds from Farmers Markets in the first place. I will include a link to her site here.

After I remove the seeds, I rinse and dry them and let them harden in the air a bit. Then I store them in yellow coin bags or in yellow clear medicine bottles and label them. I try to include a source reference of where I got them, what I liked, or to research I have done and collected on this site.

It’s late in the season, but I did start a run of fresh seeds in my Vegepod. They are doing great! Here’s a picture.

Water Conservation Systems

This is one of the water conservation systems at Mezzacello. There are three of these 1000L (350 Gallon) Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBC) tanks that I collect rainwater in. They are incredibly useful for this as they are designed to hold water and have a built in steel structure and nozzle.

Yes, I know this IBC nozzle pictured below is broken. It is for reference only. I wrote a blog post about when these things start to fall apart…

Optimize Water Collection, but Without Pressure

It is very useful to be able to collect water this way. The one drawback to using IBCs is that they have no pressure. Even if you put it on a platform half a meter high there is not enough pressure.

You will need to raise an IBC if you want to take water from it. Otherwise a watering can won’t fit beneath the bottom mount not nozzle that comes with an IVC. I also highly recommend a fitting that will allow you to secure a hose bib to the IBC .

When the IBC is full of water there is more pressure than when it is not full of water. This is good and it is bad. If you have the IBC close to your house you will want to be able to drain water off.

Foundation Issues

As the water fills the IBC it can overflow through the top and right into your foundation. That is why it is important to add an overflow valve just below the top of the IBC. this will ensure that the top of the IBC never overflows into your foundation.

in this configuration I also have a solar powered water pump capable of pumping water up 20 feet. I use this for limited watering and also to refill the water tower that is 3 m high on my bioreactor. I cannot fill the bioreactor tower with just rainwater.

Bioreactor Rainwater IBC

I have talked about the Bioreactor on this blog before so you’re welcome to look up that if you’d like. The bioreactor is the only IBC that allows for the pressurization of water as it is 3 m up in the air.

The rest of the IBCs are simply on 4 x 4 platforms made from pallets. It’s a bit challenging to use these IBCs to refill the bioreactor IBC. As one Has to run a 20 m hose from one to the other.

I just keep a hose ready at all times and roll it up. It hangs on the side of the IBC and you don’t really notice it until you need it. In my next blog post I’ll show that process.

I just keep a hose ready at all times and roll it up. It hangs on the side of the IBC and you don’t really notice it until you need it. In my next blog post I’ll show that process.

Get The Lead Out

This Was Sobering

I am a member of a backyard chicken Facebook group. Recently an article regarding the amount of lead in the backyard soils in Australia. So my friend John and I ordered lead in soil testing kits to get the lead out.

On a whim John tested his soil here in downtown Columbus, OH with an EPA Lead in Soil Kit. And to his surprise found that the levels of lead in his soil were higher than the recommended 400PPM. He shared the results of that test on our Facebook group.

As soon as I saw that I ordered the same test. I wanted to test by “zero dirt” Martian soil here at Mezzacello.

I ordered the Lead Soil Check Test from Amazon.

I got the test the very next day. I opened it and tested the Martian soil in bed Beta Quadrant 6 on the southwest corner of my southeast garden quadrant (Beta). To my surprise, it showed as contaminated with lead.

Free Range Suspicions

The particular bed that I tested had been used by my chickens after harvesting the potatoes in mid summer. I have a suspicion that the birds were using the bed as a dust bath. They may have brought soil from the free range area to the south of the coop run to this bed.

My plan moving forward is to use this test again in the Delta Quadrant (northwest quadrant) and bed 3 of that quadrant. It contains the exact formulation of Martian Soil as bed 6 in the Beta Quadrant. Bed 3 however has not been uncovered to potentially become contaminated by scratching chickens.

I will run this test later today. But it rained last night and the soil matrix has to be dry to conduct the test. This means that I will have to insure the Delta Quadrant Bed 3 soil is dry first.

In the mean time, Here is the original article from the Australian news source that prompted John and I to test our soils. It really does make you think twice about the costs of growing your food in an urban environment.

Here is the link to the article from Australia.

When Water Goes Missing

During the summer of the 2020 pandemic lockdown we thought we had a serious problem with the pond. We were unsure what to do when water goes missing. Every week around 1,000 L of water would mysteriously disappear.

Uneven Levels

We first noticed it when the water hyacinths would become stranded on the shallow end of the pond. We never observed the link to be any less than the top 40 cm of the pond. After that the ”leak” would stop.

When I first built the pond I designed a frame on the back that would support the weight of planter boxes that would submerge in the pond. These boxes would contain irises that added structure and lush green to the pond.

Identifying the ”Leak”

This 40 cm area was obviously where the leak was. So I carefully removed the irises and the boxes as well as the engineered steel supports that held them up.

after all the support boxes were removed, I carefully inspected the rubber of the pond liner. Curiously I found nothing. No tears no leaks nothing.

The Real Culprit Identified

So I refilled the pond back up to its top level to test my theory that there were no leaks. Pond held water for two weeks. Meanwhile I hand watered the irises.

The iris is required a lot of water! But the pond never changed its level again. That meant there was only one culprit.

It appears that iris is pull up a lot of water and transpire it into the atmosphere. The iris is for thick hundreds of plants and one box. That’s a lot of surface area for evaporation to occur.

I did some research and sure enough irises transpirate a lot of water. I did some quick figures and over three weeks those irises were pulling 1000 L of water out of the pond and putting it back into the atmosphere. It was great for the echo system around but terrible for my bottom line.

An Expensive Applied STEM Lesson

So for the three weeks that I was noticing this water leak in my pond I was refilling the pond with city water. City water I have to pay for. City water full of chlorine and my pH and hardness were off the charts.

with the irises removed we switched plant sources from irises to water hyacinth. On really hot days we still lose probably 20 to 30 L of water a day. But that’s tolerable.

Besides the water hyacinth plays an important role in the aquatic ecosystem. Unlike the irises which for just for show. The water lettuce and water hyacinth are incredibly useful.

Unlike the irises which for just for show. The water lettuce and water hyacinth are incredibly useful.

Martian Zero-Dirt Soil Update 2022

This is a quick Mid-August Martian zero-dirt soil update 2022. If you are unfamiliar with the Martian zero-dirt soil project or the Bioreactor here are links. This post is largely images for a visual update.

Onward and Upward and Shout Outs

Again, a huge shout out to PAST Foundation, The Columbus, Foundation, Scotts Miracle Grow, Franklin Park Conservatory, and Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation for their support and encouragement. I am really intrigued by the success of this system. A few more tweaks and I can get NASA or SpaceX on board.

Carbon Footprint in a Yard

Today I was in a local high school working with 9th graders on environmental science and food production. The topic at hand was how we reduce our carbon footprint with sustainability. So this morning I pulled together this blog post to illustrate how we address our Carbon Footprint in a Yard.

It’s pretty rare for me to have a mic drip moment, but it was definite this morning. These kids were struggling to find alternatives to the 8 largest sources of carbon in our environment. so I pulled up this blog. The eight leading causes of an excess carbon footprint are:

1. Driving a car short distances
2. Taking a plane
3. Beef
4. Using a refrigerator
5. Using AC
6. Leaving lights on
7. Using a dryer
8. Eating American cheese

The kids were struggling to find three alternatives to all of these things on their own. They came up with one maybe two. I brought this blog post in and it blew the other one minds.

Water From Waste Part Two

Earlier in the summer I created a waste water recycler with sand, gravel, and rocks in a nested three and five gallon bucket. It worked quite well and I was really pleased with it. I wanted to cover the moisture evaporator in this blog called Water to waste part two.

This model was a test idea to see if we could actually create evaporated water from waste water from the hand washing stations at Mezzacello. It worked very well! We used a plastic container and a heavy duty ceramic baking dish with a plexiglass lid.

It was not as efficient as this wood box and water sealed design with the pyrex dish and a real glass lid that will be sealed tight. I will be building this one out now that I know the design principles are solid. The key innovations with this one will be the glass sealed lid and a metal drip edge to capture ALL the evaporate condensate.

Mild Success With Plastic

The original evaporative still was pretty successful. It captured one liter of pure water over two days. I think I can improve upon that with the new design. The real flaws in the original design was the plastic container, and the lack of a drip edge.

We were amazed that it actually worked at all. We painted the interior of the box matte black to absorb as much heat as possible. The plastic was not as efficient an insulator as the wood and watertight paint will be.

We were fascinated that the evaporator was both efficient at collecting pure water AND the solids from the soap. In the ceramic dish, the layer of soap solids and bacteria were left behind. By treating the soap solids with heat and alcohol we could also recycle the soap by adding it to fresh soap and allowing it to continue to aid in saponification.

The water was easily sterilized to 98% by adding a bromine tablet to it. But we decided to use the water to keep the animals hydrated. The rabbits, chickens, ducks, worms, and crickets were very grateful.

Glass and Wood

My main concern with this modified design will be the glass facing. I will have to store it in the greenhouse where it will get the right amount of sun, but be protected from the environment. Then I will innovate the water collection bottle.

The water has a tendency to evaporate out of the bottle if the bottle is not sealed properly. Water wants to return to vapor in heat. So I will insulate the bottle and keep it out of the light and sealed with a one-way valve.

Stay tuned for the results of this experiment. i will post the results of this experiment here after i have the model complete. Come back then!

How the Bioreactor Works

This is how the Bioreactor works in a streamlined illustration. The CAD diagrams are also available here. This will function as an introduction to the general schema of the system.

The Premise

The Bioreactor is at its heart a compost generator for producing high quality compost in a short amount of time. bootstrapped to that core is a power generation system located at the top of the tower. And above all of that is 1000L of rainwater in a tank that provides moisture and aquatic solvent for the entire process.

Part 1: The Compost Base

Let’s start with the compost base and the accelerant. Compost takes a few months for the microbes, temperatures, and biomass to achieve the proper temps and pressures to start the compost process. The bioreactor puts all of this in one place and adds an accelerant.

The body of the compost reactant base is set atop a concrete base and is actually a modified 1000L IBC tote (see image above). The plastic tote has a cap on top, a spigot at the base and an integrated steel cage. These are ubiquitous and cheap and that is why I prefer to use them.

The compost reactant base is modified slightly. The top of the plastic IBC tote has been removed to leave the tote open. The front of the tote has been cut open with a modified removable door for loading the compost reactant base.

The compost base is layered with the greens and browns as in traditional compost. The key here is the accelerant composed of ammonia, beer, and cola and added in 1 liter increments to 20 gallons of water once a week. As the accelerant percolates through the compost pile, it speeds up the composting process.

Part 2: The Water Collection Tower

Situated atop the compost reaction base is the bioreactor water tower. It sits with in the steel exoskeleton and serves to tie the entire tower together. It also holds 1000L of rainwater and like the compost reaction base has a built in spigot.

Housing the water tower at the top of the tower serves two very important purposes. Since the water tower never moves, it makes sense to store it at the top. The height of the tower allows the water to be pressurized as it drops to the ground 2.3 meters in the air.

With the water tower and its screw top filling access are situated at the top of the water tower. This is fitted with a cap and a pipe that makes refilling the tower with rain water easier and convenient. The steel frame of the water tower IBC is also a convenient place to mount sensors and equipment.

Part 3: The Energy Production and Sensor Deck

The top of the Bioreactor tower is home to the 200W wind turbines, The batteries and charge controllers, as well as the weather station and specific sensor arrays. Mounted from the top on the southern-facing side of the tower are the two 200W solar panels that capture solar energy. The sensor arrays cover temperature, humidity, solar LUX, barometric pressure, and CO2 levels.

In addition to the onboard energy generation, weather data, and sensor stack, the bioreactor also has a 5G and 4G repeater to disperse a wifi signal everywhere within a 5 meter radius. This allows me to use the bioreactor tower to broadcast and receive signals from the varis devices and sensors all around the bioreactor. It also allows me to upload data to the cloud and to watch YouTube videos on what to do next with my research.

Each of the wind turbines is mounted on a 2″ steel conduit pole strapped to the steel structure of the bioreactor. The steel conduit is threaded at the top, so that the wind turbine base can be screwed to the pole. A custom configuration would cost as much as the entire bioreactor steel frame; it’s crazy!

Off The Shelf Engineering

In total every part of the bioreactor tower is built from off the shelf resources. Most of it came from Menards with sensor and power generation and batteries coming from Amazon. The IBC totes formerly held dye for color-matched mulch and were quite affordable.

The lattice facing is a gift to my husband, Rick. He is not against the bioreactor, in fact most of the compost goes back to his formal gardens. He just wants it to look a little neater.

The tower has been working very well for two years. In that time it has produced nearly 4000L of high quality compost. All from resources that were culled and collected on site. The beer, cola and ammonia were the only resources that came from the outside and the cost for running the bioreactor over the previous two years has been minimal.

Operating Costs

Two kegs of beer at a cost of $50. 24 2-liters of cheap cola at a cost of $24. and 12 bottles of ammonia at a cost of $22.

Add in the gas for the lawn mower, and a modicum of costs for batteries and AC to recharge rechargeable batteries for the sensors. And the final cost is a total of around $153 for running this system each year.

All of the water came from rainwater collected from the side of the house and collected in IBC rain barrels equipped with solar panels and water pumps. The water pumps run on demand when I turn them on and connect them to the refilling hose. The essence of renewable and ease.