Spring 2021 at Mezzacello

Well it’s nearly Easter in this year after COVID19. My enclosed sustainable ecosystem is readying itself to come back to life. I decided this cold sunny day was the perfect day to record Mezzacello.

This is right before it goes through it’s next big expansion. So here is a little slideshow from April 1, 2021. Let me know if you have any questions. There is some bit of trivia or an active experiment going on in everyone of these photos.


Don’t Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth

Diversity

Diversity in an ecosystem is always a good thing. I produce high quality compost and fertilizers from various sources. But the poultry and rabbit manure have limits. And it takes time and energy to synthesize them to where the garden beds actually need those minerals and soluble nitrogen. What I need is manure from a larger herbivore with a more selective diet. Cows are OK but their manure is hit or miss and cows eat anything. Seeds can remain intact. No, what I need is horse manure. And I found some! Thanks to Facebook, Columbus Area Homesteaders group, and Abigail Santorine and her lovely little pony, Ginger. My niece and I ran over to Abigail’s house and collected manure on a Monday night after work.

Community

I rarely mention this side of being an urban farmer. It takes a village to become a knowledgable urban farmer and it takes a village to get all the resources one will need to get an enclosed ecosystem sustainable. It takes work and community.

I am from Los Angeles. I started “farming” in 2014. I have gotten A LOT of help. And it’s from a community that spans the globe and is right in my back yard. The Facebook group “Columbus Area Homesteaders” is a terrific group! Everyone on there is so empathetic and helpful (even me). If you are interested in Urban Farming, definitely check them out! Also, remember, a community is a garden as well. It needs tended, it requires care and attention, and you have to be willing to replace what you take out. Abigail, I want to support your passionate mission at Tiny Horse. I’ll post details in the comments on this post! Thank you!


Lesson: Micro Hydroponics Systems

Lesson: Micro Hydroponics Systems

Building Micro Hydroponics Seedling Trays

This lesson: Micro hydroponics systems students will create rainwater hydroponics systems from to go containers and 3D printed bases. The hydroponic systems will be seeded by Eden’s Ghost, rabbit droppings, and ammonia. This provides the perfect liquid fertilizer.

Hydroponics is just a Greek word meaning water work. In hydroponics systems farmers let the water do the work of growing and sustaining the plants. Humans just provide nutrients in specific amounts to create a balanced ecology.

Materials

  • Take out container with a lid
  • A source of fresh water
  • A series of peat sponge plugs like this
  • A drill (requires adult supervision)
  • A 1/2″ drill bit
  • A sharpie marker
  • A carpet cutting knife (requires adult supervision)
  • A source of seeds
  • A source of fertilizer (see lesson: making the perfect fertilizer)
  • A tray or a set of trays to control water spillage

Instructions

  1. Give each student or team of students a take out container
  2. The size or shape of the take out container is not important as long as it is take out size and not too deep
  3. Have students draw “X” marks where they want to place the plugs
  4. Allow students to examine the plugs so they understand their scale, density and requirements

    • Each plug must have at least 4 cm of space around it
    • Ask the students to arrange their “X” to accommodate this

  5. Once their lids are marked, Drill their holes for them

    • This is best accomplished on a table, with a block of wood beneath it
    • Heating the tip of the drill bit works wonders on clean holes

  6. Allow the students to fill their container bottom with water
  7. Add the fertilizer in a 1:10 ratio

    • Cover ratios with your students if you must

  8. Replace the lid over the container
  9. Give students the seeds

    • The best seeds for this are kale, lettuce, turnips, and spinach

  10. Ask the kids to observe the plugs
  11. When the plug appears sufficiently damp, insert the seed into the hole in the top of the plug
  12. Ask students to carefully monitor the seeds over the first few days
  13. When germination begins, have students add just a 1/2 tsp of fertilizer a week

Teacher Note

It is wise to have a mockup ready and seeded so the students can see the sprouting of the plants. I will provide a few photos in this lesson plan just in case.

These systems are almost endlessly re-useable, so keep them or give them to the students. The roots in the plug will become fertilizer. Or the kids can clean the sponge with bleach and water. Users choice.


Lesson: Creating Perfect Fertlizer

Lesson: Creating Perfect Fertlizer

Creating fertilizer from algae in the Biofilter. This is just one type of fertlizer produced at Mezzacello.

This lesson: Creating perfect fertilizer from NHCOPS, eggshells, coffee grounds, and banana peels. Students will also explore pre-digestive compost runoff and worm tea. Comfrey tea, and fish effluent/algae fertilizer will also be synthesized. All are non-toxic but effective.

All fertilizers share one thing in common: They provide NHCOPS to all parts of a plant (see Lesson: NHCOPS and the Ladder of Life). Since all fertilizers share a common use, do they also provide the exact same benefits? Let’s explore that.

Periodic table of life
We most definitely recycle atoms and molecules!
Water Purification System that models 5 gallon and three gallon buckets.

Materials

  • A five gallon bucket
  • 3.5 Gallons of water (preferably rain water)
  • An air stone and an air stone pump
  • An extension cord rated for outdoor use
  • Maple syrup
  • Three cups of the following:

    • Worm casings (buy at Menards)
    • Chicken manure
    • Rabbit manure
    • Horse manure
    • Shredded leaves
    • shredded paper
    • Algae

  • A stirring stick (even a long twig branch will do)
  • A screen or large colander to collect solids

Instructions

  1. Set up the 5 gallon bucket, the air stone and air pump, the power strip in a safe space
  2. Fill the bucket with water
  3. Insert the air stone into the water and plug it in

    • One can have the air stone on before, but it is more dramatic if the students can see the bubbles

  4. Allow students to observe the bubbles
  5. Begin inserting the various manures and leaves, paper and algae

    • I like to call the shredded paper “human waste” and surprise the students that it’s paper

  6. Once everything has been dumped begin stirring the bucket to mix everything up
  7. Ask the students what they think is happening in the bucket
  8. Pull out the maple syrup
  9. Ask the kids what they think maple syrup is
  10. Ask the students if anyone has ever made bread

    • Do they know what yeast are?
    • Do they know what yeast eats?

  11. What do they think the maple syrup will do in the bucket?
  12. Add the syrup to the bucket – about 1/4 cup
  13. Wait 10 minutes and come back to observe the bucket

    • What do the students see on top of the bucket
    • There will be a beer like foam on top of the bucket
    • Allow the mixture to sit overnight

  14. When the next day arrives ask the students to smell the mixture
  15. It will smell like rain, ask them to hypothesize why [Petrichor]
  16. Strain the liquid and bottle it up, set the solids aside for compost starter
  17. Observe the fertilizer color, consistency, smell, and weight
  18. Ask your students to hypothesize why it weighs more than water and has that color if we took all the solids out
  19. Record their answers

Teacher Note

There is a lot of excellent chemistry, biology, math, physics, art, literature, and mechanics in this lesson. If possible power the unit with a solar array or batteries and discuss the role of energy in this system.

Nested Realities from the Organism to the energy that animates it.

In nature, what powers this transformation? Is it the sun? Yes? What role is the air stone playing in this system? This is the perfect time to tie the breakdown of molecular aspects with rust and oxidation.


The Vision for the Formal Gardens

Six years ago around this time we started mapping out the “rooms” of the formal gardens. We cut out the sod and recycled as much of the dirt as we could and turned the rest into sod rolls for our neighbors. We had 60 rolls of sod. Then I aerated the beds well, and in a few select spots dug the swales which I filled with old wood and dead branches. Then I covered everything over with dirt, compost, weed fabric and mulch. We had nothing to put in the beds. By sheer luck, a neighbor posted on social media they had some boxwoods they wanted to re-home. But we knew we needed something more. So Rick went about making cuttings of the Annabelle hydrangeas we found in the neighborhood. He stuck them right in the ground and let me use my systems to nourish them. This was our first hedgerow.

It’s fun to think about those tiny boxwoods – all 36 of them! Rick put them to use to frame the formal garden rooms. They were all donated from a neighbor who had inherited them from the previous owners of their house – who happen to now live down the street from us. So we made three truckload deliveries and Rick planted every last one of them. It was hard work. They are so much bigger and more vigorous now. The systems for developing compost, the manure, the additives, and the water swales really make a big difference!

It’s funny to see Mezzacello this way. Today the flowers and hedgerows frame everything so well. And the 36 Hornbeams are all almost 4 meters tall now and a solid wall of green. 

I did almost all of the labor here. Rick helps, but it is my job to fertilize and plan systems. This one I cannot take credit for. Rick is the genius behind this plan. I thought he was being over generous in his proportions and scale. I was wrong. This garden has matured beautifully. I can only imagine what our neighbors must have thought of the “racetracks in the grass” that was our yard in 2015. Rick had a vision. And it is today one of my favorite places in the world.

Update

 


The Paths To The Ecosystems

The Paths To The Ecosystems

The Paths To The Ecosystems
The snow highlights the path through the yard that touches every ecosystem at Mezzacello.

Mezzacello is first and foremost a private residence and it is a yard. But it is also an urban garden and an urban farm. There will be supplies that must be brought in and products that will travel from one ecosystem to another, you can see that in the paths to the ecosystems left in the snow.

Traveling from the house to the poultry and rabbit warrens leaves a path. It was interesting to see that path so clearly on this winter day. Like a road traveling down the north south axis of the house, the herbal parterres, the aquatic ecosystem, the henyard, the potager garden and the greenhouses.

This path gets used so much I have had to plant high traffic grass seed because the original grass just became a muddy path. I never really documented that though. Let’s face it, a wintery path and healthy, impact tolerant grass is a better image than a muddy path.

But that path is a superhighway of activity amongst all six of these ecosystems. I am really proud of it. I’ll be traveling on it to shut the animals away safe for the night, shortly.


Next Steps for Project Martian

With the success of Project Martian last summer, I am making plans to extend my research. Last summer was about optimizing yield and harvest ability of the selected crops. I am still doing well in my winter larder! This spring and summer will be about implementing technology and automation to extend my mission into other food deserts.

Stay tuned for #ProjectBioLEGO. My first foray into automation agriculture and ecosystem management.


The Foodist: Rabbit Pot-Au-Feu

Pot-au-Feu is usually made with two cuts of beef and lots of fresh herbs and vegetables. We have lots of the latter but no beef; we raise rabbits. So rabbit it is! I love this in the fall and winter, we love it with fresh herbs and vegetables so it needed to be a summer meal – But I can use the root cellar vegetables and herbs that I dehydrate and store. So we are adapting as we go along.

INGREDIENTS

  • 5 sprigs of parsley
  • 2 sprigs of thyme
  • 1 large bay leaf
  • 4 large leeks
  • 4lbs of rabbit (a whole rabbit)
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • Rabbit Kidneys, liver and chicken liver, quartered
  • 1 small head of cabbage cut into 8 wedges
  • 4 large carrots cut into quarters
  • 2 medium purple turnips peeled and quartered
  • 2 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 4 medium Yukon gold potatoes peeled and halved
  • 8 toasted pieces of crusty bread
  • 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
  • Salt and cracked pepper
  1. Tie the parsley thyme and bay leaf together in a 10” square of cheesecloth with string. This is your bouquet garni.
  2. Place rabbit but not organs in a 10-12 quart dutch oven and cover with 1”  of cool water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
  3. Fill an additional 6-8 quart pot with salted water to a boil. Add the cabbage in and boil for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
  4. Skim the fat from your boiled rabbit. Add the bouquet garni, leeks, cabbage, carrots, turnips,  onions, garlic and 2tbs salt. Add beef broth and enough water back to the pot to cover the vegetables. Return to a boil.
  5. Skim the water again after the boil. Turn the heat down to low and partially covered. Cook at a simmer. Continue to remove fat occasionally.
  6. The rabbit will take a few hours to cook. Remove the vegetables as they cook. Set the vegetables aside after they cook.
  7. Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
  8. Remove the rabbit from the broth and set aside. Cover with foil.
  9. Feed the the bouquet garni to the chickens. Add the organs, vegetables and potatoes to the broth over medium heat. Heat them through.
  10. Serve up mugs of broth. Add the Dijon mustard to 1 cup of broth. Use this to spread on your bread. Spread half on the platter you will be serving the Pot-au-Feu on.
  11. Transfer the vegetables to a platter. Plate the rabbit. Pour enough broth over the dish to add a shallow pool of  broth. Add Salt and Pepper over the dish.
  12. Serve.

 


The Foodist: Potato Galette

The Foodist: Potato Galette

Crispy and silky potato galette at Mezzacello.

This was Christmas Dinner! This dish (Jim here) took me back to Christmas, 1992 in Alencon, France! It was delightful and So delicious!

Silky and crispy, salty and with the fresh rosemary and butter it was a true delight. Cooked in a cast iron skillet this is a crowd pleaser!

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

  • In order for the potato cake to hold together, it is important to slice the potatoes no more than 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick and to make sure the slices are thoroughly dried before assembling the cake.
  • Use a mandoline slicer or the slicing attachment of a food processor to slice the potatoes uniformly thin.
  • A pound of dried beans, rice, or coins can be substituted for the pie weights.
  • For an alternate method for unmolding the galette line the cast iron pan with parchment paper.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 ½ pounds (5-6 large) Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and sliced 1/8 inch thick (see note)
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon table salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. Place potatoes in large bowl and fill with cold water. Using hands, swirl to remove excess starch, then drain in colander. Spread potatoes onto kitchen towels and thoroughly dry.
  3. Whisk 4 tablespoons butter, cornstarch, salt, pepper, and rosemary (if using) together in large bowl.
  4. Add dried potatoes and toss until thoroughly coated.
  5. Place remaining tablespoon butter in heavy bottomed 10-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet and swirl to coat.
    1. one can also line a pan with parchment paper to make removing the galette easier.
    2. do not use aluminum foil as the potatoes will not crisp.
  6. Place 1 potato slice in center of skillet then overlap slices in circle around center slice, -followed by outer circle of overlapping slices. Gently place remaining sliced potatoes on top of first layer, arranging so they form even thickness.
  7. Place skillet over medium-high heat and cook until sizzling and potatoes around edge of skillet start to turn translucent, about 5 minutes.
  8. Spray 12-inch square of foil with nonstick cooking spray. Place foil, sprayed side down, on top of potatoes. Place 9-inch cake pan on top of foil and fill with 2 cups pie weights. Firmly press down on cake pan to compress potatoes. Transfer skillet to oven and bake 20 minutes.
  9. Remove cake pan and foil from skillet. Continue to cook until potatoes are tender when paring knife is inserted in center, 20 to 25 minutes. Return skillet to medium heat on stovetop and cook, gently shaking pan (use potholder—handle will be hot), until galette releases from sides of pan, 2 to 3 minutes.
  10. Off heat, place cutting board over skillet. With hands protected by oven mitts or potholders, using 1 hand to hold cutting board in place and 1 hand on skillet handle, carefully invert skillet and cutting board together. Lift skillet off galette. Using serrated knife, gently cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Modification

Rick controlled for everything! The one modification: let it rest for a FULL three minutes before you flip it – or cook it in parchment paper in the cast iron pan! Share your results!


Winter Soldiers in a Garden

Food is complex. The types of food I grow at Mezzacello are optimized mostly for three things:

  1. Caloric Benefit
  2. Rate of Growth and Yield
  3. Seasonal Duration

Today’s blog post is about 2 and 3. The vast majority of crops that I grow are root crops or squashes. They grow well in my #ProjectMartian beds and they can last three seasons with proper precautions. Then there are the “super crops” or “winter soldiers” like chard, kale, leeks, and green onions. Root crops sweeten, but don’t continue photosynthesis like green onions, leeks chard and kale do. They may not be strong on the first optimization strategy, but they are great for flavor and reliability.

The other intriguing component of leeks and green onions: they are essentially immortal. The leeks and green onions you see in this garden in 2020 I planted from either seed or cutting in spring of 2017. If you mound dirt (or compost around leeks and green onions, they will root well. Then when you harvest them, leave the cut root in the ground and a new plant will replace it. Three generations of green onions in 2020 alone. And the leeks were bought at a NC garden stand on highway 12. I kept the bottoms moist in paper towels and brought them home. They lived in a five gallon bucket of water all winter of 2019 (I wanted to move them and replant them and forgot) and yet they persist. These are my winter soldiers!