2024 Earth Day School Visits

Are you a high school or middle school teacher in Columbus City Schools? Looking for a fun and exciting Applied STEM tie-in to Environmental and food science? Consider bringing Mezzacello Urban Farm mobile farms to your class with 2024 Earth Day School Visits!

Why Earth Day?

Environmental awareness is a very important aspect of the Earth Day experience. However we know that knowing the problem is not enough. We need to also give our kids applied STEM tools to help address, solve, and better understand our challenges.

In addition, the theme of the 2024 Earth Day events this year is Planet Vs Plastics and their impact on Nature. All of our programming here at Mezzacello Urban Farm are aligned to the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Dealing with the inherent pollution of living in and growing in a dense urban environment is at the core of Mezzacello’s mission, this includes combatting micro-plastics pollution.

Bringing The Urban Farm To You, 2024 Earth Day School Visits

Each of the three portable urban farm carts is completely mobile and modular. There are three themes that can be explored using the mobile labs: Energy, BioEngineering, and Ecology.

If you are interested in having a mobile lab come to your school, please comment on the form below. This year, Earth Day falls on Monday, April 22, 2024. I can bring a mobile lab to a STEM class or an assembly. But a registration must be made first.

Visit Mezzacello Urban Farm

If you’d like to tour Mezzacello Urban Farm you are welcome to that as well. Mezzacello is located on the Near East Side of downtown Columbus, Ohio at Broad and 20th. It is central enough that Olde Towne and King Lincoln/Bronzeville schools can easily visit!

Mezzacello Urban Farm’s Applied STEM and agriculture infrastructure is extensive! We run programming here throughout the year, on site and online. On site there are four lab classrooms (Livestock, Energy Production and Renewables, BioEngineering and Automation, and BioTechnology).

In addition to the labs, Mezzacello Urban Farm has a complete standards-aligned and UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals aligned curriculum, formal gardens, aquatic, herb, hydroponic and traditional food gardens. All of these gardens have applied STEM and advanced permaculture and technology solutions built-in.

Camps and Workshops

Mezzacello runs summer camps, workshops, and online courses. Perhaps your students would be interested in taking a week-long camp or a one-day workshop? Perhaps you would be interested in becoming a teacher alongside my team of interns and teachers?

Revisiting the Chicken/Duck Run in 2024

Ah, the poultry run between the livestock shed and the energy generation shed! What a delight it is. I think it’s time for revisiting the chicken/duck run in 2024.

Why Revisit?

Well there are two main reasons I need to modify this system. The first being that when it works, it’s great, but when it doesn’t – like in the winter – it’s bad. The second is that it is labor and resource heavy to maintain it with satisfactory sanitation.

The issue is the rubber horse mattes. They are terrific and are required by law in my City. They are easy to clean, impermeable and long-lasting. The weakness is that I cannot adequately collect the manure runoff in a sustainable way for long before they clog or at all in the winter.

I was beginning to think that I had to modify the understructure of the mattes in a way that allows for chickens and ducks to have more natural materials beneath their feet. Secondly, I need a system that will manage manure in a way that does not back up. I found my solution from an unlikely source.

Paris or Bust

My original proof of concept was the redesigned 19th Century sewers of Paris. Allow water and waste to flow through channels and down into a main sewer where I could treat wastes with diatomaceous earth and UV radiation to cure the hot, acidic manure in a covered cistern. Then I could reuse the manure as a potent nutrient resource.

Alas, my sewers were under-designed and would clog easily. Even an 8″ diameter pipe and grated sumps placed strategically around the run were insufficient. In order for the system to work, I needed to engineer a 30cm (18″) drop which meant a cistern five feet deep.

Obviously that is a lot of work. It would also be a pain to empty. It does not work well in winter either.

Clean and functional poultry run

Dysfunctional Run in winter

The bioPath to the north of the poultry run and the manure collection cistern

Leave It To The Kids

Because this BioTechnology Summer Camp is an applied STEM summer camp, the team also came up with a series of solutions to the messy wastes and backup problem. Scrap it. Create a hybrid system that benefits animals and humans.

Team Duck, Mezzacello BioTechnology Camp Students

I have known this was a brewing issue for a while now. After two winters I can see the many flaws in my plan. But it was my BioTechnology Summer Camp Kids that really drove the point home.

In a section of the camp called sustainable habitats, one team of kids ran a meticulous review of the run and readily identified these issues. I was very proud of them.

Because this BioTechnology Summer Camp is an applied STEM summer camp, the team also came up with a series of solutions to the messy wastes and backup problem. Scrap it. Create a hybrid system that benefits animals and humans.

Listen To The Kids

Their suggestion was to install long French Drains located at the matte edges beneath the mattes. This would allow a small gap covered in hardware cloth to let water and wastes drop in and flow. They encouraged me to seal the south ends end to prevent rodents. They encouraged me to cover the rubber horse mattes with river rock to allow the manure and to percolate down and stay clean at the same time.

The drains would empty straight into a single 25cm (10″) deep, 8″ trough with a grate over at the run side of the walkway. Lastly, I am impressed that they recognized quickly the three major flaws with my existing system. I was quite surprised when they delivered their analysis.

I actually think this analysis the kids did is quite genius. One of them even drew what they thought the biggest problem with the system was: Too many 90 degree turns in the pipes. That had never occurred to me, but I see now that they were absolutely correct.

Their calculations showed that this stone hybrid interface would require .5 cubic meters (7.2 cubic yards) of river rock to achieve. The french drains would stretch north to south beneath the mattes and I could repurpose the existing sewer into a straight run in the walkway with a 10cm drop at the east end. The run drains to the north towards the walkway so this makes great sense.

This straight run and the smooth drains with steeper runs and no turns or wells to clog will allow me to clear wastes and recycle them easier – even in winter. The stones will keep the birds healthier and control the mess. The entire system will be far more sustainable and sanitary.

My BioTechnology design cohort!

I will keep you posted on the progress. Follow me if you have a coop and want to see the CAD plans and the before and after. If nothing else, show this to your kids to remind them that kids are the future, and a bit of Applied STEM goes a LONG way!

The Foodist: Scotched Quail Eggs

This was a surprise and a delight, The Foodist: Scotched Quail Eggs! In 2023 we started keeping quail to supplement the ecosystems of the chickens and the ducks at Mezzacello. The quail eat similar foods, but their manure is a different consistency and contains more unique minerals.

In addition to the fabulous and interesting biome enhancements, we also get really cool little quail eggs! It’s been fun making omelettes, quiches, and deserts with these funny little eggs. Rick decided to scoth them and this was great!

INGREDIENTS

18 quail eggs
1/2 pound ground beef or loose sausage
- Optional
- 1 tablespoon prepared English mustard
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 packed teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 chicken eggs
Flour
Bread crumbs
Chives
Oil for frying

DIRECTIONS

Bring a pot of water to a hard boil. In 3 batches, boil the quail eggs for exactly 1 minute and 50 seconds. Immediately rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.
Gently peel the eggs, removing the shell and the thin inner shell lining.
- This is a little tricky if you have never worked with quail eggs before, and I lost 2 or 3 eggs before getting the hang of it.
- Break the shell all around the egg first, then start at the top, making sure to grab hold of the inner lining as well as the shell.
- Then work in a spiral around the egg, pulling off the entire shell in one continuous strip.
Beat the 2 chicken eggs to form an egg wash, and prepare your breading station with a plate of flour, a plate of egg wash, and a plate of breadcrumbs.
Roll out the beef or sausage very thin and lightly salt. If seasoning add 1 tablespoon prepared English mustard, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/2 packed teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg in a medium bowl. Fold and mix until combined.
Lightly flour the egg. Wrap in a thin layer of meat and press into your hand in an effort to seal the meat all around the egg. Don’t press too hard or you will break the yolk!
When the meat is sealed around the egg, lightly flour it and roll it around in your hands again, using the flour coating to help seal everything shut.
Lightly dust with flour again, then coat in egg, and finally the breadcrumbs.
Deep fry at 350°F for about 2 minutes until the breadcrumbs are nicely browned.
Garnish with chives and serve.

SAUCE

A simple sauce consists of 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons stone-ground mustard, juice of 1 lemon. I like using horseradish. Add to horseradish to taste.

NOTE:

Keep the egg shells! Broil them in an oven and crush them. Return them to the quail or chickens as a ready source of calcium! Or use them in your plants to make strong stems or in your compost!

BioDome Automated Systems 2023

Gallery of the BioDome Automated Systems 2023 showing the steel frame, the dual insulated covers, and the systems inside to encourage tropical plant growth.

Well it was a bit of an obsessive struggle, but I can say I understand my modified geodesic system well enough to build and dismantle it now. I also discovered that I needed two layers of plastic to better insulate it. I also needed to add vents to let in fresh air – regardless of the external temperatures.

More Focused Sensors This Time

In my original iterations of the biodome I had too many sensors that were giving me data that I could not use. Too Hot, Too Humid, Too much sun, Too much chill. This time there are three sensors:

How much sun as a function of time
How often and long does water need to spray
What are baseline temps during day and night only

This will make it much easier to use the data from the sensors to give these fragile plants a better chance of surviving our Ohio winters. And the automation will save me a lot of time. I need to come up with a way to monitor scale and pests though.

So for now it’s a visual test. I am putting this system to the test now as i am on vacation and this system is running on automated systems. Wish me luck!

Time To Upgrade The BioDome Again

Despite what you might think, this is actually a planning document to understand if the biodome and the rainbow pavilion can occupy the same space at Mezzacello. According to my calculations it can. It’s time to upgrade the BioDome again.

I was also watching a program on dinosaur adaptation and it also captured my imagination. So I started drawing, and drawing and drawing more (24 iterations and two straw and pipe cleaner models). Think Close Encounters of the Third Kind obsession.

This level of obsession. (Courtesy Columbia Pictures)

An Idea For a Long Time

This will be my third year engineering the functionality of the biodome. But the idea of combining a steel pavilion and a geodesic dome is actually pretty old for me. I have been designing this in my mind for my whole adult life.

I am intimidated by three things:

The geometry of the dome and the combo of pentagons and hexagons
The base that raises the dome to adult human height
How can I keep this in the same space as my current classroom space at Mezzacello?

Don’t forget to design a door! Don’t forget that base will roll back under!

This time I will be building the biodome underneath the steel rainbow pergola. The pergola and the dome are similar sizes. The dome is righter than the square as it’s corners stick out just a few centimeters.

Taking down the pergola is just as hard as taking down or building the biodome. So this year, I will just leave the pergola in place and remove the pergola awning. This will allow me to expand the dome functionality in three important ways:

I can add an extra layer of insulative material if the weather drops too low
I can add solar panels and a wind turbine to the steel pergola to power the biodome
I can expand the ways I use this area in programming and functionality

Chaos trying to build a 90Kg (200 lb) steel dome

This quick little gallery is the two days I spent trying to balance 90kg (200lbs) of steel beneath a steel pergola. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but rope is a poor choice. Finally a friend pulled one side into place so I could fasten the last piece and create a door.

I am curious what the rainbow pergola will be like with the biodome in place all year long. I don’t have the luxury of keeping the dome or classroom pergola where they are. Phase III of Mezzacello requires that space for a porch, a classroom and a kitchen extension.

I already know from my previous three years that the biodome is not an all-year solution. Those were the first two failures. Now I can design an easily removable plastic welded clear dome cover with Nd (magnetic) couplings.

I already know I cannot use the covered biodome in the summer as it is impossible for life (super hot) and expensive to cool. Perhaps the pergola tarp and power will allow me to keep the dome on all year long? We will see.

This is a part of the City of Columbus Parks and Recreation Summer Grant Grant #1521-2023.

The Moon and Other Garden Jewels

Recently I was out in the side gardens of Mezzacello Urban Farm doing some routine maintenance. As it grew dark, my solar powered allee lights and the sidewalk access LED lamps came on automatically. I was struck by how beautiful The Moon and Other Garden Jewels were at that moment.

Document Everything

I believe it is important to document and record things so you can come back to them later. Every bit of data has value, if not alone then as part of a data set that correlates with trends. This is how I realized I had a reall groundhog problem here at Mezzacello.

There are three pots of parsley that I started midsummer when I realized that the parterre garden boxwoods had grown too tall to allow some delicate herbs in the tighter corners to grow. You can see here that the parsley has been nibbled down severely.

I assumed it was the squirrels. But on this night I discovered it was a groundhog and they had decimated my turnips as well. Now I have data on where that groundhog is hiding.

Underlying Issues

The moon that night also exposed a series of underlying issues at Mezzacello. Namely:

The boxwood parterre needs trimmed and dead material removed.
Collecting cardboard for reuse all year is a bad idea as groundhogs and rats love that.
The water collection and storage IBCs need reset and raised so that the groundhogs can’t make dens under them.
The solar array for the allee lights need to be joined into one 9 volt array to save on resources.
I need more trash receptacles at Mezzacello if I am going to keep the grounds clean.

All that from a quick snap of the moon on an autumn night. Now I have documentation on things that need to be done over the fall and winter of 2023-2024. I’d better get busy.

The Golden Ticket Presentation

This is the Golden Ticket Presentation I gave 10/15/2023 at the Global Innovation Field Trip. It is a very nice presentation and I am very proud of myself. I am a Willy Wonka for summer camps and workshops on biotech, renewables and sustainability!

YouTube of my October 15, 2023 presentation to Global Innovation Field Trip.

I chose Willy Wonka because I know globally this reference is still relevant to many kids around the world. I wanted something fun and accessible, but still mysterious and a tad dangerous? Mostly I wanted kids to see that failure is the path to learning when we play rather than work.

Oompa Loompas AKA Student Interns

I also love my “Oompa Loompas”. These were my kid teachers. You can see them in the screenshot of the video above.

They are LITERALLY the three young (and only) girls in this photo. They were (from Left to Right) Milana, Summer, and Arya.They helped me run and teach this summer camp on BioEngineering to this group of 16 boys.

I never told them I thought any of my interns were Oompa Loompas of course. I didn’t know it then either. This idea of Mezzacello Urban Farm as a metaphor for Wonkaland is quite new.

But these five young interns were just that! The magic that makes the magical place work and come alive in the hearts and the imagination of the young people in the camps and workshops. I literally could not have had the success I did without them.

Impacts and Pride

They did a terrific job, and I am very proud of them. I am proud of all the kids in my camps and workshops this year! 160 kids in 13 programs, and an additional 103 in my online events and tours.

The success of this intern program has been so great that I am extending it into 2024 with a new series of workshops on leadership and peer to peer mentorship and training. I will be announcing details later in November. To those parents who have already reached out, I have your data!

This is a part of the City of Columbus Parks and Recreation Summer Grant Grant #1521-2023.

The Revised Brand at Mezzacello Urban Farm

Welcome to Mezzacello Urban Farm! Today I pulled down the old sign from the corner of the electrical components lab. I replaced it with the revised brand at Mezzacello Urban Farm.

First The Web, Next The World

The original logo was a reflection of the signature of Thomas Jefferson. I thought it was lovely and elegant — just one big problem; Two Thirds of the World’s population cannot read cursive.

With as much outreach and public speaking that we are starting to do, we need a brand that can easily read and understood. When I found out that many of my global audience could not read Mezzacello. They were calling it red house green leaf farm.

That hurt. But more than anything, I hated that my pride was getting in the way of my work and desire to change the world. So I started with the website. I changed the logo there and the traffic remained consistent. Today I am revealing it to the wider world.

That Most Important Path To Sustainability

As a designer and programmer, it is really important to me that I am clear and understood. As a Futurist Farmer and Alpha Animal it is VERY important that I am both understood and trusted. We have to remove barriers if we are really going to seriously — and with good faith — approach sustainability.

It’s In The Goals!

That is one of the four core goals here at Mezzacello. Grow, Maintain, Sustain, Explain. I can do them all with this newly branded logo.

Grow the brand as well as my farm, my mission and our collective impact.
Maintain the farm and my passion and love of beauty and applied STEM for all generations.
Sustain the world within these fences, ponds, turbines, gardens, ponds, farm, and livestock.
Now I am here to explain how to do it and why this is all so very very important – to all of us.

Many Thanks

I would like to thank my friends working with the ongoing Global Climate Crisis, the staff and presenters with the Global Innovation Field Trip, my Mezzacello Urban Farm Executive Board, my mentors and interns, and two eight-and-twelve-year-old fans who told me point blank that they could not read my logo.

If you see our farm on East Broad Street at 20th Street in downtown Columbus, give us a honk! If you love what we we do and want to help us do even more, consider a donation! But most importantly, join us in our mission and become part of the red house/green leaf lifestyle!

Hopes and Dreams

Hopes and Dreams matter to us adults and to the kids we support, encourage, and adore. This is Gabe. One of my #PostCOVID summer camp kids at Mezzacello Urban Farm and there is a great story here.

Fearless Dreaming

[Gabe] taught me to not be afraid of my dorkiness, but to always lean into what I was passionate about.

Jim Bruner

In June of 2021 the world was realing from the devastating effects of the COVID19 pandemic and the global mandatory lockdowns through all of 2020. Fear was everywhere. But I KNEW – I KNEW – I needed to give people hope here at Mezzacello. After all, it had sustained Rick and I all through the pandemic.

I just needed a brave cohort of families to trust in me and my partners at PAST Foundation to share their children in a summer of transformational learning. All courtesy of the Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation. So we launched the BioLEGO and ProjectMartian Grants.

It was still a very scary time. COVID deaths could rise again and everyone had to wear masks still.But more than anything we all of us wanted to learn, dream, grow, connect, and hope for more. I met some remarkable people that year.

Enter Gabe

The kids in my two camps that year, BioLEGO and Project Martian were so amazing. They wanted more from life. They wanted fun, mystery, challenges – and they wanted to connect.

After a year of isolation, they were nervous, but more human now than ever. Gabe was a fabulous kid in my Project BioLEGO camp. He taught me to not be afraid of my dorkiness, but to always lean into what I was passionate about.

A kid. A kid modeled this for me and MADE me believe it. It was Gabe’s idea to take this photo.

Who Knew Robots Could do this?! Samuel in Fin 2 Feathers Workshop

Jim Bruner

He casually informed me that we were BOTH going to wear the same hats in this photo. Black stetsons that I wear a lot. And we were going to pose for the camera, but we had to also wear the NASA helmets.

He SAW that I was willing to dream, he WATCHED me lay down for 30 minutes after every meal that I ate for two solid weeks straight. He KNEW I wanted a brighter future for ALL kids. So we took this photo together.

People Can Be More Than One Thing At A Time

Gabe and I were both wearing NASA helmets. You can’t see Gabe’s helmet, he is way too cool. Gabe wanted us BOTH to be farmers and astronauts.

The backstory here is that JUST THAT DAY, Gabe had asked me what I thought about every day – three times a day after I ate – what I thought about lying still for thrirty minutes. I told him the truth: I think about all the ways that I plan to change the world.

Gabe decided right then and there that he wanted to change the world too. He didn’t need to be JUST a famous Tattoo artist on YouTube, he could also be a fabulous nano-fabrication lithographist on Mars. People can be more than one thing at a time, Mr. Jim.

This is a part of the City of Columbus Parks and Recreation Summer Grant Grant #1521-2023.

Empowering Learners Through Applied STEM Learning

I love this photo! This is one of the students in Feather and Fin Workshops sponsored by City of Columbus Parks and Recreation this summer! This is what empowering learners through applied STEM learning looks like.

Give Kids Tools And Schools

In our workshops we look for opportunities for kids to see the world through new eyes. in the case of this photo it was through the eyes of a robotic fish health monitoring robot with a 1080P camera. The kids loved monitoring the fish from the BoiEngineering Lab.

Sometimes school is the best place for kids to learn. But there is something to be said for change of pace, change of place as well. The Mezzacello Urban Farm Summer Workshop Series was dedicated to just that point.

We pride ourselves on giving kids the tools and schools they need to see the worl – literally – through fresh eyes. This new data can help them better solve problems, and see new patterns. This is how we and they will change the world for the better.

This is a part of the City of Columbus Parks and Recreation Summer Grant Grant #1521-2023.