Family Workshop: Climate Effects

In this Family Workshop: Cimate Effects, we explore the role a of Climate, Resources, Energy, and Ecosystems in nature on creating a sustainable and safe community through the lens of the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. When we understand what the goals are, we can start looking at ecosystems and engineered systems with a better outlook.

Family Workshop Benefits

• A good system is a system that adapts to what is available and how it is important
• Learning applied STEM cues and patterns will help any person better understand how we are sustainable
• Could you and your family create a “Floor Is Lava” system to better understand sustainability?
• We’ll be tracking data and competing!
• Encourage trust and communication, respect and belonging in your family
• Encourage kids and families to see their value together as problem solvers!

Workshop Costs and Structures

Saturday, June 29, 2024 9:00 – 2:00 Presentation at 2:00

COST: $100 for a Family of 4 extra kids are $20 and kids under 6 are FREE

MAX Class size: 15

All of Mezzacello’s Family Workshops are $100 and have a max capacity per family of four and a five family max. Each workshop offers families to either work together with Mezzacello staff to learn applied STEM and natural systems, or work in two teams! Kids vs Parents is very popular.

This camp will run Saturday, June 29, 2024 from 9:00 – 2:00. Lunch is not provided. From 1:00 – 2:00 each team will come together to teach each other what they know. This can be filmed or not. But sharing new knowledge is central to Mezzacello Urban Farm’s mission of Grow, Maintain, Sustain, and Explain.

Do you think you and your family are up for the challenge? Sign up today before this weekend workshop fills up!

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Family Workshop: Nature’s Ninjas

In this Family Workshop: The Floor Is Lava, we explore the role a of energy and athleticism in nature on creating a sustainable and safe community through the lens of the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. When we understand what the goals are, we can start looking at ecosystems and engineered systems with a better outlook.

Family Workshop Benefits

• A good system is a system that adapts to what is available and how it is important
• Learning applied STEM cues and patterns will help any person better understand how we are sustainable
• Could you and your family create a “Floor Is Lava” system to better understand sustainability?
• We’ll be tracking data and competing!
• Encourage trust and communication, respect and belonging in your family
• Encourage kids and families to see their value together as problem solvers!

Workshop Costs and Structures

Saturday, June 22, 2024 9:00 – 2:00 Presentation at 2:00

COST: $100 for a Family of 4 extra kids are $20 and kids under 6 are FREE

MAX Class size: 15

All of Mezzacello’s Family Workshops are $100 and have a max capacity per family of four and a five family max. Each workshop offers families to either work together with Mezzacello staff to learn applied STEM and natural systems, or work in two teams! Kids vs Parents is very popular.

This camp will run Saturday, June 22, 2024 from 9:00 – 2:00. Lunch is not provided. From 1:00 – 2:00 each team will come together to teach each other what they know. This can be filmed or not. But sharing new knowledge is central to Mezzacello Urban Farm’s mission of Grow, Maintain, Sustain, and Explain.

Do you think you and your family are up for the challenge? Sign up today before this weekend workshop fills up!

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Family Workshop: Nature’s Ninjas

In this Family Workshop: Nature’s Ninjas, we explore the role a pollinators and livestock play on creating a sustainable and safe community through the lens of the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. When we understand what the goals are, we can start looking at ecosystems and natural systems with a better outlook.

Family Workshop Benefits

• How we are all Alpha Animals and why we need each other
• How sustainability REQUIRES empathy, compassion, and skills
• Training Butterflies and Ladybugs to feed on natural resources
• Training Chickens and Ducks to recognize and seek out pests and destroy them
• Encourage trust and communication, respect and belonging in your family
• Encourage kids and families to see their value together as problem solvers!

Workshop Costs and Structures

Saturday, June 15, 2024 9:00 – 2:00 Presentation at 2:00

COST: $100 for a Family of 4 extra kids are $20 and kids under 6 are FREE

MAX Class size: 15

All of Mezzacello’s Family Workshops are $100 and have a max capacity per family of four and a five family max. Each workshop offers families to either work together with Mezzacello staff to learn applied STEM and natural systems, or work in two teams! Kids vs Parents is very popular.

This camp will run Saturday, June 15, 2024 from 9:00 – 2:00. Lunch is not provided. From 1:00 – 2:00 each team will come together to teach each other what they know. This can be filmed or not. But sharing new knowledge is central to Mezzacello Urban Farm’s mission of Grow, Maintain, Sustain, and Explain.

Do you think you and your family are up for the challenge? Sign up today before this weekend workshop fills up!

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Activity: Plants to Paper

In this activity: plants to paper we will be converting cellulose and fiber found in grasses and leaves into pulp to make paper. This is a process that takes a few days and some special devices. We will also be building those devices out of wood, screen, and simple machines!

Basic Physics and Chemistry

Making paper is really simple. It requires 400% more material than you plan to create and it also requires that those fibers be pulped and an alkali be added. Finally we cook the pulp to cause a chemical reaction in the pulp.

Once we have the pulp it needs to be well hydrated and rinsed. WE can use the alkali water in our gardens if we neutralize its pH with an acid. Furthermore, we can be even more sustainable if we use gray water from hand washing stations here at Mezzacello.

The next step will be felting the paper. We put the pulp into a vat ow water big enough to place a screened frame into (see screen frame instructions). Then we dip the screen frame into the pulp water to cellect enough pulp to make paper.

Set that frame aside to dry a bit, and use a second screen to keep felting the pulp from the solution. While that second frame is drying, Carefully pull the paper off the screen and set it between some wool felt or cotton and in between glass sheets or cardboard.

Brute Force and Drying

When you have a stack of paper felts, their moisture wicking material (cardbord can serve as both a layer and moisture wicker, FYI) you will want to press them dry. For this you can stack the layers under boards and add concrete blocks, or you can make a press (see press making instructions).

Once you have all the moisture pressed out, you’ll want to let the paper air dry. After a few hours in the sun or in fronnt of a fan, the paper will be ready to use. Now we can add seeds and plant them, or make origami, or take notes on the next project we will be working on!

Family Workshop: Family Matters

In this Family Workshop: Family Matters, we explore the role a family can play on creating a sustainable and safe community through the lens of the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. When we understand what the goals are, we can start looking at ecosystems and natural systems with a better outlook.

Family Workshop Benefits

• Exploring how systems influence each other
• Creating new ways of growing and preserving food
• Managing animals and pollinators in a unique Technological and Natural Farm
• Creating technology solutions to solve real-world problems
• Encourage trust and communication, respect and belonging in your family
• Encourage kids and families to see their value together as problem solvers!

Workshop Costs and Structures

Saturday, June 8, 2024 9:00 – 2:00 Presentation at 2:00

COST: $100 for a Family of 4 extra kids are $20 and kids under 6 are FREE

MAX Class size: 15

All of Mezzacello’s Family Workshops are $100 and have a max capacity per family of four and a five family max. Each workshop offers families to either work together with Mezzacello staff to learn applied STEM and natural systems, or work in two teams! Kids vs Parents is very popular.

This camp will run Saturday, June 8, 2024 from 9:00 – 2:00. Lunch is not provided. From 1:00 – 2:00 each team will come together to teach each other what they know. This can be filmed or not. But sharing new knowledge is central to Mezzacello Urban Farm’s mission of Grow, Maintain, Sustain, and Explain.

Do you think you and your family are up for the challenge? Sign up today before this weekend workshop fills up!

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The Foodist: Cranberry, Apple, and Brandy Compote

This Cranberry, Apple, and Brandy Compote is an annual favorite at Mezzacello. It is tangy, delicious, wildly adaptable. Add it to bean soup, turkey sandwiches, or even homemade gelato. It shines! I make twice as much as I need every time because it is so easy and practical to make.

Gather the FIVE ingredients. I admire Jamie Oliver, but this recipe doesn’t come from him, but you should look at his work! Pour those five ingredients into a cast iron pan and bake! Voila! There is nothing easier. It’s a lot os sugar to be sure, but like all good things it’s best in small doses. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 bags cranberries
• 2 Granny Smith (yes bright green!) apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 2cm chunks
• 2 cups sugar (or 2 sheets gelatin)
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tbs brandy

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Pour cranberries, apple chunks, sugar, orange juice into a cast iron pan or enamel dutch oven.
3. Stir together until everything is well mixed.
4. Cook in oven for 40 minutes.
5. Let cool.
6. It’s delightful hot, but let’s be real, you are never going to eat this hot. It is equally delicious at room temperature.
7. Enjoy!

The Foodist: Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

One of my favorite food memories as a child was road trips to Virginia Beach, Prince William Park, Mount Vernon, or Williamsburg with a basket of Mom’s fried chicken served cold. Somehow she managed to make it up front, and serve it later, still crunchy good at room temperature, or right out of the cooler.

I have not been able to come close to her genius…until now. I found this recipe in Cooks Country and served it to several friends. All of which gave it a hearty thumbs up.

It takes me back to childhood and Virginia AND if you use peanut oil it can be compost friendly!

Picnic Fried Chicken from Cook’s Country

SERVES Serves 4

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

For fried chicken that’s crispy and delicious even when it’s cold, we pull out a few tricks. A combination of Wondra flour and cornstarch make for a coat that keeps its crunch, and dredging the chicken twice with a water dip in between creates a thick, craggy crust. Double-frying the chicken lets extra moisture evaporate from the skin, and chilling it uncovered further guards against sogginess. Finally, since cold dulls flavors, brining and extra seasoning are in order.

INGREDIENTS

• Salt and pepper
• 3 pounds bone-in chicken pieces (split breasts cut in half crosswise, drumsticks, and/or thighs), trimmed
• 1 ½ cups Wondra flour
• 1 ½ cups cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons white pepper
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried sage leaves
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 quarts peanut or vegetable oil

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

We like it best the day it’s made, but you can refrigerate this fried chicken for up to 24 hours. Use a Dutch oven that holds 6 quarts or more.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Dissolve ¼ cup salt in 1 quart cold water in large container. Submerge chicken in brine, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Whisk flour and cornstarch together in large bowl. Transfer 1 cup flour mixture to shallow dish; set aside. Whisk 1 tablespoon pepper, white pepper, baking powder, thyme, sage, garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and cayenne into remaining flour mixture. Add ¼ cup water to seasoned flour mixture. Rub flour and water together with your fingers until water is evenly incorporated and mixture contains craggy bits of dough. Pour 2 cups cold water into medium bowl.
3. Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet. Working with 2 pieces of chicken at a time, remove chicken from brine and dip in unseasoned flour mixture, pressing to adhere; dunk quickly in water, letting excess drip off; and dredge in seasoned flour mixture, pressing to adhere. Place chicken on prepared wire rack and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
4. Add oil to large Dutch oven until it measures about 2 inches deep and heat over medium-high heat to 350 degrees. Fry half of chicken until slightly golden and just beginning to crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Adjust burner, if necessary, to maintain oil temperature between 300 and 325 degrees. (Chicken will not be cooked through at this point.) Return parcooked chicken to wire rack. Return oil to 350 degrees and repeat with remaining raw chicken. Let each batch of chicken rest for 5 to 7 minutes.
5. Return oil to 350 degrees. Return first batch of chicken to oil and fry until breasts register 160 degrees and thighs/drumsticks register 175 degrees, 5 to 7 minutes. Adjust burner, if necessary, to maintain oil temperature between 300 and 325 degrees. Transfer chicken to clean wire rack. Return oil to 350 degrees and repeat with remaining chicken. Let chicken cool to room temperature, transfer to paper towel–lined plate, and refrigerate uncovered until ready to eat, up to 24 hours in advance. (Serve cold or let chicken come to room temperature.)