modern life

In my ongoing effort to preserve as much food as possible I’ve had to experiment with alternative ways of storing food. I’ve done a lot of research and consulting a lot of desperate agricultural exports.  From extension offices to Amish…

A lot of people hate winter. I am not a fan of the mud and sludge, but winter is NECESSARY for a farm in this latitude. Tough titties. I need the cold to reset the micro flora and fauna, to…

It’s not just the urban garden that’s resting, but our bodies as well. But while the body rests, the mind engages. At Mezzacello the mind is almost always engaged; how else are you going to change the world, right? On…

This is a delicious vegetarian alternative to beef stew that will make omnivores salivate!

Practicing gratitude is a woefully underrated skill in 21st Century America. We are consumed by the desire for efficiency and disdain inconvenience as if it were a mortal sin. We are allergic to nuisance. none of this is a sin,…

I talk a great game about recycling food and adaptive reuse at Mezzacello. I really do feed every scrap I can back to the animals, insects and compost. Some days I do feel like Seymour trying to find enough “food”…

Y’all remember the Smurfs? When I was in middle school every Saturday morning I would watch “The Smurfs”. I loved the message of community and resourcefulness. The singular villain, Gargamel, was a stand in for the cruel world and later on…

It’s late winter at Mezzacello. I am always eager to get a jump on the next crop of animals. Invariably I order them too early and I regret it. I bought these chicks (and a stud breeding rabbit) on a…

#COVID19 is a new paradigm. People are being required to Shelter In Place across the nation and definitely here in Columbus, OH. I am working for the first time directly in the same place of my husband. Right across the…

The ins and outs of how to build, deploy, and care for various poultry in a chicken tractor in the city; or in the country.