perspective

Why is it Called “Mezzacello”?

Rick and I had been searching for a house in Old Towne East (a downtown residential neighborhood in Columbus, OH) for a few years. We talked about what we wanted to do with a house, and what it would be…

Living Lives of Sterile Futility

Living Lives of Sterile Futility I started this blog post a few weeks back. I started it in anger and I realized as I was typing furiously into my iPhone amidst the ruins of my compost bins in the alley…

The “Foundations” of Building an Urban Garden

What you are looking at is the foundation stones from a house that used to sit on this lot. Every garden bed we build we know we are going to excavate some foundation. Luckily at this point we have a…

digging into foundations
The limestone stoop to a former Greek Revival townhouse that once stood on this site.

When You Have Love That Dovetails

Rick and I are an ecosystem, a system, a partnership. We need each other, we love each other, we improve and strengthen each other. We are also two independent people with enough foresight, history, wisdom, and vision to know that…

2019 Columbus Gay Pride Parade.

A Tale of North and South Korea: or East Mezzacello & West Mezzacello

North and South Korea: East and West Mezzacello North and South Korea is at the heart of Mezzacello. We always knew we were of two minds when we designed Mezzacello. Rick wanted Pretty and Plentiful, I wanted Functional and Farmland;…

New fountain garden

Why We Do Everything Ourselves

It’s not just because we are poor. We do everything at Mezzacello because I believe in this mission. I could hire it out, yes. But I could not maintain it. I would never be able to do this. It takes…

The Neighbors Truck

Mezzacello is an enclosed sustainable urban ecosystem, but it is also part of a larger ecosystem of community that is our awesome neighbors. Community is like a garden, I didn’t know this but I quickly discovered it to be true.…

Jim with our neighbor Randy in front of his trusty Ford Ranger.

Tech, Dirt, Rain, and Security

Security is essential on an urban farm. From cameras to drones to locks I am always looking for ways to improve security. Locks are my nemesis. I forget combinations, I lose keys. So when Amazon offered up a weatherproof biometric…

A biometric fingerprint lock that does not work with muddy fingers.