The Renfield House

We did some digging and think we have a pretty good idea who was here at Mezzacello from the start. The Auditor’s Office in our city (Columbus Ohio) burned to the ground in 1920, so therefore there are no records before 1920 in Columbus. We learned to call this The Renfield House.

Interesting First Resident

The man who built the house died while it was under construction. He died of an apparent heart attack in 1868 in Baltimore, MD and his coffin was shipped in a large oak box back from Baltimore on the newly completed Baltimore-Ohio railroad. The coffin was transported on the train in a large shipping box, AKA a sarcophagus. 

When the coffin shipping box arrived it was far too big to bring into the nearly complete house. The architect and builder came up with an clever plan to get the body, coffin and shipping box into the house. repurpose the crane used to build the roof and lift the box through the unfinished roof.

And that is where that box has remained for 160 years. Rick calls it the Renfield Box because he fancies Dracula in the coffin. He likes to think about poor Renfield languishing up in the attic just waiting for his master to rise from the box.

The Shipping Manifest and The Funeral Business in 1868 Ohio

Why you might ask was it brought to the house? In 1868 there weren’t a lot of funeral homes. Bodies were displayed in the house (the showing) and then taken to the cemetery after the viewing for burial.

But only the coffin was taken to be buried, they left the coffin shipping box up there. It’s a rather large box; 85 cm x 2.5 m x 95 cm  and to this day it is still in the attic. And most surprising of all was that a faded yellow copy of the shipping manifest remains glued onto the box lid.

It is so sturdy and heavy! I believe that box will be there long after we are gone as well. People will refer to the house as The Renfield House instead of Mezzacello for a long time, I think.

Those little windows amongst the corbel brackets are where the train casket shipping box (AKA sarcophagus) still resides. Minus its’ coffin and corpse of course. But who knows what was left behind?

About How We Discovered This

When we first looked at the house on the auditor’s website its age was listed as “old”. To determine the history of our humble home we had to use a variety of resources; Census records, tax records, and newspapers. All of these were available at the Main Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

Our research revealed that we had:

• A lawyer and his teenage bride
• A minister
• A father and son doctors who used the house as home and office
• An engineer
• A travel agent
• A widow lived here for 40 years
• The house was a boarding house at one point
• Twice the house has stood abandoned
• Later it was divided into apartments
• Jim’s father knew the last owner before us. Marvin (the previous owner) worked with Jim’s dad in Big Lots management.

The library staff were super helpful and the research and records department is really slick. It took a lot of sleuthing but it was worth it. We also had the resource of neighbors whose families have lived in this neighborhood for generations — some even in the house!

#ProjectMartian really worked well. Especially during the COVID19 isolation. Last year every bit of manure and green and brown for compost went through the #Bioreactor. I was mocked for using it. I was chastised for calling it that. But it did work. This year I used compost from the bioreactor in all of my 24 garden beds. But in eight of them I got cocky and amended the beds with horse manure. That was a good idea in theory except for one important fact; there was life in the manure. Bugs and weeds to be exact. I placed a layer of diatomaceous earth on every bed as a last step. In the outside manure beds, the life came from below the layer of diatomaceous earth. The system worked perfectly when I used “Eden’s Ghost” and just compost from the bioreactor. I was stunned to find all these weeds beneath the burlap today.

This is the design cycle in action. This is a failure that is going to drastically curtail my productivity. Along with the weeds came a whole class of pill bug and centipede that LOVE rich, wet, dark, organic environments. And now I have to sterilize the top 6cm of the infected beds. But I learned a valuable lesson; on Mars you have to use what you have. Had I stayed true to that mission I would not have discovered this flaw in my system. Lesson learned. Cook all manure before you add it to a #ProjectMartian bed. I am glad I learned this here and not on Mars.

The Rule of Sustainability – 3 and 5 Strategy

Sustainability is a really important topic in the world right now. We need more of it, but we need better metrics to define what “it” is. Like the word, “nice” sustainability means many different things to many different people. At Mezzacello I have developed a rule of thumb that helps me better define sustainability. I call it the Three and Five Strategy. It is really quite simple.

• Incorporate at least three other ecosystems or resources from Mezzacello.

• MUST provide at a MINIMUM five new unique resources to Mezzacello.

• Three in — Five out and all within one 18 month period of time.

This has eliminated all precious things from my farm. Nothing withers or remains alive through hard labor or constant vigilance. No extraordinary measures need to be taken. If one input is compromised, it can be substituted but only temporarily and not constantly; never constantly. If the systems cannot sustain that ecosystem, then that ecosystem lacks merit. Let me provide two examples. One from the natural world and one from Mezzacello.

Natural World: The human nose

Inputs:

1. Allows the sinus cavity to exist and remain at atmospheric pressures
2. Allows air to be purified through the cilia and mucus membranes
3. Provides protection via the senses (proprioceptor and Olfactory Nervous Systems)
4. Incorporates the lymphatic and immune response factors readily as a first line of defense

Outputs

1. Provides the sensation of smell and taste
2. Pressurizes and maintains the esophagus and bronchial cavities
3. Provides mucus for multiple parts of the respiratory system
4. Preserves moisture to the body
5. Allows the eyes to remain equidistant and focused for bipedal vision
6. Gives the human face character
7. Keeps the cartilage and skin of the face under tension
8. Holds glasses on your face
9. Secretes fats and toxins from the body
10. Cools/heats the brain cavity directly
11. Allows the palette to remain dynamic and flexible
12. Home to beneficial bacteria and immune response factors
13. Serves as an early warning system in the case of impact to the face
14. Allows the lips to purse and tense by providing cartilage and structure

Mezzacello: The Formal Gardens

Inputs:

1. Provides biomass seasonally on demand
2. Gives shelter, food and attraction to beneficial pollinators and birds
3. Provides shelter, privacy, and protection to all the inhabitants of the farm
4. Gives a sense of beauty and place to the neighborhood
5. Attracts interest in our mission here at Mezzacello

Outputs:

1. Biomass
2. A carbon sink for compost
3. Flowering shrubs and flowers
4. Shoots and berries that are edible
5. A place for the poultry to forage for pests
6. Shade and moisture
7. Cooling drafts and whimsy
8. Succor for the mind and spirit
9. Attracts beneficial microbial life, bacteria and fungus to the surrounding ecosystems
10. Improves the diversity of compost and fertilizers
11. Provides a sense of pride and purpose
12. Deflects noise from a busy main thoroughfare
13. Increases the amount of molecular oxygen and moisture to surrounding ecosystems
14. Provides protection from the east, north, and south from pathogens in the wind stream

So now when I plan any new system at Mezzacello, it MUST incorporate at a MINIMUM THREE inputs and FIVE carefully chosen outputs/benefits to all of the six systems at Mezzacello. If any one of those 14 benefits seems frivolous to you, I ask that you re-examine your priorities. During COVID19 lockdown, every single one of them became incredibly valuable and obvious to me. Through reflection, effort, and application, sustainability thrives.

Count your blessings,
but remember blessings are positive
so never divide or subtract;
just add and multiply.

Jim Bruner

Mezzacello is more than an urban farm. It is more than a group of enclosed sustainable ecosystems. It is also a learning lab dedicated to advancing and innovating agricultural and technology solutions for urban food deserts. That takes improvements in infrastructure and resources. Over the past two weeks I have been pulling down buildings and coops, grading the land, and building forms for new concrete pads for new outbuildings.

I have a grant for the improved infrastructure but I did not fully grasp the scope of the under structures. In Mezzacello 1.0 I made the foundations as I went and using stones. This enabled pests and rodents to nest and was not always level. Mezzacello 2.0 will have better infrastructure; water, power, lab space and a media lab. I am learning that construction is tough work (spoiler alert: I built all of Mezzacello myself). I am learning that construction schedules are erratic and annoying. But I am on my way. The next post will be about the specific changes I need to make.

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!

The Foodist: Big Mom’s Pan-Seared Potatoes, Onions, and Kale

This is a terrific recipe Potatoes Lyonnaise with a twist for a winter night. Simple, warm, filling, crunchy and tasty. Rick made this Cook’s Country-inspired dish in his beloved mother’s fabulously seasoned, well-used, and much beloved large cast iron pan.

The recipe is deceptively simple. The ingredients were all locally grown and ready for use either from the root cellar or the freezer.

The trick is in understanding the relationship between heat, water content and timing. Also, a big shout out to Helen Riley (AKA Big Mom) for the lovely gift of this well seasoned pan!

Ingredients:

• 4 Russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2′ slices
• 1 onion, sliced into strips
• 2 cups of chopped kale (frozen is fine)
• 2 Tbsp diced parsley
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 2Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp caraway seed ground
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Prepare the ingredients for adding to the pan.
2. Add oil and butter into the cast iron pan and heat it up.
3. When the pan is hot add the potatoes, spreading them around the pan to sear both sides.
4. Cover the potatoes while they are searing and steaming!
5. Remove potatoes if you must to make sure that all get a decent sear on both sides. Be sure to cover the pan.
6. Keep the potatoes warm, you’ll be adding them back in the pan.
7. Add the onions and cook until they just start to sweat.
8. Add the ground caraway seed in the pan.
9. Return all the potatoes to the pan. Allow the potatoes and onions and caraway to cook down together.
10. Add the kale in at the end to a hot skillet. The kale will crisp up quickly.
11. Add salt and pepper to taste.
12. Garnish with the parsley.
13. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Serves 4-6 people

Spring 2021 and the Brunerform

It was 14C in Ohio yesterday and this is my observation of spring 2021 and the Brunerform. Rick and I decided to go out and talk to Mezzacello and see what she might be needing. We saw a lot of trash (hidden beneath the snows) and many signs of life! It was a nice little jaunt.

Rick checked on all of his formal garden beds to encourage them. I checked on the pond, the potager herb beds and my #ProjectMartian beds. Oof! They need love, but they are thriving.

I let the poultry into the potager vegetable beds. They went crazy and TURNED everything over for me. Thanks! Mental note: Don’t spend $50 on mulch to make the walkways between the beds look clean. Those birds turned EVERYTHING over. LOL!

But that is a natural sustainable system for you. The compost beds look terrific! I have 2,000 Liters of additional compost cured in the #ProjectMartian BioReactors. That will be added into the potager beds and into parts of Rick’s gardens.

It’s only fair, since his gardens provided a lot of the biomass. I snapped this quick photo of Rick and I. As per usual I am in my “Brunerform”.

The Brunerform

One question I get asked a lot about sustainable #AppliedSTEM bio-engineered gardens is why I am always wearing a dress shirt and bow tie while I am gardening. It’s an important question that deserves an answer; It’s because I want to.

Everyone assumes that I wear expensive clothes. WRONG. That bow tie costs more than everything else I am wearing in this photo – including the hat and shoes. I wear Thrift Store clothes.

I prefer natural fibers that can be shredded and added back into the system or at the very least, re-donated. I am not insane. I am just aware that nature recycles everything, even beauty.

This is what I fondly refer to as my “Brunerform” You’ll rarely see me out of it. In fact, amongst my friends and neighbors, they loudly complain when they see me out of it. It is my style and it has become my brand.

Every time I use the Hashtag #GentlemanFarmer I mean it. What is your impression you want to make on the world? Mine is classy and always #BattleReady in a boardroom or in a garden room, take your pick.

The Paths To The Ecosystems

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.

Four years ago we decided we were to dedicate our efforts across all domains to sustainability. We refer to it as an enclosed Sustainable ecosystem network. There are many pathways that enable and insure those networks remain viable and renewable. This requires that we reframe waste. Not as an inconvenience or troubling afterthought; but as a valuable resource. This is one of the most valuable waste streams at Mezzacello. Humble lint.

We pull it off our clothes, linens and rugs. We used to throw it away. But then I saw the multiple functional pathways lint could be useful for:

1. birds nests
2. holding moisture in potting soil
3. carbon in compost
4. catching and housing algae and microbes in the biofilter
5. bedding for baby chicks
6. bedding for baby rabbits
   holding water safely for crickets
7. great padding on hangers
8. holding peanut butter and lard for sueT
9. helping seeds thrive as it holds water and fertilizer close to the seed
10. creating sachets to keep moths away in closets, especially when you add cedar oil and lavender

There is more I am sure. I haven’t encountered it yet. What would you use lint for? Share it with me. Make me better!

It is January 21st, 2021. I am grateful, not because of yesterdays events, but because of the reaction from all of my friends, family, interns, mentees and that 22 year old poet, Amanda Gordon. I think this embodies best what I am feeling. At first you might mock this image or think, “get rid of the brick.”. After all if the idea of the balloon is to fly, well why would you tie it down with a brick? I chose this specific configuration very carefully. Yes, ONE balloon accomplishes nothing, but hundreds of balloons working together can accomplish a lot and WILL lift that brick. One hundred bricks can make a wall.

Bigger tables, less walls

I also chose it because it better reflects our actual universe: Yin and Yang. There are scared and hurting people amongst us. They were not wrong, just unfinished. We need to help not hurt, empower not dominate. Unity comes when both of these elements work together to achieve good for all, not just the one or the other.

Besides, the balloons and their power over the brick is the ENTIRE premise of the movie “UP” which is hands down, one of my favorite movies ever. Do NOT be fooled; it takes a lot of courage to love and stay hopeful. Fear just makes you complacent and cruel and does not encourage growth or change. We are better than that and we still have some work to do.

I leave you with the opening and closing lines from Amanda Gordon’s BREATHTAKING poem: