Systems Approach

1985 Called, They’d Like Their Garbage Disposal Back

Today the garbage disposal died. Not a quiet death but a torturous, loud, wet, sloppy, disgusting death. We discovered there was a problem we were doing dishes and we suddenly realized that we were standing in water down turn off…

Mezzacello from Above

I pulled together some drone footage of Mezzacello from above in an attempt to help visualize the five ecosystems of Mezzacello and how they relate to the house on the property. Mezzacello From The Air. Many thanks to the PAST…

Mezzacello from atop the hornbeams in the allee.

Life Is A Garden, You Are The Seed

Living on a farm is a real time commitment. It’s really no different than owning a dog or a cat, with the exception being that you can’t drop 8 chickens, 5  ducks, 4 rabbits, and 23 fish off at a…

Dinner on vacation at OBX with my dads, my Husband, and some of my oldest friends.

Not All Mulch Is The Same

Not all mulch is the same or as good for the soil. I found this out this summer at Mezzacello with my burlap mulch experiment. I’ve written about using burlap as mulch before and I still swear by it. But…

Fabric grade burlap bought at JoAnn Fabrics. Cheaper and much more effective and long lasting.

When An Urban Farm is More Urban

When the line between work and farming becomes most obvious is usually where those two worlds collide, like you see here.

Sometimes the Urban Part is more important than the Farming part.

Preserving Eggs: A Six-Month Update

My mission at Mezzacello is to Grow, Maintain, Sustain, and Explain. This blog post aims to do all of that at once. If you are looking for details on how to get started preserving eggs, see more here. It’s important…

Preserving eggs to share with families and the elderly

Harvest Time at Mezzacello

Growing a garden is a three part opera that is true to my mission: Grow, Maintain, Sustain, and Explain. This post will outline how to grow, maintain, and sustain in an urban garden. The growing part is where you prepare…

Beets from the garden

Crickets In Glass Houses

I have been experimenting with new systems of protein synthesis and nutrition at Mezzacello. I started out with meal worms and beetles. Meal worms were high in quality protein, but they required just right difficult conditions and moisture. Additionally they…

Chickens exploring the new terrarium abode of the crickets.

Mapping The Foodstream on an Urban Farm

Tbe foodstream in an urban farm is really very diverse. It includes directly and indirectly, seven ecosystems and lots of animals, insects, bacteria, and plants. Take for example, Rick’s winter root pie. Here is a breakdown of what’s coming in…

The finished pies! They look and smell delightful!

Bats, Mice, And Rabbits The Rodents of Mezzacello

There is a bat in my house. I am certain there are many bats around my house, but this one is cold and weak and living in the pail that I use to haul water out to the chickens. Really…

I found this poor stranded mouse with wings in my empty compost pail this morning.