Power Heat and Water Even in the Winter

Power Heat and Water Even in the Winter

Power Heat and Water Even in the Winter
The bioreactor and its turbines and solar panels in ice

The pond with it’s six foot depth and mesh cover

I’m really excited about power heat and water even in the winter at Mezzacello. Especially as I enter my third season of summer camps. Why am I excited about winter for the summer?

I’m so glad you asked! The reason is these systems are integral to all four of the camps that I focus on at Mezzacello. Bio technology, bio engineering bio renewables and energy, and bio chemistry.

I have found that my summer camp kids love the fact that Mezzacello is a living machine. It seems magical to them and they really love problem-solving to help all the various animals plants ecosystems micro biomes and systems live together in a fun way. This applied stem playfulness is at the very heart of the success of Mezzacello.

Why sustainability is cost-effective

As a farmer and a scientist I am intensely Interested in how all four of these systems integrate throughout my farm. The energy components, the bio chemistry components, the animal safety, and the natural resources are all very important. Also, they are impossible to replicate and financially difficult to replace by hand.

Let’s look just that water. If I were to pay for all the water that I regularly use on my farm annually my water bill would be OVER $1000 US dollars – I’ve included a currency calculator here. That is not affordable.

Nor is this sustainable. But my systems for storing and using water cost me under $1000 to implement and they re-integrate rain and snow back into my water table. That costs me zero dollars.

What’s the catch?

The one caveat to water is that it needs one further treatment before I can use it to grow food or water animals. So do I buy an expensive water treatment system? Or do I use gravity and natural filtration systems to clean the water on demand?

if you guessed option number two congratulations you were right. What are the benefits of the Bioreactor tower is that it pulls water from rain barrels. But only water from the top of the rain barrel. All of the heavy elements and dangerous elements sink to the bottom and baffles where they can be cleaned in the spring.

Interoperability and integrated sustainability

This interoperable and integrated sustainability method is a life changer. But it did require an initial capital investment three years ago. Since then the system has run entirely through wind and solar power including in the winter when I need it most.

I recently gave a lecture on the 17 UN sustainable development goals to a group of high school kids here in Columbus. I’m very pleased that all of my integrated systems at Mezzacello touch on almost all 17 of those UN SDG. It is a point of pride for me.

in 2023 I plan on talking more about these integrated systems and what they have to do with the UN 17 SDG to avoid climate reality and ensure sustainability is an easy option for anyone. I don’t have a title for the series yet, maybe you could help me out with that. I’ll probably be work shopping it in my summer camps.

After all, who is better suited at coming up with clever ideas for sustainability than the very people who will inherit this world well after I’m gone. I hope you’ll join me. And of course you’re welcome to give options in the comments and I hope you do.


Winterizing the Pond at Mezzacello

Winterizing the Pond at Mezzacello

Winterizing the Pond at Mezzacello
The pond at the end of the season.
Completely covered with netting.

It’s that time of the year again! Time for Winterizing the Pond at Mezzacello. If you anything about this pond, you know this is always a scary time!

Keeping Fish Safe and Ducks Out!

I usually cover the pond with a loose plastic fencing that allows sunlight in and O2 and nitrogen as well. This year I replaced the plastic netting with a finer grade mesh. This mesh does the same as the netting, but does a better job of keeping the ducks out.

The ducks will still walk on the pond, but their claws cannot hurt the baby koi fish that Rick is nurturing in the pond. Ducks are very charming, but persistent.

The Bakki Shower and Water Quality

The water in the pond this year has been remarkably clean this year. I credit the Bakki Shower and keeping this netting atop the pond. The leaves will pollute the water, so I need to keep it clear.

The clarity and Ph of the water is stunning still this far into winter. The Nitrates and Nitrides are also perfectly under control. The only weakness is hard water.

So in the coming season I will look for ways to mitigate the hardness of the water. If you have ideas or solutions that I could deploy. Share them here if you’d like.


Creative Recycling and Winter Prep

Creative Recycling and Winter Prep

Creative Recycling and Winter Prep
Peony gates, solar panel boxes, and donated leaves will keep the roots of this crepe myrtle alive through winter.

One of my favorite parts about living at Mezzacello is that I get to experiment and explore how we can be stewards for a better world, AND live amongst beauty, technology, sustainability, and mystery. That is a loaded sentence, but 8 years in, it is still very true. This post is about creative recycling and winter prep.

I hate waste. Search waste on this website and you will find 20 blogposts that reference it. It is a thing for me.

Having the opportunity to recycle and reuse is very important to me. I grew up dirt poor and reuse seems as obvious to me as taking a deep breath in fresh air. So I strive to use every resource that I have available — as long as it is helpful, healthy, and sustainable.

Not Always On The Same Sheet of Music

Rick and I have disagreements sometimes. I am a hoarder by nature (see growing up dirt poor above). As an Urban Farmer I see 10 uses for everything.

Saving everything can be a liability, sometimes it can look like a trashy yard. But these are paints on a pallet to my artist’s mind. Have you ever seen a clean artist’s pallet — after they started painting?

This is not the original direction I started in when I decided to write this post, by the way. But this is where we are going. I reused THREE elements laying about at Mezzacello to save these Crepe Myrtles.

Pride and Joy

These three trees are one of Rick’s favorite specimens at Mezzacello. But keeping them alive in this climate and USDA hardiness zone is a challenge. That is why I found these photos so compelling.

It is a perfect commentary on our mission here at Mezzacello: Grow, maintain, sustain, explain. I was able to reuse architectural elements from Rick’s formal gardens (peony gates), components from both my hoarding and my tech integration (solar panel boxes) and inputs from our community (bags of leaves) to insulate these trees.

I love that we make space for beauty, resourcefulness, community, technology and grace in our space. this is at the very heart of sustainability. Being human, and being part of the natural world – simultaneously. It is a gift and a privilege and I look forward to more opportunities to do it!


Notes on Infrastructure and Ponds

Notes on Infrastructure and Ponds

Notes on Infrastructures
Musings on Bad Decisions, but good Notes on Infrastructures.

I am not entirely sure why I am in a suit and drinking wine here. I must have been getting ready for or coming from an event and checking on the pond. The point is I noticed in the photo some notes on infrastructure and ponds that did not get covered in my systems integration pages.

Document It Or It Didn’t Happen

If you look behind me you can see the green tarp that is covering and protecting both the biofilter infrastructure and the fountain for the pond. That is not in place this year. That is what caught my attention in this photo.

Urban Farmer, Gentleman Farmer, Ag scientist, Educator, and not good at detailed notes, but I can rock a suit. I am chagrinned that I missed this detail in my winterizing scheme this year, but there is a silver lining. We are retooling the pond this spring anyway.

Evolution and Disaster In Action

It has been very well documented that the design choices I made when we started building this pond were not optimized for the best aquatic ecology. I wanted a reservoir for water, we modified it to accommodate fish. But I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

The History of the Pondergeist

A few blogs that highlight the construction, history and collapses of the pond.





From those failures, I will pivot and reconfigure both the topology, and the supporting infrastructure to create an actual integrated ecosystem, and not a quasi-ecosystem. There will be levels and zones, and specific plants and features that will attract and support tiers of life.

I of course will be documenting the whole affair. The plans are being drafted in CAD now and construction will start after the last frost. It will be muddy, and I will not be in a suit.


A Cold Winter’s Day At Mezzacello

A Cold Winter’s Day At Mezzacello

A Cold Winter’s Day At Mezzacello
January at Mezzacello.

It is a cold winter’s day at Mezzacello. -12C (10F) outside, (here’s a handy C to F converter) but it’s a balmy 18C (65F) inside. It’s rather hard to keep a 165+ year old house warm for the tropical plants, but we do manage. I rather like this snap of our living room today.

Because most of our focus is on the farm and the garden infrastructures, we spend little time on the house. It’s livable (and we love it) but it does need some love soon. The original fireplaces still work well and make for cozy rooms on demand.

Twenty-First Century Amenities

Gratitude is a very important part of our lives here at Mezzacello. We do have some 21st Century amenities like water (hot and cold) plumbing, electric, windows, wifi, furnaces, and lots of tech, other aspects are decidedly 19th Century; The lack of AC or a downstairs furnace, the gas fireplaces, the solid brick walls, and the basement cellar designed for munchkins.

Rather than complain or pine for more, I think there is more value in responsible planning and saving to bring this old house safely, sustainably, and graciously into the 21st Century. She has seen so much. She has been patient and steadfast and so will we.

Clinton-Era HVAC and Electric

You read that right. The Furnaces and the electrical systems were installed in 1998. The kitchen is 1989 as re the windows. She is not glamorous, but surprisingly, she is still highly functional.

The downstairs furnace died four years ago. To update it we must also update the electrical systems to code and repair the foundation walls. That is a BIG and expensive commitment and we don’t take that lightly.

The house (thankfully) still has all of her original chimneys, and her gas lines are plumbed to functional fireplaces. There is a fireplace in every room and all the original rooms were designed with 19th Century sensibility; the rooms can be isolated. The only exception is the Depression era extension in the back which is also the structurally weakest and coldest part of the house.

It’s not as abad as it sounds. The upstairs (where the bedrooms are) has its own furnace, so we are grateful for that. But the electrical system was designed for the last century. It’s a gremlin to make modern electronics work well in this house, and her bricks are like Kryptonite to a wifi signal.

Charm Before Harm

We have always known this was going to be a long-term multi-phase process to bring the house back with grace and dignity. Instead of being frustrated that the work is not done, we have decided to be happy and grateful that even though this house has sat abandoned TWICE for years at a time, she still has all of her original charm.

I believe that if we came into this endeavor focused on building a show house and transforming it just to be modern and comfortable, we would have missed out on a HUGE lesson. And that is that living with a wounded house and caring for it, building on to it’s legacy and making due together actually does build character. It builds charm and sustainability – and clever solutions.

So this summer we shall endeavor to make it the summer of interior and infrastructure renovations. After 7 years of building a mission and purpose, we also need to bring our brick friend along as well. So here’s to our house!

She hugs us the best that she can, and we love her well in return. She is one of the many heroes in the story of Mezzacello and she is our home. It’s easy to love her even when it’s bitter cold outside and chilly inside, it’s good to remember, this house has weathered worse!


The Foodist: Hearty Beef Barley Soup

The Foodist: Hearty Beef Barley Soup

Dang! This soup is good!

This The Foodist: hearty beef barley soup is hands down one of my favorites! Meaty, with a delightful rich gravy, lots of chunky vegetables and the barley! So much good flavor, filling and very healthy!

It’s really simple to make, and the recipe makes a lot, so be prepared to freeze at least half! Use a vegetarian broth and shiitake or portabello mushrooms to give it that meaty hearty taste! Best of all is this soup keeps well in the fridge and freezes beautifully in a ziploc bag stored flat.

The barley is fantastic in this soup, but it has a caveat! When you add barley into a soup it absorbs liquids. Each time you reheat this soup, add a bit of water, otherwise it quickly becomes a dry stew!

Build This Stew Slowly

Do NOT underestimate the time and attention this broth requires. Also, the extra veggies are so worth the time in this soup. And no Mezzacello The Foodist recipe would be complete without our beloved mirepoix!

INGREDIENTS

  • Broth Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 6 pounds beef shank meat cut from bone in large chunks, or 4 pounds chuck and 2 pounds of small marrow bones
    • Substitute meaty mushrooms pan seared with garlic for vegetarian option
  • 1 large onion, halved
  • ½ cup dry red wine
  • ½ teaspoon table salt
  • Soup Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 Tbsp Anchovy paste
  • 1 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 Tbsp Garlic, crushed/pressed
  • 1 medium onion, cut into medium dice
  • 2 medium carrots, cut into medium dice
  • 2 medium celery stalks, cut into medium dice
  • 12 ounces domestic mushrooms or wild mushrooms, stems removed, wiped clean, and sliced thin
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme or 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
  • ½ cup canned tomatoes, cut into medium dice
  • 1 small can of sweet corn
  • 1 cup of small tender Brussels Sprouts, halved
  • 6 medium red potatoes, quartered
  • ½ cup pearl barley
  • ¼ cup minced fresh parsley leaves
  • Salt and ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

  1. For Broth: Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large soup kettle or Dutch oven over medium-high heat; brown meat, bones, and onion halves on all sides in batches, making sure not to overcrowd the pan, and adding the additional teaspoon and a half of oil to the pan if necessary. Remove and set aside.
  2. Add red wine to the empty kettle; cook until reduced to a syrup, 1 to 2 minutes.
  3. Return browned bones, meat, and onion to kettle. Reduce heat to low, then cover and sweat meat and onions until they have released about 3/4 cup dark, very intensely flavored liquid, about 20 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high, add 2 quarts water and salt; bring to a simmer, reduce heat to very low, partially cover, and barely simmer until meat is tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
  4. Strain broth, discard bones and onions, and set meat aside, reserving half of the meat for another use. (At this point broth and meat can be cooled to room temperature and covered and refrigerated up to 5 days.) Let broth stand until fat rises to the top; skim and discard fat. When the unreserved meat is cool enough to handle, shred into bite-size pieces. Reserve 2 cups shredded meat for soup.
  5. For Soup: Heat oil over medium-high heat in a soup kettle or Dutch oven.
  6. Add mirepoix (onion, celery, and carrots) Brussels Sprouts, and potatoes; sauté until almost soft, 3 to 4 minutes.
  7. Add corn, pastes, worcestershire sauce, and mushrooms; sauté until softened and liquid almost evaporates, 4 to 5 minutes longer.
  8. Add thyme and tomatoes, then beef broth, meat, and barley; bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low; simmer until barley is just tender, 45 to 50 minutes. Scraping bottom of the pan occasionally.
  9. Stir in parsley, adjust seasonings, including salt and pepper to taste, and serve.