Summer Camps
Mezzacello Urban Farm’s Summer Camp Season is Open!
Welcome to Our 2026 Spring and Summer Season
10 Summer Camp Programs full of fun, design challenges, play, and working with livestock, robots, and automation on a real farm powered by solar and wind power right in downtown Columbus, OH!
Welcome to 2026! 26% OFF
To celebrate our Season of SUSTAIN | Ability season we are offering all camp and workshop offerings at 26% OFF! This offer is good until 2/26/2026.
Look for the coupon code on checkout and input the 2026 code to register and save on our award-winning and well-reviewed Farming STEM Summer Camps and Workshops.
Every camp addresses the THREE primary strengths of Mezzacello Urban Farm:
Animal - How to care for, interact with, and manage animals in all farm ecologies
Vegetable - How to plan, plant, grow, and harvest soil, food, wastes, and resources
Mechanical - How to leverage STEM and Art to better learn from and with nature
Use This Link To View Our Entire Camp Catalogue
Reframe Our Farm Summer Camp
This camp was formerly called “Reframe Our Planet”
Dates and Times:
June 8 - 12, 2026
9:00 - 4:00 at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Live Presentation Friday @3:00
Ages: 8-14
COST: $275 | 12 seats remaining
Animal
Building chick enclosures
Heating systems for livestock
Health and maintenance for livestock
Vegetable
Building portable growing beds for poultry
Purifying water for livestock
Creating soil for garden terraces
Mechanical
3D printing waterers and feeders
Creating cages from recycled materials
Building powered water pumps
In this one-week camp, we explore what the world looks like at present. What has been the framework of the world? What are the ways we can improve ours? Can we learn from the Earth?
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Ages: 8 - 14
*Rubber Boots & Long Pants Required
Mezzacello has an assortment of boots on loan if needed.
Vet Tech for Kids Summer Camps
This camp was formerly called Proteins for Pro-Teens
Dates and Times:
June 15 - 19, 2026
9:00 - 4:00 at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Live Presentation Friday @3:00
Ages: 8-14
COST: $275 | 10 Seats Remaining
Animal
Testing chickens and ducks for health care and safety
Treating rabbits and Guinea Pigs for safe water and feeders
Testing fish for pathogens
Vegetable
Building animal feeds from weeds and grains
Growing food in hydroponic systems
Prepping raised bed soils for extra food
Mechanical
Building solar-powered charging stations
Building solar-powered sanitation stations
Creating portable, waterproof chemistry teaching labs
In this one-week camp, we explore gradients, solutions, protein folding, biology, and basic chemistry. What do we know about basic biological processes? Does anyone do it better or differently? What do we know about the building blocks of life, our blood, disease, and the important role gradients make in all the sciences?
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Ages: 8 - 14
Rubber Boots & Long Pants Required
Mezzacello has an assortment of boots on loan if needed.
Life Under Pressure Summer Camps
Dates and Times:
June 22 - 26, 2026
9:00 - 4:00 at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Live Presentation Friday @3:00
Ages: 8-14
COST: $275 | 11 Seats Remaining
Animal
Building tilapia breeding tanks (models and a real tank)
Chick hatching and poultry integration strategies
Building No-Crow Collars for Roosters
Vegetable
Building recycled growing domes to protect tender shoots
Processing floating plants in a pond
Creating algae fertilizer for animals and gardens
Mechanical
Building 3D printed and recycled plant covers
Build a sustainable chicken piñata
Building an underwater camera for fish
In this one-week camp, we will explore pressure across all four phases of matter, learn to anticipate and track changes, and examine the scales biology uses to determine how life unfolds.
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Ages: 8 - 14
Rubber Boots & Long Pants Required
Mezzacello has an assortment of boots on loan if needed.
Simple Machines and Shelter Summer Camp
Dates and Times:
July 6 - 10, 2026
9:00 - 4:00 at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Live Presentation on Friday @3:00
Ages: 8-14
COST: $275 | 11 Seats Remaining
Animal
Adapting the biodome for four species of livestock, Chickens, Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, and Quail
Raising crickets, yeasts, and butterflies for a farm and the critters
Baby rabbits 101 care, feeding, protection and support for the mama
Vegetable
Growing peas and beans on trellises and arches
Vertical gardens 101 How to plan and plant
Making fertilizer from thin air
Mechanical
Build a portable tractor (mobile coop) for protecting baby chicks
Making an RC atmospheric sampler
Building shade and shelter from solar panel
In this one-week camp, we will explore the basic human needs we all share and what technologies and tools we can use to build and improve them. Do we still use them?
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Ages: 8 - 14
Rubber Boots & Long Pants Required
Mezzacello has an assortment of boots on loan if needed.
Make It Work Summer Camp
This camp was formerly called Why Matter Matters
Dates and Times:
July 13 - 17, 2026
9:00 - 4:00 at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Ages: 8-14
COST: $275 | 11 Seats Remaining
Animal
Keeping hens and eggs safe in a coop with automated features
Hatching chicks and ducklings using solar power and recycled water
Wild and domesticated rabbits basics how to care for and train them as partners not pets
Vegetable
Grains and grasses for humans and livestock — growing, harvesting, using, and storing
Water, power, gravity, and irrigation in a terraced garden system
Compost and lasagna gardens and how they work anywhere
Mechanical
Making rope and knots from grasses and using it around an urban farm
Laser cutting leaves and flowers to replicate UV and IR gardens for pollinators
Building paper seed origami bombs and planes to promote diversity
In this one-week camp, we will examine how the world has traditionally conceived of its order. What do we know today that would shock or scare other cultures?
[more]
Ages: 8 - 14
Rubber Boots & Long Pants Required
Mezzacello has an assortment of boots on loan if needed.
Eco Logic Life Summer Camp
Dates and Times: July 20 - 24, 2026
9:00 - 4:00 at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Live Presentation on Friday @3:00
Ages: 8-14
COST: $275 | 11 Seats Remaining
Animal
Ducks and water basics how to manage, care for, and provide for ducks on an urban farm
Keeping both hawks and chicks safe - ecologies provide for everyone, but safety first
Predator-proofing a coop safely and using only sustainable resources
Vegetable
Building bio LEGO growing blocks (stackable fertilizer blocks packed with nutrients for plants)
Growing squirrel-proof fruits and berries — beating squirrels at their own game!
Making gardens pest-proof with ducks the best pest ninjas
Mechanical
Building portable squash biodomes from PVC in a garden to prevent squash bugs
Robotic algae pumping and drying station to help ponds stay clean and gardens fertilized
Building internets of flower roots and modeling how nature and man do it
In this one-week camp, we will explore how every culture must find a way forward to live in the world and stretch their SUSTAIN Abilities. What do we do well? How can we learn to do better and live in balance with nature and an economy?
[More]
Ages: 8 - 14
Rubber Boots & Long Pants Required
Mezzacello has an assortment of boots on loan if needed.
The Bridges of Life Summer Camp
Dates and Times: July 27 - 31, 2026
9:00 - 4:00 at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Live Presentation on Friday @3:00
Ages: 8-14
COST: $275 | 10 Seats Remaining
Animal
How to keep chickens and ducks safe together and mess to a minimum
Fish, frogs, and bogs building a wetland where and wen we need it
What rabbits and Guinea Pigs share in common they are rodents and friends
Vegetable
How to harvest greens in series, understanding companion planting, and soil health
Replanting summer crops and the basics of garden bed and terrace rotations
Growing soil-improving herbs and plants with sustainable purposes and resources
Mechanical
Understanding Pi, Phi, e, and Geometry on a farm the essentials of understanding nature
Making a soldier fly house and why it is a robotic system by definition
Building dragonfly solar lights and powering them with the sun and wind
In this one-week camp, we will STRETCH the very definition of BRIDGE almost to the breaking point. Does a bridge have to be a bridge? Can they hold an atom, a chick, a brick? Let's find out!
[more]
Ages: 8 - 14
Rubber Boots & Long Pants Required
Mezzacello has an assortment of boots on loan if needed.
Magical Micro Machines Summer Camp
Dates and Times: August 3 - 7, 2026
9:00 - 4:00 at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Live Presentation on Friday @3:00
Ages: 8 - 14
COST: $275 | 10 Seats Remaining
Animal
Baby Bunny racing tracks to get rabbits exercising within the biodome
Guinea Pig racing wheels to extend the biodome animal gym
Hatching tadpoles and guppies in portable wetland centers
Vegetable
Sunflowers and solar panels how plants work with biology and ecology and how we use them
Making pelletized feed from waste turning weeds into feed for all livestock
Mushrooms, microbes, and making better soils and the he “upside down” of the soil and pond
Mechanical
Build a genetic internet system! The internet and genetics evolved together - learn how
Make a portable radio from spare parts and homemade batteries
Build a robot wheelbarrow with a UV and IR camera for mapping Mezzacello Urban Farm
In this one-week camp, we will explore the simple machines that nature creates and the complex machines we can create. From molecules to active motors at the nanoscale and the human scale. Are these molecular machines like our six simple machines? Then we’ll build a few models.
[more]
Ages: 8 - 14
Rubber Boots & Long Pants Required
Mezzacello has an assortment of boots on loan if needed.
Sustainability, Energy, Ecology Summer Camp
Dates and Times: August 10-14, 2026
9:00 - 4:00 at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Live Presentation on Friday @3:00
Ages: 8 - 14
COST: $275 | 10 Seats Remaining
Animal
Keeping livestock warm, cool, dry, and safe
How to feed multiple species of livestock
How to manage ventilation and light for rabbits, poultry, and beneficials
Vegetable
Using compost and plantings effectively
Prepping for fall gardens
How to store vegetables effectively
Mechanical
Portable Smartphone chargers
Updating mobile livestock cages and power systems
Using NASA data to plan new planting strategies
In this one-week camp, we will explore the relationships regarding how past cultures managed energy, how they grew food, what foods they grew, and what foods we traded and inherited.
[more]
Ages: 8 - 14
Rubber Boots & Long Pants Required
Mezzacello has an assortment of boots on loan if needed.
Life Finds a Way Summer Camp
Dates and Times: August 17 - 21, 2026
9:00 - 4:00 at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Live Presentation on Friday @3:00
Ages: 8 - 14
COST: $275 | 10 Seats Remaining
Animal
Controlling populations of livestock
Optimizing healthy nutrition for colder seasons
Preparing ponds, warrens, and coops for fall
Vegetable
Parterres and Plant Pathways
Planning wildflower gardens for next spring
Harvesting and drying herbs for spices and teas
Mechanical
Build a UV-sensing RC robot to track weeds and tag them
Make an Infrared map of Mezzacello using land, water, and air-based drones
Understanding Pi, Phi, e, and Geometry on a farm and how nature uses them
In this one-week camp, we will explore all nine of the Sustain Ability camps and products. It will be a review of the many ways that Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math come together on an urban farm with animals, gardens, water, and renewable energy.
[more]
Ages: 8 - 14
Rubber Boots & Long Pants Required
Mezzacello has an assortment of boots on loan if needed.
CHECK OUT OUR HANDS-ON STEM WORKSHOP OPTIONS!
Other Fun, Hands-On STEM Experiences at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Public Speaking and Dynamic Presentations Programming
Every summer camp and workshop at Mezzacello Urban Farm requires a presentation of learning, which is built into the curriculum. With our new Narnia Presentation Stage and Hornbeam Allee Presentation Gallery, we’d like to offer workshops for young people to develop and practice public speaking skills.
If you have a kid who lacks confidence in teamwork, creativity, public speaking or presenting, this is a great workshop option.
Topics are chosen by students and the workshop uses the Design Cycle to help them design, build, test, modify, and share a presentation.
All Presentations will be live before an audience and will be filmed and shared via private link on YouTube.
$90 Ages 9-15 - Tuesday Evenings 4:00 - 6:00 Recurring TBD
Leadership Academy
Every summer camp at Mezzacello Urban Farm is partially led and co-taught with a middle School-aged Mentern.
A MenTern is part Near-Peer or Peer-To-Peer Mentor to other kids and an Intern to Jim at Mezzacello Urban Farm.
These young people have been taught the basics of leadership, presentations, public speaking, confidence-boosting, character-building, conflict resolution, and community building in the online zoom curriculum here at Mezzacello Urban Farm via Mezzacello.org.
If you have a young leader who could use some pointers and experience with the talent and skill of leadership, consider signing them up for this 4-week, two-hours per session academy.
All lessons and presentations will be filmed and shared via private link on YouTube.
$90 Ages 9-15 Select Tuesdays
Tuesday Evenings 4:00 - 6:00 Recurring