STEM Day at CAHS
This post is a section of my fantastic intern, Marcus’, presentation at Columbus Alternative High School. Marcus and I planned this presentation, and Marcus and I taught the first iteration. We succeeded and failed and now we know more. We will be presenting again next Wednesday.
Project INCA Programming 2026
Every year at Mezzacello Urban Farm we try to tailor our experiences around a theme. In the past, those themes have been Project Martian, Project BioLEGO, Project BioTech, Project Renewables, and Project SEE (Sustainability, Energy, and Ecology). This year, it is Project INCA (Innovating Nutrient Capture and Adaptability). All of our programming will build experiences in adaptive reuse of water, robotics, energy, and automation.
Building Our Human Skills
What do you think of the value of meditation or daydreaming? I teach it as a fundamental aspect of the human lived experience. I make space for it, and I empower the kids who come to my camps to engage in it.
Purpose, Respect, Dignity, Gratitude
Your body is a civilization. Think about that for just a moment. This is what I asked Metro Early College High School Bodies Career Development kids today. Purpose, Respect, Dignity, Gratitude are the rebar that keeps that body alive. Here’s How.
Introducing Project INCA
This winter 2025 I am making plans for an ambitious remodel of the potager, pond, and water and carbon sequestration systems. I call this plan Project INCA (Innovating Nutrient Capture and Adaptation) Here are the basics.
Carbon BioMass on an Urban Farm
Carbon is a valuable resource on this planet. It can be as minuscule as smoke and soot or as massive as a tree. Mezzacello Urban Farm is sustainable in it’s philosophy, mission, and action. This is a blog post about how much carbon biomass on a farm there really is.
October 2025 GIFT Presentation
Welcome to Mezzacello Urban Farm. This is a presentation to the Global innovation Field Trip 24-hour STEM presentation event. In this presentation I am explaining the portable solar powered mobile tractor designed and built by 2025 Summer Camp Kids. In addition, this presentation highlights the other innovations put in place - by kids - to truly make this concept sustainable.
When Mezzacello Makes It Work
Mezzacello Urban Farm is a love letter to sustainability. The summer camps are not a SEPARATE aspect of the ecologies and systems of Mezzacello’s sustainability. They are an integral piece to the life, functionality, and innovation of the urban farm.
Patience Is a Survival Skill
There was a great deal we didn’t know when we purchased the 1868 house and the two plots of land to the south 10 years ago. We have been learning as we go all along. I am a big fan of Stephanie Travis from the YouTube series, “Escape to the Chateau” She recently released an episode where she mused about what she has learned and many of her points resonated with me. Here are those points (and a few of my Amens of my own).
Why Sustainability Is So Important Here
This is our house. She is 158 years old and still strong as ever - even after being abandoned for 11 years in the 70s and 80s. She needs a lot of care and comes from a time before convenience. That is why sustainability is so important here. This house was literally a sustainable farmhouse.
2025: The Story So Far
2025 is our 10th year trying to make sustainability and applied STEM accessible to all. But it has been a challenge no doubt. The calendar here shows the journey so far. Our $100K operational budget was slashed by $75K in March with the loss of three big grants. There were 12 kids who had been training to be leaders for three months. I could not let these kids down. But now I am in great danger.
Project Sustainability Energy and Ecology (SEE)
The 2025 Summer Camp Season was tied to two main initiatives. The first was officially launching the MenTern program at Mezzacello Urban Farm. The second was Project SEE which manifested as STEM Farming camps focused on sustainability, energy, and ecology.
Next Steps at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Mezzacello Urban Farm is at a crossroads in its mission and impact. We have committed ourselves to thestrictly non-profit mission of Grow, Maintain, Sustain, Explain applied STEAM in education and ag-science. Ironically, we cannot sustain this mission as it has no export for the products that Mezzacello creates organically and as a result of its sustainable ecologies. We must expand our vision.
Mezzacello September 2025 Newsletter
The first newsletter for Mezzacello Urban Farm. It’s a tough one, and may well be my last. Topics covered:
A Decade of Innovation
Summer 2025 Summer Camp Recap
Google Reviews
DOGE Cuts
Next Steps
Summer Camp 2025 Wrap Up
The Summer 2025 Camp Season has ended and there were 10 camps that stood out! 10 camps ranging from farming to ecology, power to engineering. Farm animals, biology, recycling and sustainability. We covered it all. Here is a quick review of the camps and their successes.
A Decade of Sustainability
It's been 10 years since we burned down the old overgrown lots to the south of the 1868 house. Back in 2015 we had no idea that Mezzacello would become a state-of-the-art urban farm, research center, summer camp, and energy production hub that it has evolved into. Here is a brief timeline of our history and innovations.
Language and STEM
This is a guest camp blog from one of my kids at Ecology Connections summer camp. When I run summer programming on my applied STEM Urban Farm, I really encourage kids to hand-write scripts for filming their presentation of learning videos. It’s a real challenge for most kids — they don’t write by hand often - but it is a real issue for kids with Dyslexia. Rather than excuse them, I repurpose this opportunity to encourage them to problem-solve, build confidence, and practice new skills. This is how I tie language to STEM.
Reimagine The Chicken Tractor
When we first started building Mezzacello Urban Farm, I learned about Chicken Tractors and used them to fertilize the soil and destroy invasive weeds. It worked like a charm. I could move it every day and the checkens ate grubs, weeds, and 80% less feed. Over time, it became too bulky to move through the emerging garden ecology rooms. So it’s time to Reimagine The Chicken Tractor.
Sustainable Urban Farm Map
This is a presentation I created for the COSI Farm Days Presentation. Each of the 10 ecologies of Mezzacello Urban Farm are outlined here. Each of the ecologies are divided acrosss 7 themes: The built infrastructure, the geosphere and pedosphere, the energy systems, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, the biosphere, and global impacts.