Lula Is The Bestest At Teaching; Needs Help
My journey teaching and designing design challenges to summer camp kids and menterns!
Understanding the pH Scale
This is a Design Challenge for Understanding the pH Scale. In this design challenge we will create Universal Indicator from red cabbage Anthocyanin. Then we will test seven different materials.
Design Challenge: Mastering Public Speaking
This design challenge will ask teams to explore the nature of matter and energy. We do this by disassembling matter into energy from the ecology to energy and every step in between. This is important because to reframe what we are exploring here at Mezzacello Urban Farm, It’s good to know what size or scale you are at!
Design Challenge: Levels of Reality
This design challenge will ask teams to explore the nature of matter and energy. We do this by disassembling matter into energy from the ecology to energy and every step in between. This is important because to reframe what we are exploring here at Mezzacello Urban Farm, It’s good to know what size or scale you are at!
Design Challenge: Build a Bridge
This design challenge will ask teams to Build a Bridge for a specific animal with the fewst parts and the maximum amount of strength. The design challenge will allow each team materials and fasteners to build a prototype bridge and test a specific weight that is a proxy for an animal at Mezzacello Urban Farm. The final test will include a test involving a live animal.
Design Challenge: Build a Biodome
This design challenge will explore the way DNA and RNA code for the building of complex proteins and elegant structures witha minimum of information. The result will be a biodome that will allow animals and plants to live safe from predators and prey.
Design Challenge: Simple Machines and You
This design challenge will explore the way we use simple machines on an urban farm. The students will each begiven a simple device that is a closed box. Each team will get a different box and they will be given 10 minutes to assemble the device. The fastest team wins.
Design Challenge: Fun With Food
This design challenge will explore the way we use the natural resources at Mezzacello to feed and care for our livestock when we can. We will be cexploring metabolic loads and nutrition profiles for four different species of animal and creating appropriate feed.
Design Challenge: Fertilizer
This design challenge will explore the physical aspects of NHCOPS. Nitrogen is key here, as is Phosphus and sulphur. We will be building the main fertilizer used at Mezzacello. Eden's Ghost.
Design Challenge: Water Sterilization
This design challenges explores how we steralize purified water to ensure safety. This design challenge is intended to extend the water purification design challenge.
Design Challenge: Water Purification
This design challenges explores three routes to collecting, cleaning, and purifying water for human and animal consumption. The three routes will include mechanical filtration, filtration and heating, and using filtration with activated charcoal.
Design Challenge: Physical Electricity
In this design challenge we will explore the basic nature of electricity and how we interact with it on an urban farm. From the low voltages of organics, to the higher voltages and amps of electronics, we will explore it all. The deliverable will be a battery, a solar panel, and the wiring that unites them.
Design Challenge: Ecospheres
In this Design Challenge: Ecospheres we will explore the complex relationships between atoms, molecules, cycles, solutions, pressure, location in the environment, and the electrical potential that unites them all. We we will create the attributes and conditions required for each NHCOPS element to cycle through our environment. We will discover synergies and how these systems work together to create conditions we need for life on this planet.
Design Challenge: Making Feed On a Farm
My intern, Marcus, and I are developing a design challenge for Columbus City Schools around how we engineer feed here at Mezzacello. Using feed sources like oats, wheat germ, timothy hay, syrup, and cracked corn, we add other proteins, grasses and seeds grown here at Mezzacello like sunflower seeds, crickets, mealworms, and eggs. But our secret ingredient is edible weeds.
Mezzacello Urban Farm In a Nutshell
Mezzacello Urban Farm in a nutshell is a quick look at the who, what, where, when, and how of Mezzacello. We are at an inflection point and we need to focus on future growth. Here is the data about Mezzacello Urban Farm you need to know.
The Foodist: Stewed Zucchini in Sage
This is a delight. The zuchinni gets sweated by the salt and sage and then fried in the butter. A truly flavorful side dish!
The Foodist: Immunity Boosting Hot Toddy
The Foodist post, A citrus-forward Hot Toddy with an immune boosting surprise! lemon, ionic zinc, echinacea & honey!
All Kids Want To Be a HERO
It’s true, kids want to be the hero in their story. Mezzacello Urban Farm is purpose-built to empower and engage kids to do just that. At our Summer Camps and workshops, kids get to see and find problems, use tools, imagination, and new skills to solve them. Then they get to own that story and that new truth about themselves. This is our standard operation provedure here.
Mezzacello April 4, 2026 CleanUp Event
Spring will be here soon. The farm has been really pounded by snow ice and wind this winter. Looking for help April 4, 2026 to help me return my sustainabl;e systems back to peak performance and ready for camps and workshops.
The Foodist: Pork and Mushroom Sauce Fettucine
This was a surprise dish that Rick pulled together from what we had in the refrigerator and it was a delight! Pork chops, garlic, porcini mushrooms, fresh herbs, butter, wilted spinach, and fettuccine. Savory, flavorful, and complex, but so easy to make and the added bonus of being good hot or cold!