Amish-Inspired, STEM-Powered, Sustainability-Focused Urban Farm
When I have to describe Mezzacello Urban Farm in an elevator…
This is how I describe Mezzacello Urban Farm in less than 30 seconds:
Amish-Inspired, STEM-Powered, Sustainability-Focused Urban Farm that is also my home and a training space for urban kids to explore food, health, and wellness and STEM careers.
In 2015, we asked ourselves and our Near East side community,
“Why do we bus urban kids off to the rural farms to explore food and farming and expect them to come back and adapt that experience at home when they live in a food desert? Why don’t we explore that right here and give them much-needed hands-on STEM career skills?”
“We believe in relevance, hands-on learning and show, don’t tell. So we opened our home to teach how to create a food oasis in your own backyard.”
Why not just combine teaching farming and food, STEM experiences, Careers in STEM, and the exploration of of them all in one place?
This Is Our What
This Is Our Why
We knew we wanted to change the world. We knew there were facilities, agencies, and groups that were doing this.
We aren’t looking to be another one of those existing facilities. We believe in relevance, hands-on learning and show, don’t tell. So we opened our home to teach how to create a food oasis in your own backyard.
This Is Our How
There is an added benefit to teaching this way:
Kids can see their ideas and work in action and watch it used and see how it evolves or fails in real time.
Every system that exists at Mezzacello Urban Farm was initiated by summer camp kids and kids in our workshops. These kids follow our blogs and watch their crazy ideas evolve and blossom or fail and be reworked.
Many of these kids came back to serve as MenTerns to teach other kids what they had learned.
Why We Use Our Yard Like This
Education is an interactive sport.
Mentorship is a two-way street.
If we want to change the world, we must also be willing to change ourselves. We also have to be ready to fail and take risks, and ultimately to succeed.
Children NEED to be part of that transformation and conversation.
We do not teach just to teach. We allow young minds to use their curiosity, their talent, their own hands, and our yard to build their confidence.
In a world ready for a massive paradigm shift, confidence is not a luxury - it is a transformational necessity. That is why we focus on experiences and exploration. That is my elevator pitch in its entirety.
