What, How, and Why Does Mezzacello Urban Farm Matter?
The food and power gardens at Mezzacello Urban Farm
Mezzacello Urban Farm: A Non-Profit Farm and STEM Training R&D Lab
Mezzacello Urban Farm is located in downtown Columbus, OH. We chose to locate our 501 c(3) non-profit Urban Farm and STEM R&D Training Lab with intention and purpose. Mezzacello’s founders, Jim Bruner, a veteran of the Army, and Richard Riley a veteran of the Marines were discouraged by the way school and community organizations went about teaching teaching students about food, wellness, nutrition, sustainability, and natural systems.
Our non-profit’s property in downtown Columbus, OH
Our Way of Teaching Kids About Food, Nutrition, and Sustainability is Broken
Jim Bruner has worked in technology education, invention convention, and applied STEM education for 20+ years. Bruner observed in his roles at eTech Ohio and the PAST Foundation schools and community organizations building irrelevant agricultural learning models for their urbuan learners. Bruner oversaw federal and state grant funded “agricultural learning stations” built and unused, and constantly witnessed busing urban kids out to rural farms to learn about “farming” and “ecology,” Those field trips would then return those kids to the same densely populated, built, urban food desert and ask them to imagine how they could incorporate those lessons in a concrete jungle. The idea of sustainability is entirely missing in that interaction. The nature was NOT naturing!
The original property
Bruner and Riley decided to convert their 1/3-acre property at 33 North 20th Street into a fully functional and sustainable farm with formal gardens, food gardens, herbal parterres, diverse ecologies, livestock, ponds, and compost. A real farm with a twist: Complete automation, robotics, data, AI, renewable energy, and water reclamation systems that empower learners to explore food, health, wellness, and sustainable systems WITH 21st-Century STEM skills.
Learners at Mezzacello Urban Farm are empowered and encouraged to explore solving real-world problems on the farm. They are trained to use traditional tools, systems, ecologies, livestock, and understanding of soil health and fertilizers to create life. They work in farm teams. In addition to working with the soil and food, they are exploring STEM, using a variety of tools and systems geared for creating data maps, power, and automated systems for caring for the farm systems. All in downtown Columbus, OH — where these kids live. Mezzacello employs replicable, off-the-shelf systems that can be deployed anywhere. It has worked in a parking lot, several backyards and community gardens, even on the 8th floor roof of a condo.
More Than Farming: Character, Skills, Creativity, and Confidence
This way of creating relevant and exciting learning that integrates tech, teamwork, ecology, writing, art, and design challenges is unique to Mezzacello Urban Farm. Our systems and programs combine Amish-inspired farming principles, important and cutting-edge STEM technology and skills, military-inspired teams and discipline, and morale-building and support of one another.
Leadership in action
As a result, these hands-on experiences build knowledge, insight, leadership, character, and confidence in the individuals. Those learners then share their learning and problem-solving by writing, filming, editing, and creating a video posted to YouTube. This video collaboration outlines their problem, their solution, and the steps they took to understand, address, and solve the problem.
These skills are important and relevant to the learners. The video is presented to an authentic live audience where the public can address the learners and ask questions that the learners address and reflect upon to find a solution — or at the very least — better understand an issue. These life skills are transferable to their communities and their future career exploration.
The Emergence of the MenTerns Program
The final cultural milestone in Mezzacello Urban Farm’s approach to integrated teaching and learning also follows a military style. Our teaching partners are children. In addition to Mr. Bruner serving as the educator of record, Mezzacello Urban Farm has been training a squad of middle school leaders and subject-matter experts who are referred to as MenTerns (Mentors + Interns).
A MenTern training cohort
This squad of natural leaders and learners is trained over the winter in online cohorts via Zoom and via onsite drills. They are trained to manage the responsibilities, roles, and realities of youth. This includes, diversity, social-emotional learning, the tech-integration, and the team-building skills required to lead diverse groups and foster the skills in the kids they are teaching. This innovative approach to near-peer and peer-to-peer teaching and learning is unique to Mezzacello, and it is wildly successful.
MenTerns and Their Design Challenges
MenTerns have created 21 Design Challenges that are fun, relevant, and geared towards the needs and concerns of their generation. These design challenges are conceived, designed, built, tested, and modified by students for students. The only adult involvement is Mr. Bruner reviewing the idea with a rubric and making suggestions for how to better integrate learning standards for schools and home-school kids, and parents.
Simple Machines
The Design Cycle
After a design challenge is created and tested, the MenTerns create a blog post, a video, a PDF that explains the process and goals of the learning that will take place, and a physical model of a design challenge kit. The instructions must be easy to follow, understand, and come with their problem statement and the challenge that is being addressed.
Mobile Labs And the Impact of DOGE Cuts
In 2024, MenTerns and Mr. Bruner began designing and constructing a series of easily deployable mobile labs that could be used by schools, community gardens, and community centers to teach the way Mezzacello Urban Farm teaches. Each mobile lab features at least two MenTern-designed design challenges and is geared for four themes:
BioEngineering and Manufacturing
VetTech and Disease Assessment
Data Science and AI
Renewable Energy and Water Purification
The mobile labs were halted due to the loss in 2025 of awarded NASA, EPA, and NIH grants by DOGE. That was 50% of Mezzacello Urban Farm’s budget, and it nearly bankrupted the non-profit.
Innovators Never Give Up, Nor Do Soldiers
Using Empathy and Discipline
To their credit, the MenTerns INSISTED that we find cost-effective ways of creating baseline mobile labs that would work in a variety of environments. They had to have runner wheels to roll over anything, a steel frame to take all impacts, onboard power systems, 5G wireless, a monitor, I/O devices, and streamlined design challenges.
We worked on designing the systems in CAD and building two modules for use at The Metro Schools in January, 2026. Over 10 days, both mobile labs and their design challenges were deployed to five classes of middle school science with great effect. Everything was recorded, documented, and shared.
Building a geodesic molecule from folded protein instructions
Those two mobile labs and everything else that has been created by kids for kids are being deployed at Mezzacello Urban Farm as part of the 2026 SUSTAIN | Ability summer camp program. 10 camps that cover everything from understanding the soil microbiome, to fertilizer, to building shelters, protein folding, disease vectors tracing and treatment, livestock feed from edible weeds, automated water prurification strategies, creating raised beds, building AI-powered weed monitors, and renewable energy systems via solar and wind.
Four camps in, and the results speak for themselves. This is the change that kids want and need to see in the world. We need help. Our systems question traditional learning and learning delivery. Our results however create better learners and talented leaders. How could we help each other and help tomorrow’s leaders and followers be the change they need to see in the world?
