Mezzacello Urban Farm

08/14/2024

now that my season is coming to an end, I can share the evolution of the mobile classroom Mezzacello Urban Farm. This system was originally designed by myself last winter. But after using it to teach 11 summer camps and 6 one-day workshops, I was able to iterate and advance the design and essential functionality of the system. The kids were a HUGE help! They find ways of showing you the most basic weaknesses of a system, LOL! But they also helped me build and co-design this syetm into what is now a very robust lab/media/classroom system. I am pretty proud of all of us. PS there is a blog link in the comments if you'd like to learn more. Columbus Recreation and Parks Department PAST Foundation Ohio Farm Bureau Kathy Adams, Upper Arlington City Councilmember City of Columbus - City Hall Richard Riley

Mezzacello is a privately owned urban farm in Columbus Ohio that partners with schools, kids and bus

08/12/2024

I hate the fact that is such a brutal and unforgiving scourge for rabbits. I bought a pressure washer, and a system to remove rust AND to powder coat wire. But alas, I am too late to save a rabbit. I am hoping to get an appointment with a vet in time!

08/06/2024

day one of Simple Machines in Nature fun kids and lots of cool projects planned and a few Terrific artists! all of these photos were taken by my 11 year old intern J. They have a great eye! Columbus Recreation and Parks Department City of Columbus - City Hall Ohio Education Association (OEA) Headquarters Ohio EPA The Columbus Foundation

08/04/2024

I am pleased with the progress I am making on the new Data Science atrium and the steel enclosures here at Mezzacello Urban Farm.

A blog on how we are systematically phasing out wood on our downtown urban farm in favor of wood.

07/17/2024

hey Daijah! I think those PAST kids are learning how chlorophyll and DNA works and why I look so much more like my dad than my mom! PAST Foundation Columbus Recreation and Parks Department City of Columbus - City Hall The Ohio State University The Columbus Foundation Ohio EPA

07/16/2024

Quotes of the Day at Mezzacello Urban Farm

My intern putting kids on teams: “I’m thinking maybe i shouldn’t have put all the indecisive kids on one team and then asked them to decide on a name?”

Practicing for the play on Friday, “The Atoms of Our Lives” Benji was cast as the villain, Oxygen, and his sister was cast (randomly) as Hydrogen. “Ew I am not in love with Hydrogen! She’s my sister!”

And Jim, “Dude you’re an Oxygen Atom! You KNOW you NEED Hydrogen to create water! Get over yourself! And this is a play!”

Oh yeah and Matteas saying, “we made beer with malted grain, yeast, sweet tea, and the dirty water from the handwashing station, because, apparently, microbes don’t care what their fermented alcohol tastes like.”

07/16/2024

Quantum Effects in Nature. My favorite quotes from today were:

My intern Linus putting kids on teams: “I’m thinking maybe we shouldn’t have put all the indecisive kids on one team and then asked them to decide on a name?”

Practicing for the play on Friday, “The Atoms of Our Lives” Benji was cast as the villain, Oxygen, and his sister was cast (randomly) as hydrogen. “Ew I am not in love with Hydrogen! She’s my sister!”

And Jim, “Dude you’re an Oxygen Atom! You KNOW you NEED Hydrogen to create water! Get over yourself! And this is a play!”

Oh yeah and Matteas saying, “we made beer with malted grain, yeast, sweet tea, and the dirty water from the handwashing station, because, apparently, microbes don’t care what their fermented alcohol tastes like.”

What a fun and creative Tuesday at Mezzacello Urban Farm The Columbus Foundation Columbus Recreation and Parks Department Columbus City Schools City of Columbus - City Hall The Ohio State University PAST Foundation

07/15/2024

I will be doing this next year at Mezzacello Urban Farm

07/13/2024

Wow! NOT SO BOLD OUTSIDE a TIKTOK COMMENTS SECTION IRL?!

07/09/2024

today I held day one of a weeklong summer camp for 30 middle and high school kids at Mezzacello Urban Farm. The camp is called quantum effects in nature. The first part of the camp on day one, was to create a soap opera about nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Each team of five had to create a character around what they could discover about those six atoms. The story that came out was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed. Storylines like nitrogen is shy, lonely and unstable and is madly in love with oxygen who is also her next door neighbor. But oxygen is a serial killer, a thief, and a villain. Meanwhile oxygen’s best friend, hydrogen is a loner who actually is a mole for the CIA. He bonds with others to learn the FULL story and keep tabs on terrorist cells. He’s got an explosive personality, but is abundant and a really good fiend in a pinch. He lives to bring his atom friends together so they can bond. Carbon is just a friendly labrador retriever that wants to play with everyone. Meanwhile, phosphorus is a secret bomber and a terrorist who is a sleeper agent who along with oxygen is explosive at parties, but is otherwise a real standup, reliable, and useful asset to both life and his friends. Then there is poor destructive sulfur, who just wants to destroy everything. But luckily nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen know just enough about the sleeper agent, sulfur and phosphorus, to keep everything in balance. Welcome to nature as a soap opera at the quantum level. this was a great intro to quantum effects and a riot to put on as a play this afternoon!

07/04/2024

This was such a fun camp to run, and it is completely FREE! Thanks to the City of Columbus, Mayor Andrew Ginther, and Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. Learn about how these kids built this entire system! Columbus City Schools PAST Foundation The Ohio State University

Last week the kids in my Biomechanics summer camp created a very innovative mobile, sustainable animal cage from scratch! Learn how they did it here.

06/30/2024

I am gearing up for the Ohio EPA Environmental and Climate Justice Academy here at Mezzacello Urban Farm. It's free, requires at least four training sessions that are just a few hours in total and then they will get a certification, a toolkit, and an opportunity to an internship in environmental policy, treatment, or public health. here is more info if you are interested. It's 100% free, but attendance is Mandatory. the program training window will extend beyond August, but we need to get a cohort started.

Become a part of the Ohio EPA-funded FREE Environmental an Climate Justice Academy! Learn more here!

06/17/2024

the video that summer camps created documenting the the fish health and health of the water at the pond Mezzacello Urban Farm. They pulled it all together into a video to teach other campers what to watch for. and

Mezzacello/PAST bioengineering team Perry Platypus video diagnosing the fish in the pond.

06/09/2024

I am having a real problem finding interested students who want to attend FREE One-Week Summer Camps and Workshops at Mezzacello Urban Farm. My PAST Foundation Partner camps are FULL with waiting lists, but nobody knows about my https://www.mezzacello.org/event website. Please send parents to this page. I KNOW the names sound NERDY. But they are amazing camps! Give me a shout if your kid has been to one of my camps and LOVED it! , Robots, Chickens, Sensors, Fish, and Renewable Energy all in downtown Columbus! Please share or at the very least, tell a friend.

Welcome to Mezzacello Urban Farm Events! All the various events types we offer can be found here.

06/07/2024

my summer camp interns cleaned out the garden fountains and added water lettuce to help control algae. They knew the birds and pollinators need access to fresh water so the water lettuce also gives delicate birds and insects a safe place to land. This is day 4 of 31 days of joy that I was challenged to capture by Eaves Acres

06/05/2024

my summer camp interns rigged a hose to the arches in the allee so the kids in camp could walk through and cool off after playing in the front gardens. This is day 2 of days of joy that I was challenged to capture by Eaves Acres

06/03/2024

let me try this again! My Mezzacello Urban Farm FB page is not the same as my personal page. I was nominated by Eaves Acres to post 30 pictures that bring me joy. This is my first. My neighbor and a baby rabbit.

06/02/2024

One of my Middle School BioEngineering interns and I were trying to figure out how to add a gate to the Biodome at Urban Farm. Samuel used the principles of biomimicry to fasten the gate at three points (two hinges one side, top and bottom and one hinge at the top to the left. This creates a flexible door that extends and stretches, but still opens and closes - and locks easily! It’s impressive!

05/31/2024

the website has been updated and camps start on Monday! Have a look and let me know what you think. I worked really hard on migrating my web presence onto squarespace. I am trying really hard to tell the story of Mezzacello Urban Farm visually and with camps and workshops. and thanks to this Facebook group for being so supportive!
mezzacello.org Humble Beginnings Homestead Columbus Garden School Eaves Acres Gardening G**s

05/29/2024

It's official! Four of my Spring and Summer Camps are and two of my workshops are being underwritten by the City of Columbus - City Hall! I have already hosted Bioengineering Basics, and Partners not Pets workshops! Go to www.mezzacello.org and sign up! Links to the summer camps and workshops in the comments! These will fill up quick! Grades 4-9 (ages 9 - 14) and all are being taught by middle school and high school . This is the . There will be teachers on the premises as well.
Cheers to a of and PS This does not cover the amazing family workshops that are available on the website as well!
Series on an Columbus Recreation and Parks Department PAST Foundation

05/18/2024

My season is about to launch! I created this handy-dandy launch page to share all the camps, courses, workshops, and workforce training opportunities there are at Mezzacello Urban Farm this summer. Have a look. If you are also an urban farm or camp provider, let's collaborate! I work mostly in traditional farming, livestock integration, sustainability, and applied STEM tech integration, and , , and on a . Do you need some of that content or access? Hit me up or take a virtual tour of the farm in downtown Columbus, OH. I can guarantee there is no other place like this.
and this year, the camps are largely underwritten so the cost of a camp is super affordable! Please share if you live in Central Ohio.

Welcome to Mezzacello Urban Farm Events! All the various events types we offer can be found here.

05/17/2024

yesterday I finished the three day training with NASA rover deployment team and AREN TerraRover project trainiers. I nnow have a NASA/AREN TerraRover at Mezzacello Urban Farm that is capable of tracking and testing soil, weather, moisture, and visual telemetry on the ground, but can also link to USGS, NOAA, and GPS staellites to pull down atmospheric and low earth data right to this rover and then collect and display that data on a cloud-based modeling system. I am planning to incorporate this little-six-wheeled wonder into my summer camps and workshops this summer. I am signing up camps and workshops now, so if you're interested, just follow this link! This years camps are being underwitten so each camp space is only $50 for a one-week camp and workshops are reduced price as well. Columbus Garden School Franklin Park Conservatory Columbus City Schools Columbus Recreation and Parks Department Richard Riley Jolie Curry

A quick into and youtube video of the NASA/AREN TerraRover in use at Mezzacello Urban Farm.

05/17/2024

I finished my NASA and AREN training on the Terran Rover last night. I just need it top raining long enough that I can synch it properly with USGS and NOAA satellites to start transmitting and recieving telemetry on the ground. There are too many trees on the east face of Mezzacello Urban Farm so I will have to start in my potager gardens, lock on a signal, start transmitting and then proceed. Here is a quick video of my first remote test run! and . This rover packs a lot of sensors on it's 3D-Printed frame! We'll be adding more in my spring and summer camps and workshops this summer. Link to camp times and themes in the comments.
Columbus Garden School Columbus School for Girls Columbus City Schools Columbus Recreation and Parks Department

NASA AREN TERRA ROVER Drive 2024 0514 at Mezzacello Urban Farm

05/15/2024

in the rain from the second floor windows looking out over the farm. Front bedroom window, formal gardens, Middle bedroom window, the hornbeam allee, the parterres, and Staircase window, the potager gardens, the livestock, classroom, and power generation systems and the bioreactor. The flower turbines on the bioreactor are being replaced with more efficient VAWT systems, but NOT in the rain. A farm is always under some construction. and

A series of square videos taken from various second floor windows of Mezzacello Urban Farm on May 14, 2024 just after the rain.

05/15/2024

a quick view of the farm from the 1868 Italianate house after a spring rain. Enjoy!
Link in the comments. start May 20, 2024.

A series of square videos taken from various second floor windows of Mezzacello Urban Farm on May 14, 2024 just after the rain.

05/11/2024

we love service days! Today we had the amazing young teens from Columbus School for Girls over to help w**d, care for animals, reset garden beds, and build vertical axis wind turbines. They discovered baby mama had her pups! Sadly, two of the six perished, but they managed to save the third! Brava and kudos to a great group of kids! Many thanks from us here at Mezzacello Urban Farm

05/09/2024

this Saturday, May 11, 2024 from 4:00 to 9:90 is our Mezzacello Urban Farm open house and Fundraiser. These donations will go to our STEM . Come see the work we are doing to create the world we could all live in! Or just if you believe in our passionate 100% of these donations go to cover our costs to provide programming to kids (and families) that do NOT see a between food, nature, climate, technology, and careers. I will NOT beg, but if you want to I have a pretty good track record. Come the future with us!

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05/09/2024

a strange new green plant at Urban Farm. We are ramping up for our summer camp season at the farm! Go to www.mezzacello.org follow the header menu to Events. Full list of every one of our camps and workshops can be found in the comments or right on our homepage! lots of high tech STEM and old world gardening all in one place!

05/09/2024

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