This is My Why

It's important to understand and follow your mission. My mission at Mezzacello is simple; Create opportunities to model and demonstrate urban ag and sustainable systems in ways that are easy to grow, maintain, sustain, and explain. That last one - explain - is central to my why. I have always been curious. I find curiosity, intelligence, and passion to be the three most important traits of a human. These go together like fire, fuel, and smoke. Take your pick - put any of them in any order and it makes sense. Is curiosity the fuel? The fire or the Smoke? Yes. This is magical to me. It's magical to this young woman as well. In this photo I see curiosity, intelligence, and passion and it thrills me that this part of my life. I literally squealed when I saw this photo this summer. She was so convinced that the fertilizer I used came from a Bag in Lowes and I kept pulling it out of the very environment and atmosphere like a rabbit from a hat. Magic.[media-credit id=3 align="alignnone" width="300"]The work that I do at Mezzacello and at PAST Foundation is so vital to my sense of self and my mission as stated above. I get a chance to really work to make the world a better place. i do this through play, learning and thoughtful application of hands on activities and applied STEM. I get to be iconoclastic -- I live in an urban farm in the middle of a major metropolitan city with almost no obstacles and no external feeds. Mezzacello isn't magical, it';s a well-planned machine for life. One of it's major functions is that it maintains, sustains and explains who and what I and Rick are at our core. I have become a multi-dimensional farmer. I grow curiosity, knowledge, challenges, plants, animals, experiences, communities, opportunities, mystery, and life. It is as natural to me as swimming is to a fish. It is how I survived a brutal childhood; ideas. Dreaming about one day becoming the Little Prince on my own planet safe and secure, and curious.Mezzacello is my little world. My garden of the soul, my garden of the body, and my garden of the mind. Three. Three is the magic number. Seed, Earth, Water. Curiosity, Knowledge, Passion. Intention, Action, Impact. You pick it. Three balances beautifully, it's a prime number. It's the strongest shape. I reframe the wide world through my lense here at Mezzacello. It casts everything around me as opportunity to grow, thrive, and improve. That is my natural impulse to seek, challenge, and innovate. I am so proud that I get the opportunity to do that. It came to me in a day dream today, the connection between "The Little Prince" and the world I have created at Mezzacello. I was as surprised as this girl in the photo is at how apt - and rich - that metaphor was. It seems so obvious to me now, but when I first realized it, I was as astonished as that girl at how much truth - and life - was present in that idea. Now I just need to avoid the snake. (But who am I kidding? Everyone knows finding a snake in your garden is a sign of a healthy ecosystem).