Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education

Author Archive: Alexis Campbell

Horn Farm Happenings – January 10, 2025

Building Biodiversity at Home

“In designing spaces for ecological health, we’re not just setting aside parcels of nature: we’re allowing ourselves to be part of the healing.”

Through hands-on learning experiences like the  Ecological Gardener Training Program with Waxwing EcoWorks, the Horn Farm Center empowers community members with the knowledge, confidence, and compassion to support the wellbeing of our local ecosystems – and ourselves in the process!

This fall, we visited the home of one of our 2024 Eco-Gardener graduates, Susie. Over the past several months, she’s been tirelessly at work turning what she learned in the Ecological Gardener Training program into tangible action on the land.

Check out our latest blog to see backyard biodiversity coming to fruition!

Thanks to the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter, scholarship funds are available for the 2025 Ecological Gardener Training Program.

If you are interested in the program but are concerned about financial accessibility, we encourage you to fill out the “Scholarship Eligibility” section of the program interest form! 

We’re excited to enter our fourth year inspiring impactful earth stewardship in the spaces we live, work, and play. Whether you’re a homeowner, community organizer, landscape professional, student, or simply a citizen of the earth hoping to make a change, now is the time to join our movement of compassionate, confident community land stewards!

Registrations for the 2025 Ecological Gardener Training Program close on Monday, January 27th, and classes begin in February. 

Learn More & Register

Last Chance to Register: Beekeeper Training

Our Beekeeper Training Program starts on Wednesday, January 22nd. Don’t miss your chance to gain hands-on training with a professional apiarist!

The Beekeeper Training Program covers hive management across the seasons, giving you an in-depth experience working with live colonies at the Horn Farm Center. And with the option to take your own bees home at the end of the program, you’ll wrap up a year of learning with just the tools you need to continue your journey!

Learn alongside a community of budding beekeepers! This program is made for those with a busy schedule – held once a month from January-October.

Register now to join next year’s cohort of beekeepers. We only have a few spots left!

Click here to Register

We Need Your Advise Next Week

The Horn Farm’s new education center will be a gathering space for more transformative programming than ever before – and we are so close to making it a reality! But we need your help to get there. What we need is your advice! 

Please join us for a special ‘listening session’ next week to learn about the farmhouse project. Share your thoughts in small group discussions on reaching more people and deepening our impact.

There are two opportunities to join the conversation:

Thursday, January 16th at 6:00pm-8:00pm
Center for Community Engagement
59 E Market St, York, PA 17401

Saturday, January 18th at 11:00am-1:00pm
Hellam Township Municipal Building
35 Walnut Springs Rd, York, PA 17406

The Saturday session is almost full so we recommend that you join the Thursday night session OR sign-up on Saturday’s waiting list. If we garner enough interest, more sessions may be planned. A heartfelt THANK YOU in advance for sharing your time and valuable input with us. We hope to see you soon!

Click Here for More Information & to RSVP

Bootstrap Farmer is Supporting Ecological Education at the Horn Farm 

Sponsoring businesses like Bootstrap Farmer are planting seeds for exciting educational offerings at the Horn Farm Center! Thanks to a generous donation, students in our first-ever Grow Your Own Microgreens class will be able to take home their own microgreen starter kits!

Bootstrap Farmer is a perfect resource for quality gardening and greenhouse supplies manufactured in the US. With an array of seed-starting and microgreen equipment, tools for the greenhouse and garden, and informational resources for growers big and small, Bootstrap Farmer empowers gardening success at both home and commercial scales. Check out all their offerings at bootstrapfarmer.com/

Learn More About Sponsorship 

Work & Learn on MLK Day of Service

Even with freezing temperatures and snow on the ground, Horn Farm Center’s team remains committed to nurturing the land. We encourage you to join us – to get outdoors, stay active, and learn by helping on the farm.

Winter Willow Harvest: 

Learn about producing willow for basketry by coppicing, sorting, and bundling willow branches as part of our annual winter harvest. Discover the unique attributes of this regenerative crop that helps to cycle carbon and protect our waterways.

If you’re looking to become more involved with land-based volunteering this year, consider joining our next round of Community Crew Training Days, taking place on Sunday, February 2nd and Saturday, March 8th! This volunteer membership program brings together ecological education and consistent volunteer opportunities across the Horn Farm Center’s landscape.

Register to Volunteer

Horn Farm Happenings – December 27, 2024

Cheers to 20 Years & Many More to Come

What a year to commemorate our 20th anniversary!

From our grassroots beginnings, the Horn Farm Center has grown into a special space for learning, connection, and dreaming into a regenerative future.

Reflecting on 2024, we can’t help but feel gratitude for the people who have made and continue to make our work possible. All of this year’s accomplishments are the culmination of 20 years of community perseverance, love for the land, and boundless imagination.

There are many highlights to recount this year, but these are some of our favorites:

WINTER: In the beginning of 2024, we hosted over 40 farmers, restorationists, and community members for our first-ever Agroforestry Work & Learn, with a focus on locally-sourced willow basketry, live stakes, and ecological agriculture.

SPRING: We brought new and diversified classes to our community, including carpentry workshops, a variety of kitchen and fermentation sessions, and our first annual Forager Training Program.

SUMMER: We celebrated the peak of the growing season with friends and supporters during our special anniversary Summer Solstice Celebration, complete with a potluck meal, live music, and beautiful pollinator gardens to explore thanks to our Ecological Gardener Training Program.

FALL: For the first time ever, we introduced Wild & Uncommon Weekend–our new expansion of the York County Pawpaw Festival. With the help of local partners and businesses, we celebrated our region’s diverse ecosystem of food, art, and natural wonders, including the pawpaw fruit that inspired the Pawpaw Festival 20 years ago!

Baskets of thanks for all who helped to write our story this year! Whether you participated in a class, volunteered on the land, provided a donation, or met us for the first time, we’re deeply grateful for you!

Our mission to regenerate the land, restore connection, and provide transformative learning experiences continues in 2025. We hope you can join us in love for our community and the earth that brings us all together.

Coming in 2025: Horn Farm’s New Education Center

Our biggest goal for 2025 is our greatest challenge yet! By this time next year, our new education center could be a reality – only with your support.

From donations to sponsorships to collective support efforts, there are many ways to help us achieve our goal to Rebuild Horn Farm.

Your support means more than just a building. With an accessible, versatile, energy-efficient classroom to serve our community, the new education center will be a gathering space for more transformative programming than ever before.

We still have several months and $184,000 to go to break ground on the new education center. 

If you didn’t have a chance to donate, there still time give a tax-deductible contribution this year. If you can’t contribute financially there are other ways to support our efforts to build a new learning center and better serve our community.

Brick by brick, help us make a bigger impact than ever before – starting next year!

REBUILDHORNFARM.COM

Get Outside & Learn with Us Next Year!

Throughout the winter months, Horn Farm Center’s team remains committed to nurturing the land. We encourage you to join us; enjoy the outdoors, stay active, and learn by helping on the farm.

Winter Willow Harvest: Kick-off the new year with a day of service and learning at the Horn Farm Center!

Learn about producing willow for basketry by coppicing, sorting, and bundling willow branches as part of our annual winter harvest. Discover the unique attributes of this regenerative agroforestry crop that helps to cycle carbon and protect our waterways.

Sign up to learn, grow, and steward the land with us in January.

Horn Farm Happenings – December 13, 2024

Buzzing with Benefits: Become a Beekeeper in 2025

From pollination to pure honey, backyard bees are a gift that keeps on giving.

Partake in the bounty this new year by joining the Horn Farm’s 10th annual Beekeeper Training Program. Our next swarm of students sets off in January, so now is the time to register!

Learn alongside a community of budding beekeepers! This program is made for those with a busy schedule – held once a month from January-October.

The Beekeeper Training Program covers hive management across the seasons, giving you an in-depth experience working with live colonies at the Horn Farm Center. And with the option to take your own bees home at the end of the program, you’ll wrap up a year of learning with just the tools you need to continue your journey!

Register now to join next year’s cohort of beekeepers. Spaces are limited!

The 2025 Beekeeping program begins on January 22, 2025

Click here to register.


Education at the Horn Farm Center can take many shapes! This fall, thanks to the Ware Institute for Civic Engagement at Franklin & Marshall College, we were fortunate to bring another thoughtful, creative, and nature-loving collaborator to our team to help us move the needle on new educational initiatives.

Jess Kinter, a Studio Art and English major at F&M–worked with Community Engagement Coordinator, Andrew Leahy, to conduct independent research and develop educational content for future self-guided tours through the Horn Farm Center’s restoration landscape. Jess synthesized complex ecological information to produce written material that will make its way to our website in the new year.

In addition, she transformed what she researched into eye-catching sign designs that soon will find a home in our riparian buffer and other demonstration spaces at the Horn Farm. Check out one of the new signs below!

We’re grateful to Jess for helping to enhance educational experiences here at the Horn Farm. We’re also thankful to F&M College for providing opportunities for talented, imaginative students to make an impact in our community!

“Through interning at the Horn Farm Center, I was reminded that restoration isn’t some unobtainable thing only pursued by those with the largest corporations and deepest pockets; restoration occurs in small scales, done by individuals or communities, with the growing, magnificent hope of a better future.”

– Jess Kinter, 2024 F&M Intern

You Can Make a Difference

By the end of next year, our new education center could be a reality. Your support this year will help us get there.From donations to sponsorships to collective support efforts, there are many ways to help us achieve our goal to Rebuild Horn Farm.

Your gift this holiday season means more than just a building. With an accessible, versatile, energy-efficient classroom to serve our community, the new education center will be a gathering space for more transformative programming than ever before.

Horn Farm Center is a grassroots organization committed to fostering love for the land and empowering our community to live in sustainable, regenerative ways.

Brick by brick, help us make a bigger impact than ever before – starting next year!

REBUILDHORNFARM.COM

Order by December 18th for Holiday Gifts

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for your nature-loving friend or family member? Check out Horn Farm Center’s online store!

Don’t sleep on these unique gift ideas – place your order by December 18th to receive your purchases in time for the holiday gift-giving season. 

Shop from our signature “What Would Nature Do?” t-shirts and “Wild & Uncommon” merchandise.  Horn Farm’s organically-grown garlic is also available!

Looking for other gift ideas? Give the gift of a unique learning experience. We offer gift certificates for Horn Farm Center classes and workshops!

All proceeds benefit educational programs and regenerative practices at the Horn Farm Center. 

Volunteers Needed: Sunchoke Harvest

Ever heard of a sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus)? This native, perennial food crop brings together ecological value and local abundance. Cultivated by Indigenous peoples up and down the east, sunchokes are members of the sunflower family that produce prolific and nutrient-dense tubers harvestable throughout the winter.Their high prebiotic content gives them a bit of a “windy” reputation, but with proper preparation and rekindled relationship, sunchokes can serve as a rich and versatile winter food source. Moreover, their self-sufficiency, low impact, and high yield makes them a star spud for local agriculture that regenerates the health of the land while creating place-based food resilience.

Want to learn more about this native plant? Join Farm Manager, Jon Darby this Saturday for our annual sunchoke harvest. We could use a few more hands in the dirt! 

From 9am to 12pm on Saturday, December 14th, we’re inviting volunteers to join in harvesting hundreds of sunchoke tubers. We hope you can join us tomorrow for a cool, active, and educational morning in the sunchoke patch!

Sign Up to Volunteer