Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education

Author Archive: Alexis Campbell

Horn Farm Happenings – May 9, 2025

Thank You for Growing with Us!

This week, we’re sharing a flowery bouquet of gratitude for our community! We’re so thankful for the incredible support we received during our Spring Plant Sale and Give Local York!

On sunny Saturday, May 3rd, we welcomed hundreds of local gardeners to the Horn Farm to shop and enjoy at our 13th Annual Plant Sale. There’s nothing sweeter than watching people come together to celebrate and share in the abundance of local, organically-grown plants. With every purchase, you helped sow seeds for a thriving educational landscape here at the farm.

In addition to the joyful energy of the Plant Sale, our community showed up in a big way for Give Local York. In just 24 hours, friends like you helped us raise $23,365 – 67% of our $35,000 goal! We are incredibly grateful for every gift, share, and show of support.

Thanks to your generosity, we’re building strong momentum for Farming Like an Ecosystem with our new Agroforestry program in the season ahead. And the good news doesn’t stop there – our Board of Directors has extended their $10,000 match through the end of May. We have $4,245 in matching funds left, so there’s still time to double your impact and help us reach our goal!

A special thanks to our Board of Directors for their $10,000 match and to our annual sponsors who helped make both events possible:

Whether you shopped for plants, spread the word, or made a donation, you helped us raise vital funds for another season of regenerative land stewardship and community education. Thank you for being part of the Horn Farm community—we couldn’t do this work without you!

Donate to Double Your Impact

Spring Learning in Bloom

Springtime energy is in full bloom across the Horn Farm Center’s teaching landscape! As leaves unfurl and flowers blossom, we’ve been thrilled to see so many of you out on the land—tending, learning, and connecting with nature.

Here are a few recent highlights:

Ecological Gardeners | Students in our 2025 Ecological Gardener Training Program with Waxwing EcoWorks Co. are hard at work designing a new planting space. Recently, they got their hands dirty tending pollinator gardens planted by a previous cohort—removing weeds and trimming back last year’s flower stalks to spread seeds and make room for new growth.

Greenhouse Interns | Even while caring for thousands of seedlings for our Spring Plant Sale, our amazing interns found time to help in the field—prepping beds and doing some planting themselves! They tucked in root divisions of cutleaf coneflower (also known as “sochan” by the Cherokee), an edible perennial now growing beneath mulberries and cherries in our Forest Garden demonstration field. These plants are helping to expand one of our many agroforestry systems and honoring the traditional knowledge of the Indigenous people who’ve long stewarded this land.

Foragers-in-Training | This week kicked off our Forager Training Program—just in time to start observing and identifying wild plants! From sketching and studying to comparing lookalikes, our new cohort is beginning to build the skills they’ll need to safely harvest and care for edible plants. We’re excited for the next seven weeks of exploration through the ecosystems of the Horn Farm!

Save the Date: June 21, 2025

Celebrate the height of the growing season at the Horn Farm Center’s first-ever Summer Solstice Farm Market!

Join us for a day of seasonal abundance and fun featuring fresh produce, native plants, artisan goods, local vendors, and land-based experiences – all set against the beauty of the summer solstice. It’s more than a market, it’s a celebration of community, resilience, and connection to the land.

Stay tuned for vendor announcements and special activities—we can’t wait to see you at the farm this summer!

Learn More About Solstice Market

Last Chance to Apply: One Spot Left!

Are you ready to take the next step in your journey as a land steward, grower, or ecological farmer? Applications are closing soon for the 2025 Regenerative Grower Training Program at Horn Farm Center!

This immersive, hands-on program is designed for aspiring growers who want to build practical skills in sustainable agriculture, soil health, and ecological growing practices—right here on the land. Whether you’re dreaming of a garden, a farm, or a future rooted in food and community, this program will equip you with the knowledge and experience to grow with confidence.

Apply Today – the Regenerative Grower Training begins on Tuesday, May 20th! 

Apply for the Regenerative Grower Training Program

Farming Like an Ecosystem

More than five years ago, we embarked on a journey to grow a new kind of agriculture—one  where the way we farm helps to revitalize the health of our landscapes.

The seeds of that vision have taken root and our ecological farm system is starting to bloom.

With knees on the ground and hands in the soil – 468 community members came together between 2021 and 2023 to plant over 17,000 saplings at the Horn Farm. Today, those trees are growing strong, bearing hazelnuts, elderberries, live stakes, and a world of possibilities for creative collaboration and learning.

Each tree stands as a living testament of what we can accomplish when people come together to care for the land. These trees are also the foundation of our new agroforestry program.

Agroforestry—what we like to call “Farming Like an Ecosystem”—is a powerful way to grow food while caring for the planet. 

By growing trees and shrubs as crops, we build healthier soil, protect our waterways, create wildlife habitat, and even help to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Even with all its benefits, agroforestry is used on just 1% of farms in the United States. At the Horn Farm Center, we’re working to change that by:

  • Helping gardeners, farmers, and aspiring growers learn to cultivate food sustainably for themselves and their communities through our signature training programs – like the new Regenerative Grower Training Program, launching this month.
  • Creating York County’s first community “Forest Garden” alongside our vegetable beds, transforming our demonstration field into a learning space and farming ecosystem.
  • Adding new classes and workshops about agroforestry, like how to grow mushrooms in the woods, the basics of making your own elderberry syrup, and basket-making.

There are so many fun, hands-on ways to explore how trees and farming can work together. We are just getting started. 

Through practices like agroforestry, we’re helping people rediscover essential skills, understand their role in the natural world, and take part in the regeneration of our local ecosystems — growing stronger, more resilient communities.

Together with your support, we can ensure that everyone in York, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and beyond has the opportunity to get their hands in the soil, learn from the land, and become part of a more hopeful, regenerative future.

Please consider donating to the Horn Farm Center to support our new agroforestry program. 

This year, from May 1st to 2nd, you can double your impact during Give Local York. Thanks to over $13,000 in matching funds from our Annual Sponsors and our Board of Directors, every dollar you donate will go twice as far.

Contributions will be matched online starting May 1st at 9:00pm and will continue for 24 hours—until 9:00pm on May 2nd. You can make your donation on our Give Local York page, or if you prefer, by mailing a check to the Horn Farm Center.

Together, we can continue to grow this vision of regenerative agriculture and create a lasting impact for our community and environment. We are so grateful for your support and belief in our mission.

With deep gratitude,

Alexis Campbell, Executive Director

P.S. – I know you’ve heard from us recently as we work to complete the final stages of fundraising for the farmhouse. If you’ve already contributed to the Building Fund—thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your generosity has carried us through!

As construction wraps up this year, we’re so close to opening a new chapter. If you’re able, we invite you to also support the programs and mission that will fill this space with life—education, restoration, and deep connection to the land. Let’s keep growing together!

2025 Annual Report: Rebuilding & Growing for a Regenerative Future

Last year, we hit a big milestone—20 years of the Horn Farm Center!

It was more than just a celebration—it was a moment to reflect, reconnect, and dream big about what’s next. We shared stories, got our hands dirty, and gathered as a community to honor where we’ve been and where we’re headed.

As we look ahead, we just want to say thank you—to everyone who’s supported our work, shown up, donated, partnered, and believed in our mission. We couldn’t do this without you, and we’re so excited for what’s coming next.

Horn Farm Happenings – April 18, 2025

Annual Plant Sale: Saturday, May 3rd

Horn Farm Center’s 13th Annual Plant Sale is coming up on Saturday, May 3rd, and you won’t want to miss it!

Whether you’re a backyard gardener or a habitat-hero, this one-day sale is packed with organically and mindfully-grown plant starts—perfect for your home or community garden.

But here’s the best part: Every plant you buy supports a bigger mission—land-based education, ecological restoration, and a food-secure community that lives more lightly on the earth.

Want to help out while you shop? We’re looking for a few awesome VOLUNTEERS, especially to help with parking. Just scroll down on the Plant Sale webpage to sign up for a shift—even a few hours makes a big difference for our small but mighty team!

AND don’t forget to stick around! We have a handful of small businesses who are helping to (bio-)diversify this year’s shopping experience:

The Horn Farm is grateful for our annual sponsors who help make events like the Plant Sale possible:

More about the Horn Farm Plant Sale

 

A Season of Joyful Learning

Spring learning has sprung at the Horn Farm Center! From formulating teas to planting trees, each weekend this season has brought an eclectic mix of classes and volunteer activities. It’s times like these when the mission of the Horn Farm Center really comes to life!

Some highlights from the last few weeks include:

  • Rapid reforestation education with our Miyawaki mini-forest program
  • Demystifying herbal medicine in an Herbal Tea Seminar with the Northern Appalachia School
  • Stitching together sustainable skills through a beginner class on hand sewing with the Teaching Museum for the Fiber Arts and Textiles
  • Turning over rocks and logs in search of salamanders in our youth-focused Critter Crawl class
  • Enjoying the season’s bountiful greens in our Early Spring Foraging Walk
  • Learning how to grow our own in our first gardening program of the season: Plant Propagation.
Volunteers have also continued to make an impact in our restoration and agroforestry spaces by tending trees, spreading leaf mulch, and sorting our winter willow harvest. We’re grateful for many hands from our Community Crew service learning program to groups from the Stone Independent School, York Country Day School, Lincoln Intermediate Unit 12, and York College (pictured above).

Much more is in store as we continue to foster land-based learning and sustainable skill-sharing. Check out our upcoming classes to see how you can join in!

Get Ready to Give Local: May 1-2, 2025

Mark your calendars for Give Local York! Starting at 9:00pm on May 1st until 9:00pm on May 2nd, you can make a big impact by supporting the Horn Farm Center during York County’s largest day of giving!

Your gift helps us grow more than just food—it fuels regenerative agriculture, land restoration, and hands-on education that empowers our community to live in harmony with nature.

Stay tuned for how you can help us sow the seeds of change—one gift, one garden, one tree, and one future at a time.

Learn More About Give Local York

Regenerative Grower Training

In a time when our world feels increasingly disconnected, there’s something deeply powerful about putting your hands in the soil and growing your own food. It’s not just for self-reliance, gardening can heal the land, nurture community, and help us reclaim our relationship with the earth.

Ready to reconnect? Applications are now open for our brand-new Regenerative Grower Training Program, a 22-week journey designed for anyone who wants to grow food in ways that are ecological, practical, and deeply rooted in place.

From May to October 2025, join us in the field every Tuesday and Friday—to learn low-tech, hands-on methods that restore both land and life. Whether you’re starting fresh or deepening your practice, this program will ground you in the principles of regenerative agriculture and offer a supportive community along the way.

Don’t wait—applications close at midnight on May 7th! Come grow with us, and be part of something truly regenerative!

Apply for the Regenerative Grower Training Program

2025 Annual Report: Rebuilding & Growing for a Regenerative Future

Last year, we hit a big milestone—20 years of the Horn Farm Center!

It was more than just a celebration—it was a moment to reflect, reconnect, and dream big about what’s next. We shared stories, got our hands dirty, and gathered as a community to honor where we’ve been and where we’re headed.

As we look ahead, we just want to say thank you—to everyone who’s supported our work, shown up, donated, partnered, and believed in our mission. We couldn’t do this without you, and we’re so excited for what’s coming next.