Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education

Author Archive: Alexis Campbell

Horn Farm Happenings – November 1, 2024

Fantastic Foraging

Foraging is an invitation to rekindle our age-old relationships with the land beneath our feet – to develop the skills, knowledge, and practices that are a critical part of our sense of place. Through this work, we can provide ourselves with healthy, FREE food, become more self-reliant, and connect on a deep level to the landscape in which we live.

This season, we are offering a variety of programs designed to enrich your foraging practice – from two-hour strolls to an intensive weekend-long foundations program:

Learn the fundamentals of safe, ethical, and reciprocal foraging.  Join us for our fall and winter foraging programs at the Horn Farm Center! 

Get Outside & Learn with Us!

Throughout the fall and 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.

Fall Tree Tending & Live Stake Harvest
Learn about the ecological impact of riparian buffers through activities like monitoring the health of newly-planted trees, removing harmful plants, pruning, and gathering live stakes.

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 agroforestry crop that helps to cycle carbon and protect our waterways.
Join us in making a difference at the Horn Farm Center. Sign up to learn, grow, and steward the land with us this fall and winter.

Discover More Service Learning Opportunities at Horn Farm

2025 Greenhouse Internships: Now Accepting Applications

Interested in learning about nursery plant production and greenhouse management? We have four internship opportunities available next year that will provide hands-on learning and personalized job coaching with Farm Manager, Jon Darby.

Throughout the course of the internship students will learn:

  • Production planning and seeding schedules
  • Seasonal greenhouse management
  • Plant propagation techniques
  • Materials & Methodology
  • Plant Anatomy, taxonomy, physiology, chemistry, biology, genetics
  • Irrigation – watering, water testing, understanding plant nutrition
  • Plant Health Management – foliar sprays, root dips, seed coats
  • Plant Sale Management – budgeting, pricing, product placement, retailing

We are accepting applications now through November 14th! Click here to learn more and apply. 

All the Buzz About Beekeeping

Explore the fascinating world of beekeeping during our 10th Annual Beekeeper Training Program, led by expert beekeeper, Mark Gingrich from Gingrich Apiaries.

Immerse yourself in the intriguing science behind beekeeping and master the art of maintaining a hive. Learn alongside a community of budding beekeepers, diving deep into all aspects of this timeless practice. The program is held once a month from January-October.

At the end of the first year, you will take home your own bee colony. In year two, you’ll have the option to further grow your skills with advanced techniques.

Register now to join next year’s cohort of beekeepers. The 2025 Beekeeping program begins on January 22, 2025

Teach With Us in 2025!

Education is the foundation of what we do at the Horn Farm Center. As we look ahead to 2025, we’re seeking new topics, experiences, and nature-based skills to share with our community. Check out our current program categories to see what we offer.

From crafts to cooking to cultivating nature awareness, we’re hoping to forge new educational pathways and add to our offerings this new year. Share your knowledge and ideas with us by submitting a program proposal this November.

If you have friends or neighbors “in the field” who may be interested in leading programs with the Horn Farm, please spread the word!

Submit a Class Proposal

 Training for a Regenerative Future

Interested in pollinators, native plants, and natural landscapes? Want to foster a healthy environment right here at home? We invite you to participate in our upcoming signature training programs at the Horn Farm Center! Now is the time to register!

Whether you are seeking to deepen your relationship with the natural world or want to gain practical skills to advance your career, all participants will learn how to be confident land stewards.

Don’t miss your chance to become a well-rounded caretaker of the natural world. No prior knowledge or experience is required to join.  

Click here for More Info & to Register

Horn Farm Happenings – October 18, 2024

Fall Tree Tending & Winter Willow Harvest

It’s getting colder outside but that doesn’t mean we will be spending all of our time indoors! Throughout the fall and winter seasons, Horn Farm Center staff and community crew members will continue to steward the land, especially in our newly established riparian buffers.We invite you to join us – to enjoy the fresh air, stay physically active, and learn new skills by caring for the land together at the farm.

Fall Tree Tending Work Days:

Discover why riparian buffers are important ecological features while tending our newly-planted trees! Activities may include monitoring tree health, removing problematic plants, fortifying tree tube bases with rocks to protect against voles, pruning, and harvesting live stakes.

Winter Willow Harvest

Learn about producing willow for basketry by coppicing, sorting, and bundling willow 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.

Join us in making a difference at the Horn Farm Center. Sign up to learn, grow, and steward the land with us this fall and winter.

Discover More Service Learning Opportunities at Horn Farm

2025 Greenhouse Internships: Now Accepting Applications

Interested in learning about nursery plant production and greenhouse management? We have four internship opportunities available next year that will provide hands-on learning and personalized job coaching with Farm Manager, Jon Darby.

Throughout the course of the internship students will learn:

  • Production planning and seeding schedules
  • Seasonal greenhouse management
  • Plant propagation techniques
  • Materials & Methodology
  • Plant Anatomy, taxonomy, physiology, chemistry, biology, genetics
  • Irrigation – watering, water testing, understanding plant nutrition
  • Plant Health Management – foliar sprays, root dips, seed coats
  • Plant Sale Management – budgeting, pricing, product placement, retailing

We are accepting applications now through November 14th! Click here to learn more and apply. 

Become a Beekeeper Next Year

Join us for our 10th annual Beekeeper Training Program! Taught by Mark Gingrich of Gingrich Apiaries, the Horn Farm’s Beekeeper Training Program explores beekeeping from its scientific underpinnings to keeping a hive at home.

Over the course of this two year program, participants will work side by side with Mark and other program participants to learn all aspects of keeping bees.

At the end of year one, each participant will have the option of receiving a bee colony to be moved to their home property. During the second year, participants will benefit from repetition of some aspects of the program and learn more advanced techniques while managing their own hive at home.

A Coop for a Good Cause

Now until our 13th annual Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, May 3rd, 2025 you can take a chance to win a small OverEZ chicken coop by participating in our winter Chicken Coop Raffle. Don’t miss the opportunity to win big for your flock while supporting Horn Farm Center’s land-healing mission.

  • $1200 Value
  • Handmade in Lancaster, PA
  • Houses Up to 5 Chickens
  • Moisture Resistant
  • Safe Against Predators
  • Easy to Assemble

Raffle tickets are now on sale for $10.00 each or five for $40.00.

Call 717-757-6441 or email education@hornfarmcenter.org to purchase your tickets. All proceeds support educational programs and regenerative land stewardship at the Horn Farm Center. 

A big thanks to OverEZ Chicken Coops for donating several chicken coops to the Horn Farm Center to support our efforts to incorporate animals into our production and demonstration systems at the farm!

Click here for More Raffle Info

Fall Foraging Foundations

Ready to hone your foraging skills? Whether you are a beginner or an experienced forager, this weekend-long session will provide foundational knowledge for building a relationship with the land and incorporating wild plants into everyday life. Enjoy a diverse array of lecture, conversation, general plant walks, hands-on exercises, and the opportunity to sample both raw and prepared wild foods.

Foraging is an invitation to rekindle our age-old relationships with the land beneath our feet – to develop the skills, knowledge, and practices that are a critical part of our sense of place. Through this work, we can provide ourselves with healthy, FREE food, become more self-reliant, and connect on a deep level to the landscape in which we live.

Learn the fundamentals of safe, ethical, and reciprocal foraging. Join the Fall Foraging Foundations weekend intensive on November 9th & November 10th at the Horn Farm Center. Sign up soon – space is limited!

Click here for More Info & to Register

Horn Farm Happenings – October 4, 2024

Get Cozy in the Kitchen This Season!

As the autumn season begins to unfold, it’s the perfect time to connect and learn with friends and nature. Join us at the Horn Farm Center for our fall kitchen classes! From baking to hand-made holiday gifts, these guided get-togethers in the kitchen are sure to spark your sense of community and creativity.Upcoming Kitchen Classes:

Due to the size of our kitchen space, these classes fill up quickly! Click the links above or below to register. Let’s gather around the hearth to share warmth and learning with one another!

Click here for more kitchen class info.

  

Gratitude & Reflections

For the Horn Farm Center’s biggest annual event, 2024 was a big deal!

Not only did we come together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the York County Pawpaw Festival; we also debuted our region-wide collaboration highlighting local tastes, crafts, and the many ways we can learn from the land right here at home. It all took root under the new canopy of Wild & Uncommon Weekend!

THANK YOU to the vendors, community partners, volunteers, sponsors and, of course, the many gracious and curious attendees who traveled from near and far to celebrate with us! All of you helped make this weekend one for the books!

As we like to say, pawpaws are far more than a fleeting native fruit with a funky flavor. They’re an invitation for us to foster deeper relationships with local landscapes. With their short-lived abundance, they remind us to savor the seasons, protect wild spaces, embrace experimentation, and steward biodiversity right where we live. From the kitchen to the forest, pawpaws bring us closer to our “place” on the land.

As we look ahead to the next 20 years, we’re excited to cultivate an even-more biodiverse and educational future for the Pawpaw Festival, now a part of the Horn Farm’s Wild & Uncommon Weekend! Like the pawpaws that call the Riverlands home, we hope you can continue to join us in animating our mission of ecological learning and action.

Photos from top to bottom, left to right:

  1. Attendees at the 20th Annual Pawpaw Festival at the Horn Farm Center.
  2. Liza Naylor of Locally Seasoned demonstrating how to prepare savory pawpaw galettes during Thursday’s Pawpaw Cooking Class at Leg Up Farmers Market.
  3. Attendees enjoying a boxed brunch, pawpaw refreshments, and an informative presentation about agroforestry with Dale Hendricks during Sunday’s Pawpaw Brunch & Learn event at Columbia Crossing River Trails Center.
  4. Participants enjoying desserts, mocktails, and chair massages at Firefly Hollow Wellness’ Wild & Uncommon After Party while HFC’s Andrew Leahy shares about our regenerative mission.

Thank You Sponsors!

The Horn Farm Center’s new Wild & Uncommon Weekend wouldn’t be possible without the support of local businesses who believe in our mission to foster ecological learning through land stewardship, community partnership, and hands-on experiences. We are grateful for their generous support!

Wild & Uncommon Swag

Share the excitement of Horn Farm Center’s inaugural Wild & Uncommon Weekend by treating yourself to our unique attire! Our new Wild & Uncommon t-shirts are not just fashion statements, they’re a celebration of the extraordinary abundance of our region’s community and Susquehanna Riverlands landscape.These exclusive t-shirts are now available on our online store for purchase. But hurry, stock is limited! Embrace your wild side and grab your t-shirt today.

Training to Make an Impact

Looking for ways to have a positive, lasting impact on struggling local ecosystems?

In partnership with Waxwing EcoWorks and Reviving Wisdom, the Horn Farm Center is now offering two immersive programs exploring how we can partner with nature to support long-term ecological wellbeing.

The new Ecological Restoration Certificate program offers practical training in restoring damaged ecosystems and building resilient wildlife habitats. Ideal for active or aspiring landscape practitioners, conservation volunteers, and landowners with struggling habitats, this 3-day program offers applicable fieldwork skills.

The Ecological Gardener Training Program at the Horn Farm Center, now in its fourth year, commences in February 2025 with 16 weekly sessions. Participants will explore native plants and regional landscape patterns vital for designing, creating, and nurturing biodiverse native habitat gardens. Beyond building a practical basis for ecological gardening, participants leave this program with a deepened sense of place and connection with local landscapes.

No prior knowledge or experience is required to participate! 

Are you ready to take root in the Horn Farm Center’s growing community of earth stewards? Don’t miss your chance to become a well-rounded, activated, and confident caretaker of the natural world this winter and spring!

Click here for More Info