Horn Farm Happenings – Regenerate & Educate
“These programs have made me feel more connected to the area where I live, which in turn makes me want to foster a healthy environment and community with my own land.”
– 2023 Program Participant
So much of our lives are distanced from nature. Our culture, for better or worse, has evolved to keep us indoors. An expanding body of scientific evidence suggests that our nature-deficit lifestyles contribute to myriad challenges including diminished use of senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of emotional and physical illnesses.
At the same time, we are facing numerous environmental crises in our lifetimes:
- World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Index reported that populations of most major animal groups on our planet have plummeted nearly 70% since 1970.
- Meanwhile, climate change is threatening the stability of life on our planet. Agriculture alone contributes to more than 17 billion metric tons of greenhouse emissions each year.
- And, our land use practices continue to degrade our soils and pollute our waterways.
There is A LOT of work to do. That’s why we’re regenerating the health of 186-acres and our programs center around cultivating a love for the earth.
Education, community, and nature are a powerful combination. With these ingredients, we can make a difference.
We believe that providing positive educational experiences outdoors – connecting people to nature – will inspire the passion our world needs to regenerate the health of our environment. We do so in the context of community with nature as our classroom.
So, what does it mean to regenerate the land?
Regenerative means going beyond “doing no harm” by taking an active role to steward the land and restore natural cycles.
Our practices demonstrate how to produce food while prioritizing the health of our ecosystems, paying close attention to soil, water, and biodiversity.
At the Horn Farm Center, our land stewardship practices are focused on:
Building Soil Health
Regenerative agriculture is all about soil. Practices like composting, no-till, and cover cropping help to build organic matter, infiltrate water, and protect soil life. Healthy, living soils cycle carbon from the atmosphere and support life here on Earth!
Protecting Water
Using low-energy and natural technologies such as check dams, zuni bowls, and riparian buffers, we are doing our part to prevent soil erosion, support native aquatic species, and reduce mineral and sediment loads in our waterways — from Kreutz Creek to the Susquehanna River, and beyond.
Increasing Biodiversity
In 2018, we conducted a species survey that identified only 32 different species of trees and shrubs on the property, including non-natives. Since then, we have added over 40 native species on about 30 acres of the farm. Bolstering plant diversity builds habitat and increases diversity in soil microorganisms, beneficial insects, and other species of wildlife.
These regenerative practices are making a difference – and so do you when you support our work. When you donate to the Horn Farm Center, your contributions REGENERATE the health of the land & EDUCATE others to do the same.
This year, you can double your impact on May 4-5th during Give Local York. Thanks to several generous donors, online contributions on May 4-5th will be matched dollar for dollar up to $10,000.
The excitement starts online on May 4th at 9:00pm. We will accept donations for 24 hours – until 9:00pm the next day, May 5th, on the Horn Farm Center’s Give Local York page.
Join our efforts to Regenerate & Educate by contributing financially to the Horn Farm Center, either by check, online at hornfarmcenter.org/donate/, or during Give Local York on May 4-5th.
Also, we are rebuilding! If you’d like to learn more about our progress on the farmhouse and to donate directly to the rebuild project, please visit rebuildhornfarm.com or note “Building Fund” on your check.
Sincerely,
Alexis Campbell, Executive Director
Land Stewards have spent the last two months learning observational skills and low-impact methods for repairing and re-wilding natural spaces, taking their inspiration from animal teachers like the beaver as well as human cultures rooted in relationship with the earth. Alongside weekly classroom topics, the crew has built erosion controls like check dams and Zuni bowls, planted a biodiverse mini-forest, spread native seeds, blazed trails, and put aggressive species to restorative use – not to mention assembling the Horn Farm’s largest trail bridge using materials gifted by our forests!
insights on what species are best suited to bolster restoration spaces at the Horn Farm, focusing on building important wildlife habitat. Students explored native plant allies that are exceptional at outcompeting tenacious plants like stilt grass and lesser celandine. In addition, ecological gardeners have sheet mulched a native edible food forest that they are designing to scale as an educational demonstration site. Each week, ecological gardeners are eager to share how their training experiences have inspired them to act in rebuilding biodiversity at home and at their workplaces!
