Author Archive: Alyson Earl

Here are a few ways you can get some Horn Farm time:

1. Learn to bake bread – By popular demand, we’re hosting another bread baking workshop, this time a full day of baking on Saturday, March 11. Come and enjoy a full day of baking bread- all the steps from recipe selection to enjoying a slice of just baked bread.
2. Volunteer Work Day – we are looking for a few people who want to put on their work gloves to get the farm ready for the season. March 4th marks the first monthly volunteer work day to take place the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to noon. Sign up here!
3. More volunteer opportunities–new this year we have volunteer opportunities listed on our website. You can sign up for the March 4 work day, or perhaps you’d like to help out at the Pennsylvania Garden Show of York (PAGSY) at the York Fairgrounds. We need people to work the Horn Farm table–sharing stories of what we do at the Horn Farm and distributing class calendars. Time slots are available on March 3, 4, and 5.
4. Love the work we do at the Horn Farm? Join the community of people who make our work possible by donating today! Thank you!

We believe in working cooperatively as part of Nature.  This belief is at the core of permaculture design. Learn the basics of thinking like an ecosystem in our popular Introduction to Permaculture class on April 9th.

In March, join us for a two-day Land Regeneration workshop on ways to restore ecosystem health by applying the principles and techniques of disturbance-based forest management. We can expedite environmental restoration by increasing variability in forest structure and habitats. Learn ways to guide land toward health and biodiversity with thoughtfully chosen disturbance events. A wooded area with an eroded stream bed overgrown with ‘invasive’ plant species will be our classroom. Click here for more information or to register.

We started planting in the greenhouse this week! We’re getting ready for the Heirloom Plant Sale on Saturday, May 6 as well as growing plants for our CSA members. We still have shares available for pick up either at the Horn Farm as well as at Seventh & George near the intersection of routes 30 and 83.

Calling all wild food enthusiasts! Our monthly Foraging and 2017 Foraging Intensive classes start in March. Find out more and register here.

Love the work we do at the Horn Farm? Join the community of people who make our work possible by donating today! Thank you!

Our incubator farm program requires participants to have two years of farming experience, and we found there were lots of people feeling called to farm who didn’t meet that requirement. In 2016, to meet that need for experience, the Horn Farm launched a farm internship program. We welcomed four interns into our new program and the season was successful beyond our wildest dreams. All four interns are continuing to build their skills and experience in farming both on and off the Horn Farm.

Joshua Witchger

Leaving behind a job as a fermentation specialist at Brooklyn Brine, Joshua and his wife moved from New York City to York where she completed a year-long residency at Memorial Hospital. Looking for a community of like-minded people, Joshua contacted the Horn Farm and quickly found a place to fit in. He volunteered in 2015 on Sterling Farm–one of the farms in the Incubator Farm Project. In 2016, Joshua took part in our Farm Internship. He was particularly inspired by the Introduction to Permaculture class that he took as part of the internship.In December, Joshua returned to the Horn Farm to teach a Vegetable Fermentation class.  He has moved back to Brooklyn, where he is continuing his permaculture studies, working in a ‘cave’ aging fine cheeses while looking for work as an urban farm manager.

Miranda Komissar-Gindling

Miranda was looking for a farm internship where she could learn farming techniques which used hand tools. She relocated from Maryland to be part of the farm internship at the Horn Farm. A very hard worker who enjoys weeding made her an invaluable part of the Horn Farm team. Miranda is completing a farm internship on a convent in upstate New York where she is responsible for the dairy cow and is learning to make artisanal cheeses. We are delighted that this spring she plans to return to the Horn Farm for a second year in the internship program.

Andrew Horn

Andrew spent a year in New Zealand working on a variety of organic farms in exchange for food and lodging. He returned to his hometown of York looking for a way to continue to explore his interest in farming. The Farm Internship was exactly what he was looking for. Andrew wanted to continue his exploration of a career in farming, and the Horn Farm needed skilled help on the farm this season, so we’ve hired him to be Assistant Field Manager for 2017. He’ll be starting seeds in the greenhouse next week.

Betsy Dorbian

In 2016, Betsy Dorbian was considering a career change. After 25 years as a massage therapist, Betsy was ready for something different. Having studied permaculture design in an academic setting, she felt she needed hands on skills. She applied to and was accepted into the Farm Internship program. Betsy ended her first season by saying that she’d ‘found her people and her place’ at the Horn Farm. She is returning for 2017 ready to make her dream of becoming a flower farmer come true. As a second year intern, Betsy will plan, grow, harvest, and market cut flowers.

We are proud to be growing tomorrow’s farmers! Is farming calling to you? Our Farm Internship is a part-time, hands-on training program for people with 0 to 2 years of farm or gardening experience. The program provides foundational knowledge and practical skills for those interested in small-scale, intensive, organic, permaculture-based production methods. Applications are now being accepted.