Happenings

Horn Farm Happenings – May 22, 2026

Spring Foraging: Black Locust

Spring is full of surprises and even the prickliest trees have something to offer!

In our latest video, foraging educator Andrew Leahy introduces the sweet, fragrant flowers of black locust and shares how to safely recognize and appreciate this remarkable tree. Click the video link above to discover one of this season’s edible treasures!

Want to learn more about Pennsylvania’s natural abundance? Join us for an upcoming foraging walk at the Horn Farm Center to explore the landscape with experienced guides, deepen your connection to local ecosystems, and learn how to forage with care, curiosity, and respect for the land.

A Flush of Fantastic Fungi

Sometimes cool and rainy weather are cause for celebration! We were reminded of this when Farm Manager, Jon Darby, recently discovered a flush of wine cap mushrooms in the demonstration field.

These fungi aren’t here by mistake – this bed of woodchips was intentionally inoculated with wine cap spores last year, by our friends Dustin and Jenni from Cove Mountain Mycology, to compliment future educational programming.

Wine cap mushrooms, also known as Stropharia rugosoannulata, garden giants, or king stropharia, are one of the easiest edible mushrooms to cultivate. They thrive on decaying matter, like the woodchips we often use in garden pathways and landscaped beds.

Unlike many other mushroom species, which require a deeply shaded environment, wine cap mushrooms can tolerate full sun and partial shade, making them a popular choice for maximizing food production in just about any space, large or small.

Tender caps can be sauteed and consumed, and the tougher spiles (stems) are an excellent addition to stock pots for beefing up broths and soup bases. We might even attempt drying them in our new dehydrator!

Growing in the Field

After a buzzing greenhouse season leading up to our Plant Sale, the Regenerative Grower Training Program is now transitioning to their field season!

February through April, students joined us twice a week to learn about growing plants. Everything from starting seeds to rooting trees.

In the spaces between, we explored plant anatomy and biology, took a dip into nature journaling, sowed early-season vegetables, and visited with a friend of the farm (Dale Hendricks) for inspiring insights into agroforestry and native plant horticulture.

The next phase of the Training Program now approaches as we focus our attention on prepping beds and tending plants for the growing season ahead.

Interested in digging deep with us in 2027? The 33-week Regenerative Grower Training Program INTEREST FORM is now open!

Sign up to be the first to know when registrations officially go live this summer. We also welcome any questions, curiosities, or concerns you may have as we plan for the next Regenerative Grower Training Program!

Celebrate the Start of Summer

Frolick among the flowers, savor seasonal flavors, and celebrate summer’s beginning at the Horn Farm Center!

Mark your calendar for the second annual Horn Farm Summer Solstice Market: Saturday, June 20th from 10AM to 2PM.

We’re beaming with excitement for a day filled with:

fresh-picked, organic produce,
make-and-take flower crowns,
free regenerative farm tours, and
a growing list of local artisans + makers dedicated to sustainability.

This event is free to attend and offers something for everyone. Come celebrate the start of the sunny summer season with us!

Solstice Market

Foundations of Bioregional Herbalism

Deepen your relationship with plants, place, and healing through the Northern Appalachia School’s Foundations of Bioregional Herbalism — an immersive 8-month hybrid training running from July 2026 through April 2027.

Through monthly online classes and in-person weekend intensives, students will explore the science, history, and practice of western herbalism within the context of local ecology and community. Topics include foraging, herbal energetics, medicine making, cultivation, phytochemistry, herbal safety, and more.

Whether you’re beginning your herbal journey or looking to strengthen an existing practice, this program offers a grounded and place-based approach to learning.

Horn Farm Happenings – May 8, 2026

The Power of Community in Action

For sustaining a truly grassroots mission like the Horn Farm Center’s, it takes a community of people who care. We couldn’t be more grateful for ours!

THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to the Horn Farm’s learning landscape during York County’s biggest day of giving on May 1st! You helped raise over $25,000 to support hands-on education, helping to heal the land and ensuing there will always be place where everyone can reclaim critical earth-based skills.

Thank you for believing in us and for investing in our commitment to creating a regenerative future here in the Susquehanna Riverlands!

Opening Our Doors with Plants & People

A New Chapter at the Horn Farm Center

This past weekend marked an exciting and meaningful milestone as we officially opened the doors of our new Learning Center and welcomed community for our 14th Annual Plant Sale. We’re blossoming with gratitude for everyone who stopped by to support the Horn Farm Center’s mission.

Horn Farm Center students, interns, staff, and partner farmers worked hard to grow more than 10,000 organic vegetables, herbs, flowers, and trees, and we loved seeing so many plants find new homes for the growing season.

The new farmhouse came alive with some of its first educational programs, including a willow craft demonstration, a tasting of seasonal wild foods during our monthly foraging walk, and a step-by-step tutorial on fermenting sauerkraut at home. It was wonderful to see the new gathering space already fostering learning, connection, and community.

Thank you to our annual sponsors, volunteers, and everyone who joined us to celebrate this meaningful and pivotal moment for the Horn Farm Center.

If you missed it, don’t worry! There will be plenty of opportunities to enjoy the new Learning Center, like the upcoming Women’s Foraging Mini-Retreat or presentation on Ecofriendly Yards for Pollinators & Healthy Living. Please join us!

Over the coming weeks, Horn Farm Center staff will officially relocate operations into the farmhouse. We appreciate your patience during this exciting transition into our new home. And, you can help us with the move. Check out our Move-In Wish List for more information.

Learn from the Author: Forest Garden Design Intensive with Dave Jacke

June 15th is the deadline to enroll in a payment plan for the one-time Forest Garden Design Intensive with Dave Jacke. If you’re interested, sign up soon! Taking place October 16-25, 2026.Forest gardens are food systems inspired by natural forests. In this 9-day intensive, Jacke will offer his expertise as an ecological designer and educator, equipping you with the skills to foster resilient forest gardens at home or in your community.

No prior experience as a gardener or landscape practitioner is required – just an eagerness to collaborate with the land and support resilient edible ecosystems!

Forest Garden Design Intensive: Register Now!

Save the Date: Summer Solstice Market

Soon enough, it will be time to enjoy the freshest local food. We’ll be celebrating the abundance at the Horn Farm, and you’re invited to join us:

SAVE THE DATE for the second annual Summer Solstice Market at the Horn Farm!

On this special day, students in our Regenerative Grower Training Program will share the first harvest of the season. Stop by for organic produce pulled straight from the field and veggie starts to add more variety to your summer garden! We’ll be joined by local, earth-minded vendors while offering free activities for kids and families.

Say hello to summer with us this June. We hope you see you there!

Solstice Market

Horn Farm Happenings – April 24, 2026

Welcome Back Next Weekend!

This morning, surrounded by friends and supporters, we proudly cut the ribbon on the new Learning Center at the Horn Farm. It was a joyful celebration and the beginning of a new chapter for this special place, one that will serve our community for years to come.

Now, we invite you to continue the celebration! Join us next Saturday, May 2 and Sunday, May 3 for Welcome Back Weekend – an open house and community celebration of the newly renovated farmhouse.

Saturday features our annual Plant Sale with live music, vendors and a bounty of organically-grown vegetables, flowers, and native plants. On Sunday, stop by for special programs like a willow craft talk and a sauerkraut demonstration.

We can’t wait to welcome you back to the Horn Farm!

Want to help make the new house a home for community connection and learning? Bring us a housewarming gift! Check out our Move-In Wish List for more info.

Support a More Resilient Future

The Horn Farm’s Learning Landscape empowers and inspires. From classes to volunteering, people come here to foster skills that build resilient communities–for people and the natural world.

Next week during Give Local York, you can help to ensure there will always be a place like this. Serving the Lower Susquehanna Riverlands and the Mid-Atlantic, the Horn Farm is a place to reclaim our skills in growing food, healing the land, and living locally.

Learn more and consider donating for Give Local York, beginning at 7PM on Thursday, April 30th.

Thanks to our generous annual sponsors and the Horn Farm Center Board of Directors, you can double your impact with over $11,000 in matching funds – available for 24 hours only during Give Local York.

Want to learn more about the positive change that the Horn Farm Center is making in our community? Tune in to our facebook page on Friday, May 1st from 12:30-1pm. Horn Farm Center staff will go live online to answer your questions and share updates from the farm!

Horn Farm Plant Sale is Next Saturday!

Horn Farm Center’s 14th Annual Plant Sale is back on Saturday, May 2nd, offering a wide selection of organically-grown vegetables, herbs, flowers, and native plants ready to bring beauty and abundance to your garden.

Whether you’re starting a new growing season or expanding an established space, you’ll find plants that support pollinators, improve soil health, and thrive in our region.

Enjoy a lively vendor market accompanied by live music with Tim Warmen and a chance to tour the new classroom in the farmhouse during Welcome Back Weekend!

We are grateful for our annual sponsors who help make events like this possible:

Horn Farm Plant Sale

Wildflower Walks & Spring Ephemerals

Spring wildflower walks in the south-central PA woods are a special treat – have you met any of our native ephemerals this year?

This past week, participants in our 2026 Regenerative Grower Training Program and greenhouse interns took a field trip to experience the magic of ephemerals at Green Light Plants Nursery, with Dale Hendricks. Highlights from the tour included one of our students seeing Jack-in-the-Pulpit for the first time, spotting the first zebra swallowtail of the season, and witnessing Dale’s flourishing polyculture native plant nursery.

What are spring ephemerals? Deriving their name from the Greek word meaning “lasting only a day” or “fleeting,” ephemerals are specialized species of flowers that only visit us for a short period of time each spring. They grow, bloom, and set seed all before the tree canopy has shaded out their forest floor home. Here one day, and gone the next! Virginia bluebells, ramps, trout lilies, and trillium are just a few examples of the treasured ephemerals now blooming in our area.

Elements of Survival: Spring Series

Learning to work with nature is a powerful way to build personal resilience and confidence. This spring, we invite you to reconnect with the natural world and build practical skills in Elements of Survival, a three-part wilderness series exploring the essential forces of Water, Earth & Air, and Fire with Stetler Survival.

Held Saturdays from 1–4pm beginning May 9, each hands-on class blends practical “make and take” projects with outdoor instruction—teaching you how to find and purify water, build shelter, and safely create and use fire.

Join for one session or the full series and leave with handmade tools, practical knowledge, and the confidence to thrive in the outdoors. Suitable for ages 12+ with an adult, and welcoming to beginners and experienced learners alike.

Check out Stetler Survival’s recent Micro-Survival Kit class at Horn Farm Center.