Happenings

Horn Farm Happenings – March 21, 2025

Last Chance for Live Stakes: Order by March 24th

This weekend is your last chance to purchase live stakes from Horn Farm until 2026. Don’t delay, order today. Your local ecosystem will thank you!

Why such a short sale window? Due to the nature of live stakes, there is an optimal time to harvest (when the tree or shrub is still in its winter dormancy), and an optimal time to plant (when it’s still the “dormant” season, and the ground is soft enough to plant, no longer frozen).

The species we have available are mainly native to wetland and streamside ecosystems, and their adaptations to this type of environment allow them to re-root readily, even from small “cuttings” or live stakes. Besides being beautiful, they are also resilient!


Horn Farm Center is Breaking Ground on Saturday, March 29th!

We’ve reached an important milestone and we want to share it with you! Please join us as we break ground on the new Education Center at the Horn Farm

Date: March 29, 2025
Time: 10AM-11:30AM
Location: 4945 Horn Road
York, PA 17406

Come celebrate the beginning of the farmhouse rebuild with key stakeholders, community leaders, and special guests, as we continue to raise funds and realize the creation of a beautiful, spacious educational center for everyone in this region.

Your presence would mean a great deal to us as we embark on this journey. We look forward to celebrating this milestone with you!

More Information & RSVP


Community, Learning, & Live Stakes

New members of our Community Crew Volunteer Program spent their Saturday touring the farm, learning about our work, and getting their hands dirty while harvesting live stakes! Now that our new “crew” members are trained up, we’ve welcomed them to the Horn Farm ecosystem where they will learn and work with us to steward the land and make our educational offerings the best they can be!

Crew members collected hundreds of live stakes to support local restoration efforts. Some stakes will even be propagated and sold at our Plant Sale on May 3rd! But there’s no need to wait for planting: our LIVE STAKE SALE continues between now and Monday, March 24th!

From restoring streamways to building biodiversity in home and community landscaping, live stakes are an incredible tool for rewilding the spaces around us. Cuttings from wetland-adapted species can form roots when “staked” into the ground, eventually growing into new plants. The species we have available include:

  • Black willow (Salix nigra)
  • Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea)
  • Silky dogwood (Cornus amomum)
  • American black elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)
  • Smooth alder (Alnus serrulata)
  • American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)
  • Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
  • Arrowwood Viburnum (Viburnum dentatum)
  • Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius)

The best time to harvest and plant is the end of the winter, when the ground is thawing but the plants have not yet broken dormancy. Join us in supporting thriving ecosystems across our local landscapes, one stick at a time!

To learn more about the Horn Farm Center’s live stakes and riparian buffer restoration efforts, check out our blog. It’s all part of our work to bring together ecological healing, local agriculture, and community education!


Learn to Grow Food Regeneratively

When we reclaim our skills to grow food, self-sufficiency is just the beginning. Gardeners, community growers, and small-scale farmers can be healers: nurturing healthier, richer crops, communities, and ecosystems.

Interested in rekindling your connection with the homegrown and hand-gathered? We are now accepting applications for Horn Farm Center’s new Regenerative Grower Training ProgramApplications CLOSE at 12AM on May 7th!

Designed for anyone who is passionate about deepening their relationship with nature and food, the Regenerative Grower Training Program focuses on simple, low-tech, and eco-friendly methods that work on a human scale. This program embodies the Horn Farm Center’s commitment to bringing together place-based agriculture and ecological restoration, demonstrating how growing food and healing the land can go hand in hand.

Join us in the field this season for 22 weeks of hands-on learning, meaningful tending, and joyous connection – Tuesdays and Fridays from May to October, 2025.

Apply for the Regenerative Grower Training Program


Dig Into Spring Gardening

After a long and frigid winter, who isn’t looking forward to soaking in some sun and getting their hands back in the soil?

Home gardening offers an opportunity to connect with the land and ourselves, grow healthy food, and incorporate more movement into our daily routine. We’ve got a bounty of spring gardening workshops taking root to ensure your success this growing season:

And, if you’re ready to turn your learning into action on the land, make sure to SAVE THE DATE for our 13th Annual Plant Sale on Saturday, May 3rd from 9am-3pm.

Register for Upcoming Gardening Classes


Foraging the Riverlands with Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association

Horn Farm Center is teaming up with Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association to host a unique learning event on Wednesday, March 26th! 

Explore the links between local edible plants and pressing issues facing our riverland ecosystem during a “foraging walk and river talk” at Riverfront Park in Wrightsville. Learn safe plant identification, harvesting, and consumption. Afterward, head to LSRA’s new headquarters on Front St. for snacks, wild teas, and discussions on protecting the Susquehanna’s land and waters. This event highlights the connection between foraging and advocating for the environment.

Program cost includes food, local craft beverages, and a tip towards our fight for CLEAN WATER! All proceeds benefit Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association & Horn Farm Center.

Pre-registration recommended. Walk-ins accepted only if space is available.

Horn Farm Happenings – March 7, 2025

Bringing Food Back into Focus: Regenerative Grower Training Program

How we produce food matters—to our health, our communities, and the planet. The connection between the land and our well-being runs deep! By working in harmony with nature, we can cultivate more than just food—we can restore ecosystems, enrich soil, and nourish ourselves.

The Horn Farm Center’s new Regenerative Grower Training Program is a part-time, hands-on learning experience designed for those eager to move beyond traditional gardening and start thinking like an ecosystem.

Building on our former Farmer Training program, this new learning experience teaches how to grow both annual and perennial crops for home gardens and market-scale production.

Through immersive learning, you’ll gain the skills to grow nutrient-dense food while fostering a thriving, resilient landscape.

If you’re ready to build a deeper relationship with the land and become a student of regenerative agriculture, this program is for you.

  • Learn to grow food that heals—people and the planet.
  • Support a healthier foodshed and ecosystem.
  • Join a community of like-minded growers and changemakers.

Apply today and start growing with purpose! The program takes place Tuesdays and Fridays from 8:00AM to 12:00PM starting May 20th through October 14th.


Horn Farm Internship Update: Old Greenhouse, New Cover!

This week, our greenhouse interns and farm staff installed a new covering on our lower greenhouse. Through teamwork and hands-on learning, they tackled the process step by step, gaining valuable skills in greenhouse maintenance. Their hard work will help create a more stable and efficient growing environment for the seasons ahead!

Meanwhile inside our greenhouses, preparations for the 13th Annual Horn Farm Plant Sale are well underway, with thousands of veggie, herb, and flower seedlings already taking root!

Make sure to save the date for Saturday, May 3rd from 9am to 3pm. All sales will be in-person only at the Horn Farm Center. Stay tuned for updates about our offerings, vendors, and more.

We hope you can join us to *spring* into the growing season this May. All proceeds from the Plant Sale support regenerative practices and ecological education at the Horn Farm Center.

2025 Horn Farm Plant Sale


Come Celebrate with Us!

We’ve reached an important milestone and we want to share it with you! Please join us as we break ground on the new Education Center at the Horn Farm

Date: March 29, 2025
Time: 10AM-11:30AM
Location: 4945 Horn Road
York, PA 17406

Come celebrate the beginning of the farmhouse rebuild with key stakeholders, community leaders, and special guests, as we continue to raise funds and realize the creation of a beautiful, spacious educational center for everyone in this region.

Your presence would mean a great deal to us as we embark on this journey.

We look forward to celebrating this milestone with you!

More Information & RSVP


Live Stakes Available: March 10-24th

For the first time ever, you can purchase live stakes in our online store starting on Monday, March 10th! 

What are live stakes? They’re cuttings from trees and shrubs that, when planted directly into the ground, re-root and grow into full-sized plants.

Perfect for establishing new forest cover, riparian buffers, and even home landscapes, live stake plantings boost biodiversity, enhance natural beauty, and improve local stream health.

Build biodiversity at home while supporting the Horn Farm Center!

To learn more about live stakes as a tool for restoration at the Horn Farm Center, visit our Horn Farm Ecosystem blog series on riparian buffers. Also, stay tuned for an educational webpage on the “what” and “how” of live stakes!

Learn More & Order Live Stakes


New Youth & Family Programs

Horn Farm Center wants to inspire the next generation of land stewards!

Our upcoming family and youth programs offer hands-on learning adventures that connect us to the place we call home. These beginner-friendly classes encourage curiosity, creativity, and a deeper understanding of the ecosystems that sustain us.

Let’s explore the wonder of nature together! Join us at the Horn Farm Center this spring to learn, grow, and have a fun adventure with the whole family.


Service Learning Work Days

Shake off the winter blues and get your hands in the dirt! Join us for our upcoming volunteer days in our riparian buffer as we prepare for the season ahead.

  • Wednesdays, March 12 & 19 (5–7 PM)
  • Sunday, March 23 (1–3 PM)

Help tend the land, learn about local ecology and perennial agriculture, and be part of restoring our local waterways—one plant at a time.

No experience needed—just bring your energy! Come get active, connect with nature, and make a difference.

Horn Farm Happenings – February 21, 2025

From the Executive Director

Have you heard the BIG NEWS? Yes, it’s true…starting this March, reconstruction of the Horn Farm’s historic farmhouse and education hub will begin! 

This is a milestone worth celebrating, especially after three years of recovering, fundraising, and navigating the challenges of a project we weren’t expecting!

But there is still a funding gap we need to bridge. As we eagerly look forward to breaking ground this March, we’re asking you–our community–to help us.

This request comes at time that is fraught with other priorities. Recent actions by the federal government are directly impacting farms and organizations across our region. We are hearing from farmers and friends concerned about increasing supply costs, cuts to federal contracts, and new threats to life-preserving conservation practices.

As growers and land stewards, we know we’ll always face unpredictable events. We also know that we can count on hope, hard work, and a community of support.

In fact, if we’ve learned anything from the farmhouse project and the tragic circumstances that lead to it, it’s that our strength – and our resilience – lies in our relationships. 

That is why I am asking that you please take action today:

1) Please call or write your members of congress to let them know you support federal funding for regenerative agriculture and food security. We are including some information below from our partners and actions you can take to ensure our food system and natural resources are stable, sustainable, and protected.

2) Please consider donating (perhaps again) to help build the new Education Center at the Horn Farm. Any amount will help. As a grassroots organization founded in a love for the land, the Horn Farm took a community to build. Now, it will take our community to rebuild!

Reviving our farmhouse will open up an ecosystem of possibilities for enriching what we do best: educating and empowering our community with the skills for healing the land and living in sustainable ways.

With gratitude and in solidarity with our farming community,

Alexis Campbell, Executive Director


Take Action for Regenerative Agriculture

Despite widespread public support for regenerative farming, recent actions by the federal government are directly impacting farms and organizations across our region – including those committed to climate-smart farming, conservation agriculture, and agroforestry.
In January, many federal funding recipients were notified that an Executive Memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget paused action on both existing and future federal assistance programs, including most climate- and equity-related grants. The federal grant freeze is creating unease, confusion, and financial difficulty for many agricultural producers and organizations who utilize federal funds to protect ecological health and provide critical farmer resources.

What You Can Do Now: Call and write your members of congress to let them know you support federal funding for regenerative agriculture and food security.

Here Are Some Steps to Take with Resources from our Partners:

Public funding for American farmers to establish conservation practices and agroforestry has widespread benefits to the public by restoring biodiversity, protecting pollinators, and creating wildlife habitat. Thank you for supporting our farmers who are doing this critical work!

PASA: Help Farmers Impacted by Federal Funding Freeze


Learning & Growing in the Greenhouse

This week, we welcomed four new interns to our team! Ella, Lucy, Tove, and Yairelis will be spending February through May with us preparing for our annual Plant Sale. Mark your calendar for Saturday, May 3rd from 9am to 3pm!

The seed sowing started right away, with thousands of veggies, herbs, and flowers slated for germination over the coming weeks. While our interns are invaluable in making the Plant Sale possible, their experience is also educational, as they learn the ins and outs of greenhouse management, plant propagation, botany and biology, and non-chemical growing methods.

Stay tuned to see what our interns our up to as the spring approaches!

More Info: Spring Plant Sale


Bringing Together Community & Land Care

This week, a basketful of brave volunteers worked through the blustery winds to help us complete our willow branch harvest for the season!

Willows are just one piece of the Horn Farm’s transition to farming with productive, beneficial trees and shrubs. This type of farming, called agroforestry, uses tree and shrub crops, like willows, to supply local goods while maintaining ecological health.

What does ecological health look like? For us, it includes:

  • Nurturing healthy soils
  • Efficiently using and protecting water resources
  • Actively supporting a thriving community of bugs, birds, fungi, and more to help our landscape function

Many of the Horn Farm’s budding agroforestry projects are taking root along “wild” edges and streams, called riparian buffers. In spaces like these, with careful management and respect, we can bring together ecological restoration and robust agriculture.

Interested in experiencing this kind of farming as we approach the spring? Consider joining the Horn Farm Center’s Community Crew–a volunteer training program.

Join the Community Crew


Let’s Get Outside & Learn Together

If you’re feeling cooped up this chilly winter, we’ve got a flurry of opportunities to help you beat the seasonal blues. From the forest trail to the kitchen counter, join us to learn new skills while connecting with local plant communities that offer us food, medicine, and plenty of fascinating stories:

Sunday, March 2nd | 10am-12pm 
Live Staking Workshop with the Keystone Trails Association
Sunday, March 2nd | 1-3pm
Emerging Abundance: Late Winter Foraging Walk
Saturday, March 8th | 9-11am
Tree Medicine with the Northern Appalachia School
Saturday, March 8th | 12-3pm
Artisanal Herbal Tinctures at Home with the Northern Appalachia School
Sunday, March 9th | 2-4:30pm
Identifying Trees by Bark
Wednesday, March 26th | 6-9pm
Foraging the Riverlands: Reclaiming Wild Foods on Today’s Susquehanna
with the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper (event posting soon!)
Sunday, March 30th | 1:30-5pm
Meet a Mini Forest: The Miyawaki Method
Saturday, April 5th | 12-3pm
Herbal Tea Seminar with the Northern Appalachia School
Sunday, April 6th | 10am-12pm
Shoots & Leaves: Early Spring Foraging Walk

Planning for the Spring Season

Thinking ahead to the spring garden is another great way to find some wintertime bliss (besides going outside, of course!). That’s why it’s the perfect time to check out our NEWLY ANNOUNCED Spring Gardening Classes.

Starting in April, join us in the greenhouse and the field to grow your gardening tookit. As we like to say: “stop thinking like a gardener and start thinking like an ecosystem!