Happenings

Happy New Year! We’re back at work and excited about seeing you on the farm in 2018.

Are you reading seed catalogs and dreaming of playing in the garden? The popular Community Garden program offers soil lovers and aspiring farmers the opportunity to grow fresh, chemical-free food on prime farmland in the company of other enthusiastic and dedicated gardeners. Each plot measures 20 x 20 feet. Seasonal garden plots are open from mid-April, weather permitting, until the end of October. Seasonal plot registration can be found here. Horn Farm offers a limited number of year-round plots for more serious gardeners who wish to manage and tend a plot through all four seasons. (Contact us for details on year-round plots).

In addition to what we grow for ourselves, we can also find food growing wild. Foraging is the act of finding and gathering wild foods. For the majority of our existence on this planet, human beings lived as hunter-gatherers. By engaging in this age-old practice, we can provide ourselves with healthy and FREE food and medicine, become more self-reliant, and connect on a much deeper level to the landscape in which we live.

Back by popular demand is our Foraging Intensive. Over the course of nine months, you will go from learning foraging basics to incorporating wild plants into your everyday life and gain the knowledge to confidently share what you know with others. More information and registration here. Monthly foraging class schedule and registration will be posted soon!

This year we will be talking a lot about regenerative agriculture which basically means we grow our food in ways that leave the land better than we found it. And it all starts with soil. Soil is more than particles of sand, silt, and clay; it’s the combination of those particles interwoven with all the living organisms along with the byproducts of their activities in the soil. Check out this short video from the Soil Carbon Institute (one of our favorite websites) which demonstrates the importance of living soil: http://soilcarboncoalition.org/flour-bread-demo. Also from the Soil Carbon Institute are these Soil Health Principles:
• Much of soil life is fed by liquid carbon produced by photosynthesis, exuded
through living plant roots. Keep living roots in the ground as long as
possible.
• Soil life needs protection from heat, pounding rain, and wind. Keep soil
covered year-round.
• A diverse system is more resilient than a monoculture. Use plant diversity to
increase diversity in soil microorganisms, beneficial insects, and other
species.
• Soil life is hard at work building underground structures we depend on for
water, carbon, and nutrient cycling; and for structural stability for our own
infrastructure. Try not to disturb soil structure with tillage.
• Like any other living system, soil ecology will succumb to overwhelming
stresses. Minimize chemical, physical, and biological stresses.
• A healthy landscape stores and filters water, cools the surrounding atmosphere,
creates mist and clouds, and prevents flooding and drought. Complex systems
involving all kingdoms of life are responsible for the water cycle on land. Plan
with the whole water cycle in mind.
• Nature never farms without animals. Animals move nutrients, create small and
large pores in soil, manage flows of water, pollinate crops, balance predator/ prey
relationships, and replenish soil microbes. Plan to integrate and welcome a
diversity of animals, birds, and insects into the system.
• Every place has unique strengths and vulnerabilities. Get to know the context
of the land.

Upcoming events:

January 16: Bread Baking Basics (waitlist)
January 27: Introduction to Permaculture (waitlist)
February 20: Bread Baking 201
March 24: Bread Baking Full Day Workshop

Please support our work by making a financial contribution. Donate today!

See you at the Farm!

Field clean up is finished. The barns are organized. The garlic is planted and mulched. Allium Leaf Miner can be a problem on the farm in the garlic, onions, and scallions. We can address this by understanding the insect’s life cycle. The adults emerge from March to May, so we’re planning to protect the garlic with row cover for that period. Remembering that the ground may not yet have thawed in March, Field Manager Andrew placed the hoops before the ground froze. Speaking of ground reminds os of soil! Do you know the connection between soil health and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? Check out this publication on Soil Carbon Basics (the layout is a bit wonky as it is meant to be printed and folded as a brochure; read the right-hand column on page one, then page two, then go back to the left-hand and center columns on the first page).

Upcoming programs and events:
Farming Internship
Horn Farm CSA (early bird discount through January 31)
Betsy’s Flower CSA (early bird discount through January 31)
Bread Baking (Bread Baking Basics, Bread Baking 201, Bread Baking Full Day Workshop)

It’s time to take a break–to rest and reflect on the year. Starting December 16, we will be taking time off to celebrate the holidays. We’ll be back in January refreshed and ready to plunge into 2018. If you want to support the work we do, please take a moment to make a financial donation. Thank you!

Happy Holidays! We look forward to seeing you at the Farm!

Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow. The farm is ready to rest. The garlic is planted and mulched. We’ll harvest this garlic around July 4th then hang the garlic to cure in the corn barn. Then we will share the garlic with our CSA members. Interested in being part of our CSA in 2018? Our Community Supported Agriculture program offers you a weekly or biweekly share of produce grown here at the Horn Farm. Early bird discount is available through January 31, 2018. And yes! Gift shares are available! More information here: Horn Farm CSA.

In 2018, we will welcome a new farmer to the farm business incubator. Betsy Dorbian will be growing flowers for local florists as well as a for a Cut Flower CSA.Betsy is offering an early bird discount through January 31 as well. Pick up locations include the Horn Farm as well as locations in Harrisburg and Lemoyne. Click here for more information about Betsy’s Flowers at the Farm.

People often wonder why we leave dead plants standing over the winter. This photo shows a Praying Mantis egg case on a dried plant stalk. The eggs will hatch in the spring just in time for these beneficial insects to start munching on the creatures that eat our lovely vegetables. When we provide places for helpful creatures to spend the winter, we are rewarded when the growing season arrives.

In addition to our insect friends, we rely on people like you to keep the Horn Farm Center running. Our volunteers and donors are the ones who make our work possible. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the Horn Farm today! Thank you!

See you at the Farm!