Program Coverage

Core Topics:

• Safety and awareness
• Key ethics and techniques for regenerative wildcrafting
• Plant observation and identification
• Botany: taxonomy, plant parts, and plant families
• Ecology: bioregional ecosystem types, succession, plant communities
• Gathering food: harvest, preparation, cooking, and preservation

Special Topics

NEW FOR 2026, we’ll be joined by three guest instructors who specialize in skills that are natural extensions of foraging, including:

• Plant sketching and journaling
• Wild mycology and edible / medicinal mushrooms
• Herbalism and plant medicine

Materials

What We Provide

• Recycled field notebook for sketching and notetaking
• Sketching supplies: pencils, sharpeners, erasers
• Materials for any take-what-you-make projects (i.e. tincture-making, fermenting)

What You Bring

• Refillable water cannister
• Light, portable snacks
• Notebook (if you prefer to use your own)
• Foraging and harvesting tools (optional)
  • Non-serrated pocket knife
  • Pruners or scissors
  • Bags/baskets
• Clothing suitable for spending time outdoors: hat, closed-toe shoes, layers, etc.

Program Cost: $475

Cost covers program tuition, guest instructors, and any take-home materials. This breaks down to $19 per hour for 25 hours of classrom learning and field experience at a 1:7 instructor-to-student ratio. In later sessions, students are also invited to take home free foraged food from the Horn Farm, as long as quantity allows.

Sliding scale options are available to lower the program cost for eligible participants:

• Standard Cost: $475
• Reduced Cost: $405
  • At 85% of the standard rate, reduced cost is reserved for folks with financial constraints who need assistance to join the program. A limited number of spaces are available for registering at a reduced rate.
• Pay-it-forward : $545
  • At 115% of the standard rate, pay-it-forward helps us offset the cost of supporting reduced rate registrations. This option is encouraged for folks with financial means who would like to support access for other trainess.

Customized payment plans can be discussed if breaking down payment supports financial accessibility. Please note that using a payment plan will require a non-refundable downpayment in order to secure a spot in the program. Please email education@hornfarmcenter.org to inquire about payment plans. This option is only provided in cases of financial need.

Other Considerations

Outdoor Learning: Barring severely inclement weather, most classes will take place primarily outdoors. Please check the weather in advance and come prepared for rain, humidity, mud, and other conditions of the season. While most classes take place on flat terrain, there will be some uphill walking and moderate hiking during field trips.

Wild Ecosystems: The Horn Farm supports dynamic, living ecosystems that sustain wild foods. This means that students should be prepared for exposure to environmental hazards including poison ivy, ticks, mosquitos, and stinging insects. Recommendations for safeguarding against these elements of the ecosystem will be covered and encouraged.

Extracurricular Practice: While this program meets weekly, learning to forage is like studying a language. It requires time, repetition, humility, and an ongoing commitment to self-study. We don’t assign official “homework” week to week, but do encourage students to practice what they’ve learned and hone their skills between classes to truly reap the benefits of the training program. Shared resources and supplementary readings are offered for optional engagement throughout the program.

Transportation: Students must provide their own transportation to each session, including the field trip locations. These alternate locations will not exceed 20 minutes from the Horn Farm Center.

Punctuality: Plan to arrive ~10 minutes early to each session so the group can get started on time.

Fun!: Safe and ethical foraging is a great way to experience joy and fulfillment in community. In short, expect to have a good time with the land and each other!

Jonathan Darby

Jonathan is a wild foods enthusiast and educator, avid gardener, former farmer and has served the Horn Farm Center in varying capacities for over 15 years. He currently serves as Land Manager & Educator. Jonathan received his Permaculture Design Certification in 2011 from Susquehanna Permaculture and in 2014 completed his Permaculture Teacher Training through Dynamic Ecological Design. He is married with 2 kids and 3 cats

Andrew Leahy

Andrew is an avid forager and student of wild spaces, interested in rekindling ways of living on the landscape that are place-sourced and mutually nuturing. Moving to the Lower Susquehanna Region from the mountains of Northeastern PA in 2021, he currently serves as the Educational & Outreach Speciaist for the Horn Farm Center. With an academic background in English Literature and Music, Andrew has since embraced ecological learning and lifelong wildcrafting, honing his skills through the Horn Farm’s training programs and the Northern Appalachia School’s Foundations of Bioregional Herbalism program. In addition to the Forager Training Program, he presently teaches monthly and special-topics foraging classes for the Horn Farm.

Diane Podolsky

Plant Journaling

Pennsylvania artist Diane Podolsky has focused a large part of her art career studying the natural world. Being from Philadelphia, her focus was originally urban ecology but then shifted to agriculture and general conservation concerns upon relocating to North Carolina. Shortly before moving South, Diane completed the Master Gardeners Program through Penn State Extension and worked for a season as a gardener at the historic Glen Foerd Museum. Upon moving to North Carolina, Diane joined Central Carolina Master Naturalists and took a job on a small commercial farm, tending several acres and a large greenhouse, while also volunteering with a local Herbarium. Eventually, Diane was hired at the Herbarium to mount a large collection of plants and also was part of the team that managed the day to day operations of the herbarium. Her main mediums are printmaking, drawing, and artist books. She has exhibited extensively and her work is in public and private collections in the US and abroad.

Sarah LeTourneau

Wild Mushrooms

Sarah Le Tourneau is a mushroom huntress, Myco-photographer, citizen scientist and forager. Born and raised in the Green Mountains of Vermont, she went on to attend Global College where she studied in India and Central America. She got her start working in wilderness education in rural New Mexico and continued to work as an educator and family development specialist. She has been a resident of Lancaster county for seven years now and has been immersing herself in the wild spaces around the region since she arrived. Her interests in mycology are rooted both in a love for healthy ecosystems and in human development. She believes that the many uses of fungi offer a more sustainable path into the future. Learn more about Sarah’s photography and education at @forest_apsara

Calyx Liddick

Plant Medicine

Calyx Liddick is a certified clinical herbalist and nutritionist, field botanist, wildcrafter, activist, writer, and mother of two. She was born and raised in the mountains of central Pennsylvania. She sees the human body as an ecological microcosm, and that by reconnecting to the land we can heal the land as well as ourselves. In her practice, she integrates the long, rich history of traditional herbalism with modern, scientifically sound research. Calyx is a graduate of the Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism and is the founding director of the Northern Appalachia School.