Horn Farm Happenings – January 20, 2023
What Do You Want to Learn This Year?
Our mission is to foster learning. Each year, our talented team of program coordinators, instructors, and land stewards work together to design an increasingly diverse schedule of classes, workshops, and trainings.
We teach what we know from the land and we partner with other regenerative practitioners to foster learning at the Horn Farm Center. We already have a number of exciting new programs scheduled for this spring. However, our goal is to provide a wide variety of learning experiences that will inspire connections to the land.
As we look to expand and diversify our programs this year, we want your input! Let us know what kinds of classes or workshops you’d like to see in the future at the Horn Farm. Give us your input by taking a short, 3-5 minute survey.
Click here to give us your feedback!
A Day of Service & Community at the Farm
A willow branch can be planted in the ground and from it, a new tree will grow in its place. Through its tolerant nature, willow can withstand strong winds, wet conditions, and adverse weather. Willow’s ability to grow and survive is powerfully symbolic of how we can be adaptable to thrive in challenging circumstances.
This Monday, on Martin Luther King Day of Service, we were reminded of our community resilience as we worked with over 15 volunteers in our willow beds. With the help of this superstar crew of volunteers, we exceeded our coppicing goals, laid three new lengths of ground cover, and assembled a dozen brushwood bundles for use in our forest streams.
Taking from what we learned during our recent visit to Foggy Blossom Farm, we’re making plans to plant two more willow rows between our current rows using live stakes (cuttings that will root self-sufficiently). By tightening spacing, these new rows will naturally encourage the upright growth patterns characteristic of basketry plants. They’ll also allow easier management for our land steward crew, since compact arrangements like this help mitigate weed pressure. For the land, more perennials mean more roots mean more stable, healthy, biodynamic soils.
As for the brushwood bundles, these tight assortments of branches will be put to use along eroded creek corridors throughout our wild spaces. They will create natural berms helping to slow water, catch sediment, and prevent downstream pooling and flooding. This is a prime example of using materials sourced from the land to aid in its own restoration–of giving back to once-neglected waterways as a “thank you” for the weaving rods we were gifted in abundance this December.
A Few Spots Left: HFC Training Programs
There are still a few openings available in this spring’s Land Steward and Ecological Gardener Training Programs, so we’re extending the application deadline to Thursday, February 2nd.
If you’ve been considering applying, now is your chance!
Whether you are exploring a career or simply looking to expand your knowledge and skills, all students will gain a deep understanding of regenerative practices.
You don’t need experience to participate! Become a proactive advocate for earth care and apply for our remaining spots today:
Click here to learn more about Training Programs
Early-Bird CSA Registration Closes Soon!
Now through January 31st, 2023, we’re accepting early-bird registrations for the Horn Farm CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program.
For 20 weeks from June to October, CSA members receive a weekly box of seasonal, organic produce grown by the Horn Farm and our local partners. Fill your plate with local flavor while supporting small-scale agriculture and the Horn Farm’s land-healing mission!
Click here to Register for the CSA
Ecological Core Immersion
Are you interested in expanding your ecological knowledge?
Join us for a holistic primer on ecology, reciprocity, and preparing ourselves to be lifelong stewards of the natural world. The Ecological Core Immersion is a stand-alone 4-week course that is part of our 16-week spring training programs!
Topics include (and are not limited to):
- Basic ecology and natural cycles.
- Historical land uses and misuses.
- Considerations for regenerative land design.
- Disturbance-based land management.
- Physical movement training for field and forest work.
Join us for the Horn Farm Center’s unique Ecological Core Immersion series starting on Monday, February 13th 8am-4pm.
Image: Depiction of the Columbia Bridge over the Susquehanna River by William Henry Bartlett (circa. 1850).
New Program Series: The Land & Peoples of the Lower Susquehanna Valley
Would you like to know more about how Indigenous people lived on this land for thousands of years before European settlers arrived? If so, this course is for you!
In four two-hour sessions, this new series will take you on a fast-paced tour through the geological, archaeological, and historical past to reach a deeper appreciation of the land we live on and the people who have left their marks on it. The sessions will be run in seminar style, and participants will be invited to share their own stories, insights, and local knowledge.
Each session will be led by HFC Board Member, Dr. Ed Wilson, who will be accompanied by regional experts with specialized knowledge about topics of interest. Program topics include:
- Origins of the Landscape
- The Indigenous Peoples & Their Land
- European Settlement and the Collision of Worlds
- The Contemporary Landscape and Its Challenges
Join us for “The Land & Peoples of the Lower Susquehanna Valley” program series starting on Thursday, March 9th at 6pm.
