We are excited to announce a 9-Day Forest Garden Design Intensive with Dave Jacke in October! Come explore how we can use the patterns and principles of forest ecology to design our own gardens, homesteads, and communities. Forest gardening means growing food like the forest, not in the forest. The principles of forest ecology can be applied in urban, suburban, and rural settings as well as to existing woodland to increase the diversity of edible and otherwise useful species while increasing the health of the existing landscape.

Next week at this time, the bank barn foundation will be transformed into the site of the  Heirloom Plant Sale! We are happy to be using this beautiful space for more than just storage.  You can find a plant list here: 2017 Plant List. Most plants will be priced at $3. Sale runs from 9 to 3. Come early for the best selection!

Upcoming events:

Foraging – May
Horn Farm Produce Share – CSA
Rhubarb and Strawberry Chutney
Cycle the Solstice
Thank you for supporting the Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education!

Greetings from the Horn Farm! The season is well underway.

Both greenhouses are bursting with plants. We are growing plants for the Heirloom Plant Sale on May 6 as well as for the fields here at the farm. We will begin distributing shares to our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) members beginning at the end of May–weather permitting. We still have a few shares available–either a weekly or biweekly selection of fresh, nutrient dense produce grown here at the farm.

We are growing thousands of plants in many varieties. Basil, for instance, comes in so many variations of color and flavor. This week we potted up Large Italian Green, Genovese, Licorice, as well as this gorgeous Red Rubin basil.

In addition to the work we’ve been doing in the fields and the greenhouses, we added more classes to the website and have organized them by category to make them easier to browse:

Cooking Classes
Ecological Design
Foraging Classes
Gardening & Farming
Wilderness Skills

Have you ever thought about insects as food?

Raising invertebrates for food and farming can be fun, entertaining and rewarding – and meet many different needs.

On May 13, join William Padilla-Brown for discussion and demonstrations as he takes us on a journey through many different invertebrates – starting with two ancient aquatic invertebrates, Brine Shrimp and Triops.

Participants will get hands-on instruction in setting up small habitats to take home with choice of crickets, roaches, mealworms, and/or Red Wiggler Worms. The course will end with a demonstration on how to cook with edible insects and participants may choose to participate in Entomophagy (the eating of insects). Space is limited. Register for MicroHerding Invertebrates today!

Thank you for your support of the Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education!

We did it! One USDA Rural Business Development Grant, hundreds of hours of labor, one Leadership York volunteer project, many sleepless nights over 18 months from start to finish, the vent stack for the propane heater was completed this morning. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this project!

Both of our greenhouses are filled with plants we are growing for our Heirloom Plant Sale to be held on Saturday, May 6. A few lucky customers will go home with one of these hanging baskets of strawberry plants. Look! They are already bearing fruit!

We are looking for a few enthusiastic volunteers to help at the plant sale. If you can help out for a couple of hours, please sign up here!

We also use the greenhouses to grow plants for our CSA members. This week we transplanted cabbage that will be part of the shares in June. The black cloth is used to help keep the weeds at bay.
Have you ever had fresh, local, nutrient-dense cabbage? It’s so sweet and tender that it seems like a different vegetable than those that can be found in the grocery store. We still have shares left. What’s in a share? In early June you could expect to get:
spinach – 4 ounces
lettuce – one head
spring onions – 3
arugula – 4 ounces
strawberries – one quart
snap peas – one quart
beets – 3
carrots – one bunch
green garlic – 3

radishes – 4
cut your own herbs

Under the row cover we’ve already planted radishes with arugula.
In late July you might receive:
heirloom tomatoes – up to 3 pounds
cherry tomatoes – one pint
hot peppers – 3
sweet peppers – 3
potatoes – one quart
lettuce- one head
watermelon – 1
green beans – 6 ounces
garlic – one head
scallions – one bunch
cut your own herbs
We still have space for you to share in the harvest! More information and registration at:
https://hornfarmcenter.org/2017-horn-farm-csa/