Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education

2016 – Restoring the Hearth

Summer Kitchen Ribbon Cutting

What a year! We will be taking a two week break–closing the office from now until the end of the year. Before we do, I want to share with you some of the highlights of 2016. In a world filled with news of tragedy and destruction, we’ve been quietly building a foundation for our community’s future. Grants from WellSpan and the U.S. Department of Agriculture helped to underwrite the restoration of our summer kitchen. It took almost nine years and more than 2,400 volunteer hours to convert an 1830s building into a licensed kitchen. We celebrated on November 9 with a ribbon cutting ceremony pictured above. We think of our summer kitchen with its wood burning squirrel tail oven as the hearth of the farm. When we look at the word ‘hearth’, we find both the words ‘heart’ and ‘earth’ contained within it, and those two words sum up our values: love of the Earth and each other. Now that the kitchen has been restored, we can gather there for the preparation of food once more.  In the first month, we held workshops on Bread Baking Basics and Vegetable Fermentation. Up next is Bread Baking 201 in January. Many more classes and events are in the works for 2017. Look for details on our website and our Facebook page.

Love Carved into the Floorboards

Other 2016 milestones:

  • The York County Commissioners extended our lease of the Horn Farm property to 99 years!
  • A conservation easement is being placed on the 189-acre Horn Farm property thus guaranteeing it will be a farm forever!
  • We completed an assessment of the entire property and created a Land Use Management Plan.
  • We built a second greenhouse.
  • For the first time, we offered a Farming Internship, and we had the privilege of working with Andrew, Betsy, Joshua, and Miranda from April through October.
2016 Farming Interns

L to R: Andrew, Education Director Jon Darby, Joshua, Betsy, and Miranda

Remember to sign up for your 2017 CSA share before January 30th to get the discounted price.

Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers, friends of the Horn Farm, and to those who supported our work with their financial contributions. We wouldn’t be here without you! If you’d like to support our work, please donate now!

 

Horn Farm Welcomes New Board Members

New Board members Wade Keech, Kristy Byrnes Baker, Kris Tebay

The Board of Directors of the Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education is pleased to announce the appointment of three new board members. Each was appointed to a three-year term.

Kristin Byrnes Baker returned to her hometown of York after living in North Carolina, Texas, and abroad. She is co-founder of CoWork155, a co-working site in downtown York and a works as a freelance grant writer. She holds a BS in Business Administration from Elon University. She is a volunteer at United Parish Soccer Club, St. Joseph School, YWCA, and an auxiliary for Children, Youth and Family Services. She had a community garden plot at the Horn Farm in the inaugural season. After that, she had a work share for several years at Sterling Farm, one of the first farms in the Horn Farm”s Incubator Farm Project. She is passionate about expanding her knowledge of restorative farming practices.

Kris Tebay has practiced as a registered landscape architect. In this capacity, she has been able to guide and influence natural and built environments as they were created, modified and/or restored. Her work has focused on institutional and campus communities, senior assisted care, urban redevelopment, and private residential design. Areas of current interest include food source availability for wildlife biodiversity, soil science, invasive species management, and riparian geomorphology restoration.Kris resides in Hellam Township with two teenage sons and her husband, Jeff, a retired soldier and historian. She has been an active member of the Hellam Township Environmental Advisory Council since 2013. Prior to coming to York, Kris volunteered with several urban community organizations, facilitating park, playground and streetscape planning, grant applications and implementation. A lifelong visual artist, Kris is comfortable in various illustration mediums and digital design programs. She often uses visual tools to portray ideas, convey information and explore beauty.
Personal interests include visiting local nurseries, gardening, kayaking and playing outdoors–often with Irish Jack Russells in tow. As the parent of a young traumatic brain injury survivor, there is also an ongoing exploration of adaptive sports and employment, rehabilitation and living opportunities for disabled young adults.

Wade Keech was raised on a farm in Adams County. His childhood experiences lead to his love of the land.He has a B.S. degree in chemistry from Millersville University and a MBA in Sustainable Business Systems from Pinchot University. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana and lived in West Africa for almost seven years. These cross cultural experiences deepened his appreciation for the simple life. He fulfilled a childhood dream by hiking the entire Appalachian Trail. This wilderness immersion led to hiking the entire Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail.

Bread Baking Basics – November 17

bread loaf on stone hearth

Come spend time in our newly renovated Summer Kitchen and learn the basics of making white yeast bread with the added advantage of tasting bread baked in an authentic German type wood fired brick Squirrel Tail oven.

On Thursday, November 17 from 6 to 8 p.m., we’ll provide a general introduction to bread ingredients – yeast, flour, water, salt, and make dough for you to take home.

We will bake dough that was started in both types of ovens – brick and conventional, talk about the no knead dough recipes, eat bread and enjoy conversation. You’ll take home your own loaf of bread dough with recipe and instructions.

Class will be led by Ellen Gibb and Gary Jones. Ellen and Gary are Horn Farm Center Board Members, long-time volunteers, and the driving force behind our Squirrel Tail Oven and Summer Kitchen revitalization project.

Fee includes all baking supplies and take-home materials. Please wear closed toe shoes, tie hair back or wear a hat, and bring an apron if you have one. Click here to register: https://hornfarmcenter.org/summer-kitchen-bread-baking-basics