Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education

CSA Newsletter – July 3

The Weekly Share

Here’s what to expect in this week’s share:

  • Beets
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers
  • Elephant Garlic
  • Garlic Scapes
  • Herbs
  • Lettuce heads
  • Radishes
  • Summer Squash

    “Michael’s garden plots are so beautifully tended and they are a welcome sight as I arrive at the farm.” Alyson Earl, Executive Director

  • Turnips

*Due to the unpredictability of weather, pest problems, and other factors produce in the weekly shares are subject to last minute changes.

Meet Your Farmers – Michael Taylor

York native Michael Taylor started a community garden plot at the Horn Farm two years ago and is now a first year intern. Michael has a career as a respiratory therapist and he spent eight years teaching exercise physiology at York College. He’s also been on his own personal health journey, losing weight and trying to be healthier. Michael became vegan, which is part of what lead him to start his community plot and grow his own vegetables. Reflecting back on that first year gardening, he says, “the weeds kicked my butt” but clearly they didn’t deter him. He delved into studying nutrition, ecology and plant science as part of his journey. In his role as a respiratory therapist, he “saw all these people suffering from lifestyle diseases.” Michael realized his own journey had equipped him with tools to help people prevent these diseases rather than treating them after the fact. He was inspired to do wellness coaching, “I can straddle clinical medicine and holistic wellness.”  Knowing wellness coaching had to include nutrition, he thought an internship on the farm would be a good place to start, to learn more. Michael is also a father, he beams when he talks about his 4 year-old daughter Marlena Lin.  Next time you see Michael at the farm stop and visit, he’s got a gift for putting one at ease and he has a wealth of knowledge to share.

News From the Farm

From Education Director – Jon Darby

You may notice that you’re receiving garlic this season much earlier than what is typical. This garlic is called ‘green garlic’ because it is fresh and uncured. This means that it will not store for as long as cured garlic and would benefit from being kept in the refrigerator. The reason the garlic is being harvested early this year is because of the arrival of a new pest in our area, the allium leaf miner. This is a type of fly that lays its eggs on the allium family of plants (garlic, onion, leeks). We don’t spray harmful pesticides on the farm and the majority of our garlic crop was affected by the allium leaf miner this year. When a new pest like this arrives, it often takes a season or two for the natural controls of the ecosystem to balance it out. In any case, what this means for you is that you may spot some slight damage on the garlic and even the occasional leaf miner pupa. You can just wash these off and use the garlic like normal. The green leaves of the garlic are edible as well and can be chopped finely and added anywhere you’d normally add garlic.

Connect and Share

What is your favorite part of your CSA share? If you have a recipe or picture you want to share, a trick you learned, or a question about your CSA produce please let us know at csa@hornfarmcenter.org.  Share on social media with the hashtag #HornFarmCSA.

CSA Newsletter – June 26

The Weekly Share

Last week’s share

Here’s what to expect in this week’s share:

  • Broccoli
  • Carrots
  • Garlic
  • Garlic Scapes
  • Herbs
  • Lettuce Heads
  • Radishes
  • Snow Peas
  • Summer Squash
  • Turnips

*Due to the unpredictability of weather, pest problems, and other factors produce in the weekly shares are subject to last minute changes.

News From the Farm

From Education Director – Jon Darby

You may notice that you’re receiving garlic this season much earlier than what is typical. This garlic is called ‘green garlic’ because it is fresh and uncured. This means that it will not store for as long as cured garlic and would benefit from being kept in the refrigerator. The reason the garlic is being harvested early this year is because of the arrival of a new pest in our area, the allium leaf miner. This is a type of fly that lays its eggs on the allium family of plants (garlic, onion, leeks). We don’t spray harmful pesticides on the farm and the majority of our garlic crop was affected by the allium leaf miner this year. When a new pest like this arrives, it often takes a season or two for the natural controls of the ecosystem to balance it out. In any case, what this means for you is that you may spot some slight damage on the garlic and even the occasional leaf miner pupa. You can just wash these off and use the garlic like normal. The green leaves of the garlic are edible as well and can be chopped finely and added anywhere you’d normally add garlic.

 

Meet Your Farmers – Betsy Dorbian

“Betsy is an inspiration to those of us who believe in following our hearts,” Alyson Earl, Executive Director

 

Betsy Dorbian is a second year intern at the Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education. She can often be found tending her flower rows on the farm. Betsy is planning to start a flower CSA next year and this year is nurturing rows of plants in preparation and experimentation. Before jumping into agriculture, Betsy spent a 25 year career as a massage therapist. In 2014, she took a month long course called the Ecological Literacy Immersion Program and it changed her trajectory. “I knew I just wanted to be outdoors.” She was introduced to Horn Farm and applied to be an intern. “It felt like home when I was here,” she says. She’s hoping that with the flower CSA she can also teach people about edible flowers and the language of flowers. It’s hard not to catch Betsy’s enthusiasm for flowers (even for an avowed non-flower person like myself), her joyful spirit and smile are contagious too. In addition to tending the flowers and her other jobs as a farm intern, Betsy teaches yoga. If you meet her at the farm ask her to show you the flower beds where bright colors are already popping up.

 

Connect and Share

What is your favorite part of your CSA share? If you have a recipe or picture you want to share, a trick you learned, or a question about your CSA produce please let us know at csa@hornfarmcenter.org.  Share on social media with the hashtag #HornFarmCSA.

Horn Farm Happenings – June 23

Land Use Management Plan Base Map

As you may know, in 2016, we were thrilled to achieve two of our dreams when the County of York (from whom the Horn Farm Center leases the farm property) agreed to extend the terms of our lease to 99 years and they also placed the 189-acre Horn Farm property in a farmland preservation program.

Also in 2016, we completed our first Land Use Management Plan which we affectionately call the LUMP. Our goal was to conduct a comprehensive inventory and gain additional knowledge about the property as it currently operates while identifying obstacles and opportunities for land use. This will allow the Horn Farm Center to allocate resources appropriately while determining multiple uses for the available land.

We spent hours walking the property and compiling data. The LUMP is a working document with a written narrative as well as maps like the one above which shows current uses of various sections of the farm. The written document includes site-specific information about:
1. Climate
2. Landform
3. Water
4. Access/Circulation (roads)
5. Vegetation and Wildlife
6. Microclimate
7. Buildings and Infrastructure
8. Zones of Use
9. Aesthetics/Experience of Place

For 2017, Horn Farm Center Executive Director Alyson Earl was named a York Federal Fellow. Her proposed project was to conduct a year-long investigation of the best examples of regenerative agriculture in the eastern United States. This project was funded by a grant from the York County Community Foundation’s York Federal Fellows Program. The Fellows Program offers outstanding nonprofit executive leaders the opportunity to spend a year developing professionally while expanding their leadership skills.

From June 23 through July 2, Alyson will be in Vermont attending a hands-on, skills-based permaculture design course focused on building resiliency and regeneration on a commercial-scale farm site roughly the size of the Horn Farm property. She is looking forward to returning with practical ideas to share about developing ways to meet human needs while participating in our ecosystems in mutually beneficial ways.

In addition to being an incubator for new farmers and beekeepers, to holding classes and workshops, to hosting 102 community garden plots, and growing delicious, fresh produce, we also consider ourselves multigenerational stewards of this land. The Horn Farm Center Board of Directors is about to enter another strategic planning process with our grandchildren’s grandchildren’s grandchildren in mind. Small changes today can make a big difference tomorrow.
sunflower perfection

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