Horn Farm Happenings – March 22, 2024
20th Anniversary “Throwback” Programs
Throughout 2024, we’re offering new and renewed programs that harken back to a popular community event from our past: Homesteading Education Day.
Embracing local resources and living in tune with nature takes a lot of forms. For many, it begins with reclaiming skills that empower us to use food and materials more resourcefully, keeping our impacts as local as possible.
Food preservation, homemade fertilizer, and fix-up jobs using shared tools are all ways we can work toward better health for our communities and environment.
Check out our spring Homesteading series below and register at the event links:
- Intro to Power Tools // Saturday, March 30, 9am-3:30pm
- Fermenting Kimchi // Saturday, March 30, 10:30am-2:30pm
- two session options available; join both for a discount!
- Foraging Focus: Stinging Nettle // Tuesday, April 9, 5-7pm
- Backyard Composting // Saturday, April 13, 2-4pm
- Weaving Wild Baskets // Sunday, April 14, 9am-1pm
- Gluten Free Bread Baking // Saturday, April 27, 10:30am-1pm
- Backyard Composting // Saturday, April 27, 2-4pm
- Understanding Your Garden Q&A // Thursday, May 9, 5-7pm
Learning & Growing at Horn Farm
As the weather warms, our greenhouse internship is in full swing! Interns have been busy with a variety of plant propagation methods, using seeds, root divisions, and stem cuttings to get hundreds of plants ready for our 12th annual Plant Sale on Saturday, May 4th (9am-3pm).
~Here’s a glimpse of last week’s work with elderberry~
Like many plants adapted to wet and disturbance-prone habitats (think streambanks and floodplains), elderberries are well-suited for rooting and growing from cuttings. With mindful branch selection from mature plants, interns pruned the elderberry patch for easy maneuvering and collected hundreds of living rods to propagate in the greenhouse.
With their showy summer blossoms and bold autumn berries, elderberries support countless insects and birds. They’re also a boon for stem-nesting bees in the winter. We too can partake in the harvest, benefitting from the berry’s incredible vitamin stores and immune-boosting properties with fresh elderberry syrup through the cold season.
Elderberry is one of the many plants that will be on offer at the Horn Farm’s spring Plant Sale! Join us on Saturday, May 4th from 9am to 3pm to welcome the growing season!
Horn Farm History: Annual Plant Sale
Back in 2013, the inaugural Plant Sale accompanied the debut of our first greenhouse, where we host the event today. Both community donations and volunteers were instrumental in making this project possible. In fact, the greenhouse was built entirely with the help of Horn Farm volunteers! The three-month build breathed new life onto the vacant foundation of the farm’s historic bank barn, which burned down in 2005.
The greenhouse has since supported the former Incubator Farms Project and Farmer Training Program, renting farmers, educational programming, and even the farmhouse fire recovery–serving as temporary classroom space for our current training programs during the winter. Now, three greenhouse interns, renting farmers, and our farm manager are hard at work greening the space once again with thousands of chemical-free plant starts for local gardeners and growers this May.
The 12th annual Horn Farm Plant Sale is sponsored by:
Click here for more info about the Horn Farm Plant Sale
Supporting Our Mission & Work
With a deep commitment to fostering financial well-being within our community, Sides Wealth Advisory Group is dedicated to supporting the regenerative mission of the Horn Farm Center!
Sides Wealth is one of York’s leading advisory firms, with business roots tracing back more than 20 years. They offer a wide variety of wealth management services and work with clients through all phases of life, including long-term planning, investment management, employer-sponsored retirement plans, and life insurance.
The Horn Farm Center partners with local businesses who believe in our mission to foster ecological learning through land stewardship, community partnership and hands-on experiences. We thank Sides Wealth Advisory Group for their partnership and support as an annual business sponsor this year.
Does your business want to make an impact by supporting the Horn Farm Center this year? Click the link below for more information.
Kilgore Family Farm CSA
Want to fill your plate with local flavor this year? Become a member of the Kilgore Family Farm CSA at the Horn Farm Center!
Kilgore Family Farm’s produce is grown organically at the Horn Farm – which means NO use of synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, or herbicides!
From June to October, CSA members receive a weekly box of seasonal, organically-grown produce. Here’s what you can expect:
- Spring: lettuces, spinach, kale, swiss chard, spring onions, beets, herbs
- Summer: kale, swiss chard, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, beets, summer squash, watermelon, cataloupe, onions, herbs, and more!
- Fall: garlic, beets, turnips, winter squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, kale, swiss chard, spinach
If you are interested in joining the Kilgore Family Farm CSA this year, please reach out to Jeremy Kilgore at kilgorefamil
Click here to learn more.
Small Change. Big Difference.
Did you know that you can choose to “round up for charity” when you shop at Lemon Street Market in downtown Lancaster? During the months of March & April, all donations will go to support the Horn Farm Center!
Customers can also choose to increase their at-the-register donation by adding to their round up value.
Lemon Street Market is a full-service grocery store located just off the corner of Mulberry and Lemon Street in Lancaster City. The store focuses on sustainable and healthy living, with many local, organic, vegan, and gluten-free options.
A big thanks to Lemon Street Market for supporting the Horn Farm Center!
Click here to Learn More
Foraging: More than Finding Wild Foods
Through foraging, we can rekindle our ancient relationship with the land and root ourselves more deeply in a sense of home. We can learn about the seasons, needs, and lessons of local ecosystems while enjoying, tending, and sharing their gifts.
This May and June, the Horn Farm Center is offering an 8-week Forager Training Program led by experienced foraging educator Jon Darby.
From “weeds” to trees, this course will provide foundational knowledge for those interested in beginning (or deepening) their path towards building a relationship with the land, incorporating wild plants into their everyday life, and gaining the knowledge to confidently share with others.
Included among the program topics are:
- Plant observation and ID,
- Basic botany,
- Harvesting, processing, cooking, and tasting,
- Medicinal and alternative uses,
- Safety and ethics, and more!
The Forager Training Program begins on Thursday, May 2nd, with classes being held on consecutive Thursday evenings until June 20th. See the program webpage for more details about the class schedule.
SPACES ARE VERY LIMITED, so register soon to join our most immersive foraging experience!
Register for 2024 Forager Training Program
