Spring in the Northern Hemisphere begins when our sun (as viewed from the earth) enters the constellation Aries. The sun will travel through the constellations Aries, Taurus, and Gemini before the sun enters the constellation Cancer and summer begins at the solstice on June 21 this year. (We will be celebrating with our Cycle the Solstice event. Check it out!) Last Sunday, May 6, marked the half way point between spring and summer when the sun reached 15 degrees of Taurus. (Each of the twelve constellations has 30 degrees as the cycle/circle/wheel of the year has 360 degrees).

Everything on the farm follows cycles.  And this week marks the end of our plant selling season. Thank you to everyone who came out on May 4 to find plants for their gardens and to support the Horn Farm Center! This weekend is your last chance to get Horn Farm plants at the MAEscapes plant sale tomorrow, May 11 from 8:30 to 2 at the York County Annex, 112 Pleasant Acres Road, York.

Speaking of last chances, our Herbal intensive begins next Saturday, May 18, and there is still space for you!

Photo: Michelle Johnsen

Join us for 14 full-day sessions over 7 weekends to delve into the world of herbalism from May through November. This course will cover the foundations of herbalism, medicinal herb gardening, processing and preserving, and making plant remedies. Find  out more!

Plant sales may be drawing to a close for the year, but we are about to jump into CSA season! The first pick up day is Tuesday, June 4 at the farm. Check out the following offerings:
2019 Horn Farm Vegetable CSA
Betsy’s Flowers at the Farm Flower CSA
Hippy Homestead Gourmet Mushroom CSA
Chicken CSA through Mirror Image Farms
Rising Locust Farm Meat, Egg, Shiitake CSA
Sentient Sisterhood Wild Foods & Medicine CSA

With CSA season upon us, we’ve also started looking for volunteers to be part of our Tuesday Evening Farm Crew. Ready to get your hands in the soil? We could use your help on the farm between 4 and 7 on Tuesday evenings. Join Field Manager Andrew Horn for some good old physical labor! Planting, harvesting, weeding, mulching are always needed on the farm, and many hands make light work! Join us for any or all of the three hours. Please pre-register so we know to expect you!

Upcoming events:
May 11 – MAEscapes Native Plant Sale
May 14 – Tuesday Evening Farm Crew
May 18 – Herbal Intensive
May 19 – Healing Power of Plants (Children’s Discovery Series)
May 19 – Mushroom Cultivation
May 21 – Tuesday Evening Farm Crew
May 26 – Seed to Table (Children’s Discovery Series)
June 1 – Introduction to Plant Communication
June 22 – Cycle the Solstice
June 29 – Raising Insects for Food and Farm
July 18 – Where the Wild Things Grow (Youth Program)
July 23 – Introduction to Canning: Peach Jam
July 29 to 31 – Building Backyard Habitats (Junior Naturalist Training)
July 29 to 31 – Building Community Habitats (Junior Naturalist Training)
August 8 – Introduction to Canning: Tomato Sauce
August 20 – Roasted Vegetables
September 10 – Introduction to Canning: Applesauce
September 28/29 – Pawpaw Festival
October 12 – Bread: Rising to the Next Level

2019 Horn Farm Vegetable CSA
Betsy’s Flowers at the Farm Flower CSA
Hippy Homestead Gourmet Mushroom CSA
Chicken CSA through Mirror Image Farms
Rising Locust Farm Meat, Egg, Shiitake CSA
Sentient Sisterhood Wild Foods & Medicine CSA
Regenerative Farming Internship
Woodland Steward Training Program
Herbal Intensive
Foraging Intensive

See you at the farm!

Today’s the day to give where you live! Together, we can support causes across our community that will impact local kids and families, education, housing, and healthcare, our environment and economic development, the arts, history, culture and more. When we all give local, we make a huge impact. On May 3, we can all be philanthropists! Give Local York

And tomorrow is the Heirloom Plant Sale! From 9 to 3, rain or shine. We’ve been growing the plants for your garden!

Vegetables, flowers, herbs, and more! Most plants are priced at $3. Cash, check, debit/credit cards are all welcome. Bring boxes to transport your seedlings. See you then!

If you’d love to fill your medicine cabinet and kitchen cupboards with plant based medicines, check out the Build Your Own Apothecary CSA Share offered by Sentient Sisterhood.

Each monthly share will include the following offerings:
One Household Item, for example a cleaning spray, body product or herbal candle
One Topical Medicinal, for example a joint pain rub, splinter drawing salve or itch healing balm.
One Oral Medicinal Elixir, for example Elderberry Cold & Flu Syrup, Sweet Slumber Syrup, Herbal Allergy Elixir
One Wild Food, for example a spring greens pesto, a foraged miso mushroom spread, a wild berry jam
One Medicinal Cooking Ingredient, for example a mushroom seasoning blend, Nettle & Wild Garlic Cooking oil, Wild Greens Salad Dressing

All items will come in reusable jars which can be returned for credit towards her Etsy shop! If you are interested, sign up soon as registration ends May 13!

Upcoming events:
May 3 – Give Local York
May 4 – Heirloom Plant Sale
May 5 – Little Footprints (Children’s Discovery Series)
May 11 – MAEscapes Native Plant Sale
May 19 – Healing Power of Plants (Children’s Discovery Series)
May 18 – Herbal Intensive
May 19 – Mushroom Cultivation
May 26 – Seed to Table (Children’s Discovery Series)
June 1 – Introduction to Plant Communication
June 22 – Cycle the Solstice
June 29 – Raising Insects for Food and Farm
July 18 – Where the Wild Things Grow (Youth Program)
July 23 – Introduction to Canning: Peach Jam
July 29 to 31 – Building Backyard Habitats (Junior Naturalist Training)
July 29 to 31 – Building Community Habitats (Junior Naturalist Training)
August 8 – Introduction to Canning: Tomato Sauce
August 20 – Roasted Vegetables
September 10 – Introduction to Canning: Applesauce
September 28/29 – Pawpaw Festival
October 12 – Bread: Rising to the Next Level

2019 Horn Farm Vegetable CSA
Betsy’s Flowers at the Farm Flower CSA
Hippy Homestead Gourmet Mushroom CSA
Chicken CSA through Mirror Image Farms
Rising Locust Farm Meat, Egg, Shiitake CSA
Sentient Sisterhood Wild Foods & Medicine CSA
Regenerative Farming Internship
Woodland Steward Training Program
Herbal Intensive
Foraging Intensive

See you at the farm!

Engaging regularly with the natural world is especially important for the development of healthy children. There are well-documented psychological, physical, and mental benefits of playing outdoors, especially in wild spaces. We have a farm and wild spaces and we’d like to share them with you and your children!

Our Children’s Discovery Series for kids age 6 to 12 starts this Sunday with Nature Exploration. Come on a short hiking exploration to observe, hear, and feel the natural environment and sense that we are a part of nature! Play an investigative game of what things in our environment might be trying to tell us.  We will talk about the interconnected web of life, the trees, water, bugs, wildlife, and sunlight and the importance of all of these elements to life (including ours). We will also get our hands in the dirt for some planting, gaining an understanding of how nature can support us and doing our best to provide a life-sustaining environment for the plants.

On May 5, join us for Little Footprints.  What does it mean to leave no trace and why is it even important?  Examine what seemingly small things in our environment could actually be full habitats and how we can interact with them in a non-disruptive way.  We will be picking up some muddy rocks and sifting through some dirt for this one, please dress appropriately. We will also look for bugs and worms in the garden and discuss how things that sometimes seem yucky can actually be important to sustaining life.

On May 19 we’ll be investigating the Healing Power of Plants. Explore the healing powers of plants: trees, flowers, and more!  Be prepared, you might be asked to hug a tree! Children will be encouraged to experience the vibrational energy of the flowers that grow on Horn Farm in a variety of colors and shapes!  A game will be played to illustrate how this energy affects us and how we can share it with one another as we interact! We will also explore the healing nature of herbs and even create an herbal salve based on what is available at the time.  We take care to harvest all herbs in a way that is life-sustaining to the plant and children leave with the understanding that we can use these natural resources without depleting them.

On May 26 we will be exploring where our food comes from–and it’s not the grocery store! Seed to Table Come harvest and prepare some yummy and nutritional snacks for yourself!  Kimber will use her skills as a former Executive Chef to guide kids through the preparation of a snack they will enjoy!  All ingredients will be harvested in a way that is careful not to harm the plant, and we will talk about how nurturing the plants comes back to us.  Kids will also get to plant some herbal seeds of their own to take home.

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Photo: Michelle Johnsen

What is an apothecary? Traditionally an apothecary was the person who prepared medicines. That role has, in large part, been supplanted by the pharmacist. Apothecary comes from the Greek word apothēkē which means storehouse. You might think of your medicine cabinet and what you keep there as a modern day apothecary. Since we know that food can be medicine, you might also think of what’s in your kitchen cupboards as part of your apothecary. Many prescription medicines are derived from plants. The knowledge of plants and their medicinal uses has largely been lost to we moderns, but it can be regained. The Horn Farm Herbal Intensive course is an invitation to do just that. It is an invitation to re-enter the world of plants and their medicinal uses, to regain the knowledge that was once shared by everyone and hopefully one day will be again.

If you’d love to fill your medicine cabinet and kitchen cupboards with plant based medicines, check out the Build Your Own Apothecary CSA Share offered by Sentient Sisterhood. If you are interested, sign up soon as registration ends May 13!

Upcoming events:
April 27 – Introduction to Lacto-Fermentation
April 27 – Foraging – Spring Greens
April 28 – Nature Exploration (Children’s Discovery Series)
May 3 – Give Local York
May 4 – Heirloom Plant Sale
May 5 – Little Footprints (Children’s Discovery Series)
May 11 – MAEscapes Native Plant Sale
May 19 – Healing Power of Plants (Children’s Discovery Series)
May 18 – Herbal Intensive
May 19 – Mushroom Cultivation
May 26 – Seed to Table (Children’s Discovery Series)
June 1 – Introduction to Plant Communication
June 22 – Cycle the Solstice
June 29 – Raising Insects for Food and Farm
July 18 – Where the Wild Things Grow (Youth Program)
July 23 – Introduction to Canning: Peach Jam
July 29 to 31 – Building Backyard Habitats (Junior Naturalist Training)
July 29 to 31 – Building Community Habitats (Junior Naturalist Training)
August 8 – Introduction to Canning: Tomato Sauce
August 20 – Roasted Vegetables
September 10 – Introduction to Canning: Applesauce
September 28/29 – Pawpaw Festival
October 12 – Bread: Rising to the Next Level

2019 Horn Farm Vegetable CSA
Betsy’s Flowers at the Farm Flower CSA
Hippy Homestead Gourmet Mushroom CSA
Chicken CSA through Mirror Image Farms
Rising Locust Farm Meat, Egg, Shiitake CSA
Sentient Sisterhood Wild Foods & Medicine CSA
Regenerative Farming Internship
Woodland Steward Training Program
Herbal Intensive
Foraging Intensive

See you at the farm!