Planting Seeds of Resilience
“What would happen if, instead of planting individual trees, we approximated a forest? What if success hinged not on human tending but on trees tending, urging, and animating each other?”
Since 2018, mini-forests following the Miyawaki method have been taking shape at the Horn Farm Center. Today, over a dozen plots across our restoration landscape are flourishing with 30+ native canopy, understory, and shrub species, reviving biodiversity at an extraordinary pace.
So what is the Miyawaki method? How has it informed alternative approaches to ecosystem renewal at the Horn Farm? And why is it so promising as a process for restoring biodiversity while reawakening our sense of place on the landscape?
The latest installment of the Horn Farm Ecosystem blog series digs deep into the Miyawaki method, tracing its origins, necessity, process, and outcomes while inviting you to experience the “big tiny” forests we’re bringing to life!
Get Your Free Ticket to Pawpaw Fest!
Tickets are now on sale for the 2023 York County Pawpaw Festival, held on September 23rd and 24th at the Horn Farm Center!
So how do you get a free ticket? Sign up to volunteer! From admission to activities to parking and pawpaw purchases, we’re seeking volunteer support to help make our celebration of York County’s wild and uncommon a success!
As a volunteer, you’ll benefit from free admission to BOTH festival days, lunch, and a goodie bag. FULL DAY volunteers will also enjoy PRIORITY ACCESS to purchase pawpaws before doors open to regular attendees!
Consider joining our volunteer team to help us enhance this truly local and unique experience!
The 2023 Pawpaw Festival is presented by the Horn Farm Center and Explore York.
Sign up to volunteer
The Horn Farm Board of Directors volunteer to serve as the governing body of the organization. They establish the mission and purpose, ensure adequate resources, and provide oversight.
Horn Farm Center is seeking new board members for 2024, especially those with a background in finance, accounting, law, technology, or fundraising.
The major responsibilities of board members include:
- Establish and advise leadership
- Oversee governance policies of the organization-not the day-to-day operations
- Provide financial management including adoption and oversight of the annual budget
- Promote the organization to external audiences
- Conduct fundraising and outreach
What Homesteading Skills Do You Want to Learn?
From 2013-2016, Horn Farm Center hosted a popular educational program called Homestead Education Day. This day-long event included demonstrations, talks, and workshops focused on teaching common and forgotten homesteading skills.
In celebration of our 20th Anniversary next year, we are hosting a “throwback” Homestead Education Day on Saturday, June 22, 2024.
As we prepare to revitalize this program, we want to hear from you!
Let us know what homesteading skills you would like to learn at the 2024 Homestead Education Day by filling out the survey linked below.
Click here to take the survey.
Sponsor Highlight: 7group
7group is a long-time supporter of the Horn Farm Center! From Give Local York and Pawpaw Festival to our facilities and rebuilding efforts, 7group has been a partner in accomplishing our mission. This year, 7group is ensuring that you can explore regenerative programming at Horn Farm Center by sponsoring the York County Pawpaw Festival!
7group began more than 20 years ago to help to change how American builders, designers, architects, and owners understood the built environment as sustainable. When they worked on creating the U.S. Green Building Council LEED certification program, they knew that it was the first step towards true sustainability, but not the last.
Together with their clients and colleagues, 7group has been imagining a different way to understand how humans, their built environment, and the natural world around us all live and breathe with each other.
Learning the Language of Plants
How do plants communicate with us? What can we gather about their nutritional, medicinal, and ecological values through observing shapes, scents, tastes, and more?
Discover the secret language of plants through intuitive observation during a day-long workshop led by special guest instructor and herbalist, Alyssa Dennis of Eclipta Herbal.
As a way to fully engage the topic of plant language, we will focus on Goldenrod, which grows in abundance at Horn Farm. After exploring the plant’s ideal habitat and growth cycle, we will harvest and prepare a Goldenrod herbal tincture for each participant to bring home.
Dig deep into the multi-sensory wisdom of plant language with a day of foraging, medicinal tincture-making, and hands-on learning!
Fall Container Gardening for Pollinators
Did you know migratory birds and butterflies fly 100+ miles per day? Making that journey requires a lot of fuel and stamina! But what can we do to ensure that our avian and insect friends get to their destination safely?
Join Pollinator Steward, Heather Andrews, at the Horn Farm Center to learn about the migrating creatures and how we can create our own sun or shade planting this fall to help them sustain their long flights.
Learn how to create a pollinator garden using just 3 plants for sun or shade that will be attractive to migratory butterflies or hummingbirds. We will create 2 demonstration pots- and you will select plants to take home to create your own!