Say It With Flowers: Farewell to Betsy’s Flowers at the Farm
“Everything must break open in order to live. The seed must break open in order for the tree to grow. The egg must break open in order for life to emerge. The Earth must be turned and the cloud must burst. You were never meant to stay in your shell.” ― Thomas Lloyd Qualls, Painted Oxen
Betsy Dorbian first became a part of the Horn Farm in 2016 as participant in the Horn Farm Center’s internship program. As she grew her knowledge of regenerative and sustainable farming practices, so did her dream of owning a flower farm. Betsy’s dream became a reality in 2018 as an incubator farmer. Since then, Betsy has been providing beautiful, organically-grown flower bouqets through a weekly CSA and the HFC Farm Stand, along with her interpretations of “The Language of Flowers” to her customers.
As a participating farmer in the Horn Farm Center’s Annual Plant Sale, Betsy has provided local gardeners with an array of specialty flower varieties over the years. Beyond her service to her customers and HFC visitors, Betsy has been an integral part of the Horn Farm Center community. Her warm, generous nature has contributed to the success of the farm over the years.
This year, Betsy’s Flowers at the Farm is in its final season at the Horn Farm Center. To say that we will miss Betsy and her beautiful flowers at the farm is an understatement. However, we are wishing her the best in this new leg of her journey! Betsy will continue to provide flower bouquets at the HFC farm stand through the end of this season.
A Message from Betsy’s Flowers at the Farm:
“I have made the difficult, but necessary decision to compost Betsy’s Flowers at the Farm. I saw my dream through from conception to maturity, and I loved every moment of the journey. As Thomas Lloyd Qualls says in the above quote, “You were never meant to stay in your shell.” It is time for me to shed my shell and move on to my next dream!
I thank you all for your support this season and over the past 5 years. You have all been so kind with your words, emails, texts and Facebook posts!
For those of you who come to the Horn Farm Center, I plan to still show up there – to visit or to volunteer. The Farm is too much a part of my heart to just walk away.
I do have some ideas for the future in my “compost” pile. I plan to stay focused on my love of the earth and all of her wondrous gifts. I will stay in touch and keep you posted on my next “emergence”.
A special thanks to Laura Desautels. Laura has been an incredible asset to Betsy’s Flowers as well as an awesome friend. Laura brought her knowledge of native and perennial plants to our fields, and enhanced our bouquets in so many ways. Thanks and love to you, Laura!
I send you all much love and gratitude. Please feel free to stay in touch.” – Betsy
From Volunteering to 19th Century Cooking
Ellen Gibb’s journey with the Horn Farm Center began over 12 years ago in 2010 when she answered the call to help with Tomato Fest, one of the Horn Farm’s founding community events. Little did she know that her volunteer service with the Horn Farm Center would lead her to discover a new passion.
Ellen shared her story on August 8, 2022 at PechaKucha Night York.
Click the video link above to watch her presentation and learn how her passion for 19th Century Cooking was first ignited at the Horn Farm Center!
Volunteers Get Perks!
With less than a month to go until the 2022 York County Pawpaw Festival, we’re excited to share how we’ll be thanking this year’s volunteers! Our complimentary Pawpaw Fest goodies for volunteers include:
Lunch at the event
A bag o’pawpaws
A pawpaw cookbook
Pawpaw stickers
As of now, we could really use some help on day two of the festival, Sunday, September 25th! Let us know how and when you’d like to volunteer by signing up today using the link below.
Don’t forget to mark your calendar and help us spread spread the word!: hosted by the Horn Farm Center and UPMC, the 2022 York County Pawpaw Festival will take place on Saturday, September 24th and Sunday, September 25th from 10am-3pm at the Horn Farm Center.
Click here to sign up to volunteer!
Sponsor Highlight: UPMC
UPMC is inventing new models of patient-centered, cost-effective, accountable health care. As the largest nongovernmental employer in Pennsylvania, UPMC integrates more than 92,000 employees, 40 hospitals, 800 doctors’ offices and outpatient sites, and a more than 4-million-member Insurance Services Division.
In central Pennsylvania, UPMC has seven hospitals, more than 12,000 employees, and 260 primary care and specialty practices, including UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute, UPMC Magee-Womens, and UPMC Express Care.
The York County Pawpaw Festival is presented by Horn Farm Center and UPMC. UPMC is proud to be the title sponsor of our annual fundraising event and to support the mission of the Horn Farm Center.
Learn more about how UPMC serves the community at UPMC.com/CentralPa.
Click here to learn more about UPMC
Nutrient Dense Gardening
This Saturday – Let’s look at how gardeners can enhance living soils, encourage robust microbial soil food webs, and grow tastier crops!
Science has taught us that humans have indispensable microbiomes that primarily support our immune and digestive systems, and it turns out that plants are really not so different. We will explore strategies to ramp up plant health and vigor beginning with a presentation and then moving towards a more hands-on investigation of tangible ways to keep your crops happy!
Join us this Saturday, August 27th at 1:00PM for Nutrient Dense Gardening with Dale Hendricks.