Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education

Horn Farm Happenings – March 21, 2025

April 2, 2025 Happenings

Last Chance for Live Stakes: Order by March 24th

This weekend is your last chance to purchase live stakes from Horn Farm until 2026. Don’t delay, order today. Your local ecosystem will thank you!

Why such a short sale window? Due to the nature of live stakes, there is an optimal time to harvest (when the tree or shrub is still in its winter dormancy), and an optimal time to plant (when it’s still the “dormant” season, and the ground is soft enough to plant, no longer frozen).

The species we have available are mainly native to wetland and streamside ecosystems, and their adaptations to this type of environment allow them to re-root readily, even from small “cuttings” or live stakes. Besides being beautiful, they are also resilient!

Horn Farm Center is Breaking Ground on Saturday, March 29th!

We’ve reached an important milestone and we want to share it with you! Please join us as we break ground on the new Education Center at the Horn Farm. 

Date: March 29, 2025
Time: 10AM-11:30AM
Location: 4945 Horn Road
York, PA 17406

Come celebrate the beginning of the farmhouse rebuild with key stakeholders, community leaders, and special guests, as we continue to raise funds and realize the creation of a beautiful, spacious educational center for everyone in this region.

Your presence would mean a great deal to us as we embark on this journey. We look forward to celebrating this milestone with you!

More Information & RSVP

Community, Learning, & Live Stakes

New members of our Community Crew Volunteer Program spent their Saturday touring the farm, learning about our work, and getting their hands dirty while harvesting live stakes! Now that our new “crew” members are trained up, we’ve welcomed them to the Horn Farm ecosystem where they will learn and work with us to steward the land and make our educational offerings the best they can be!

Crew members collected hundreds of live stakes to support local restoration efforts. Some stakes will even be propagated and sold at our Plant Sale on May 3rd! But there’s no need to wait for planting: our LIVE STAKE SALE continues between now and Monday, March 24th!

From restoring streamways to building biodiversity in home and community landscaping, live stakes are an incredible tool for rewilding the spaces around us. Cuttings from wetland-adapted species can form roots when “staked” into the ground, eventually growing into new plants. The species we have available include:

  • Black willow (Salix nigra)
  • Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea)
  • Silky dogwood (Cornus amomum)
  • American black elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)
  • Smooth alder (Alnus serrulata)
  • American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)
  • Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
  • Arrowwood Viburnum (Viburnum dentatum)
  • Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius)

The best time to harvest and plant is the end of the winter, when the ground is thawing but the plants have not yet broken dormancy. Join us in supporting thriving ecosystems across our local landscapes, one stick at a time!

To learn more about the Horn Farm Center’s live stakes and riparian buffer restoration efforts, check out our blog. It’s all part of our work to bring together ecological healing, local agriculture, and community education!

Learn to Grow Food Regeneratively

When we reclaim our skills to grow food, self-sufficiency is just the beginning. Gardeners, community growers, and small-scale farmers can be healers: nurturing healthier, richer crops, communities, and ecosystems.

Interested in rekindling your connection with the homegrown and hand-gathered? We are now accepting applications for Horn Farm Center’s new Regenerative Grower Training Program. Applications CLOSE at 12AM on May 7th!

Designed for anyone who is passionate about deepening their relationship with nature and food, the Regenerative Grower Training Program focuses on simple, low-tech, and eco-friendly methods that work on a human scale. This program embodies the Horn Farm Center’s commitment to bringing together place-based agriculture and ecological restoration, demonstrating how growing food and healing the land can go hand in hand.

Join us in the field this season for 22 weeks of hands-on learning, meaningful tending, and joyous connection – Tuesdays and Fridays from May to October, 2025.

Apply for the Regenerative Grower Training Program

Dig Into Spring Gardening

After a long and frigid winter, who isn’t looking forward to soaking in some sun and getting their hands back in the soil?

Home gardening offers an opportunity to connect with the land and ourselves, grow healthy food, and incorporate more movement into our daily routine. We’ve got a bounty of spring gardening workshops taking root to ensure your success this growing season:

And, if you’re ready to turn your learning into action on the land, make sure to SAVE THE DATE for our 13th Annual Plant Sale on Saturday, May 3rd from 9am-3pm.

Register for Upcoming Gardening Classes

Foraging the Riverlands with Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association

Horn Farm Center is teaming up with Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association to host a unique learning event on Wednesday, March 26th! 

Explore the links between local edible plants and pressing issues facing our riverland ecosystem during a “foraging walk and river talk” at Riverfront Park in Wrightsville. Learn safe plant identification, harvesting, and consumption. Afterward, head to LSRA’s new headquarters on Front St. for snacks, wild teas, and discussions on protecting the Susquehanna’s land and waters. This event highlights the connection between foraging and advocating for the environment.

Program cost includes food, local craft beverages, and a tip towards our fight for CLEAN WATER! All proceeds benefit Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association & Horn Farm Center.

Pre-registration recommended. Walk-ins accepted only if space is available.