Thank You for Growing with Us!

This week, we’re sharing a flowery bouquet of gratitude for our community! We’re so thankful for the incredible support we received during our Spring Plant Sale and Give Local York!

On sunny Saturday, May 3rd, we welcomed hundreds of local gardeners to the Horn Farm to shop and enjoy at our 13th Annual Plant Sale. There’s nothing sweeter than watching people come together to celebrate and share in the abundance of local, organically-grown plants. With every purchase, you helped sow seeds for a thriving educational landscape here at the farm.

In addition to the joyful energy of the Plant Sale, our community showed up in a big way for Give Local York. In just 24 hours, friends like you helped us raise $23,365 – 67% of our $35,000 goal! We are incredibly grateful for every gift, share, and show of support.

Thanks to your generosity, we’re building strong momentum for Farming Like an Ecosystem with our new Agroforestry program in the season ahead. And the good news doesn’t stop there – our Board of Directors has extended their $10,000 match through the end of May. We have $4,245 in matching funds left, so there’s still time to double your impact and help us reach our goal!

A special thanks to our Board of Directors for their $10,000 match and to our annual sponsors who helped make both events possible:

Whether you shopped for plants, spread the word, or made a donation, you helped us raise vital funds for another season of regenerative land stewardship and community education. Thank you for being part of the Horn Farm community—we couldn’t do this work without you!

Donate to Double Your Impact

Spring Learning in Bloom

Springtime energy is in full bloom across the Horn Farm Center’s teaching landscape! As leaves unfurl and flowers blossom, we’ve been thrilled to see so many of you out on the land—tending, learning, and connecting with nature.

Here are a few recent highlights:

Ecological Gardeners | Students in our 2025 Ecological Gardener Training Program with Waxwing EcoWorks Co. are hard at work designing a new planting space. Recently, they got their hands dirty tending pollinator gardens planted by a previous cohort—removing weeds and trimming back last year’s flower stalks to spread seeds and make room for new growth.

Greenhouse Interns | Even while caring for thousands of seedlings for our Spring Plant Sale, our amazing interns found time to help in the field—prepping beds and doing some planting themselves! They tucked in root divisions of cutleaf coneflower (also known as “sochan” by the Cherokee), an edible perennial now growing beneath mulberries and cherries in our Forest Garden demonstration field. These plants are helping to expand one of our many agroforestry systems and honoring the traditional knowledge of the Indigenous people who’ve long stewarded this land.

Foragers-in-Training | This week kicked off our Forager Training Program—just in time to start observing and identifying wild plants! From sketching and studying to comparing lookalikes, our new cohort is beginning to build the skills they’ll need to safely harvest and care for edible plants. We’re excited for the next seven weeks of exploration through the ecosystems of the Horn Farm!

Save the Date: June 21, 2025

Celebrate the height of the growing season at the Horn Farm Center’s first-ever Summer Solstice Farm Market!

Join us for a day of seasonal abundance and fun featuring fresh produce, native plants, artisan goods, local vendors, and land-based experiences – all set against the beauty of the summer solstice. It’s more than a market, it’s a celebration of community, resilience, and connection to the land.

Stay tuned for vendor announcements and special activities—we can’t wait to see you at the farm this summer!

Learn More About Solstice Market

Last Chance to Apply: One Spot Left!

Are you ready to take the next step in your journey as a land steward, grower, or ecological farmer? Applications are closing soon for the 2025 Regenerative Grower Training Program at Horn Farm Center!

This immersive, hands-on program is designed for aspiring growers who want to build practical skills in sustainable agriculture, soil health, and ecological growing practices—right here on the land. Whether you’re dreaming of a garden, a farm, or a future rooted in food and community, this program will equip you with the knowledge and experience to grow with confidence.

Apply Today – the Regenerative Grower Training begins on Tuesday, May 20th!

Horn Farm Happenings – May 9, 2025