The Season for Giving & Gratitude
While there’s gratitude to be had in all the seasons, autumn is especially ripe with abundance and thanks. That’s why this past weekend at the Horn Farm Center felt so right: gratitude abounding!In our Fall Foraging Foundations Intensive, 10 students made acquaintance with seasonal wild foods and medicines like dandelion, stinging nettle, amaranth, and ground ivy. With hands in the dirt, weeds became gifts, and the landscape felt a little more like home.
We also hosted over 50 donors for a special get-together, touring the progress in our agroforestry demonstration spaces while sharing our vision for an even-more regenerative future at the Horn Farm. Donors enjoyed an educational walk around the farm, seasonal refreshments, and storytelling, all on a perfect autumn evening.
In this season of gratitude, we’re so thankful for all of the folks who make our work possible! After all, it takes a village to uplift ecological education, land stewardship, and revitalizing connection to the earth like we strive to do. Thank you!
Looking for a way to help our ecosystem thrive? Mark your calendar for Lancaster ExtraGive – next Friday, November 22nd – when you can double your impact by donating to help us build our new education center!
“Being a part of HFC has been life-changing…. I was able to find like minded people who truly appreciate Nature’s beauty and have created achievable ways to design and impact our own spaces…
The Ecological Gardening class at Horn Farm adds invaluable knowledge to anyone interested in helping restore natural habitats.”
– SC Wharton, 2023 Program Participant
Be the Change in Your Community: 2025 Ecological Gardener Training
Entering its fourth year, the Ecological Gardener Training Program with Waxwing EcoWorks has empowered dozens of community members with the knowledge, tools, and compassion to help nature thrive at home and in their community.
From your own backyard to the wild spaces next door, the Ecological Gardener Training Program is an invitation into the world of designing and caring for beautiful, ecologically-friendly gardens that support wildlife, bees, and beneficial insects – in the spaces where we need it the most!
This 16-week course runs once a week from February to May and provides classroom education and hands-on training with a cohort of like-minded individuals.
Join the movement to restore and revitalize the spaces we live, work, and play with the 2025 Ecological Gardener Training Program at the Horn Farm Center.
Apply today, spaces are filling fast!
Help Us Meet an Extraordinary Need for Lancaster ExtraGive
This fall marked 3 years since lightning struck our farmhouse, damaging it by fire.
While the road to recovery has been challenging, we haven’t let our work be defined by this tragedy. We’ve continued to carry out our mission of connecting people with the land: expanding our programs, multiplying our restoration efforts, and enriching the lives of folks in our community even without an operable building.
Now, after years of recuperation, design, and fundraising, a new education center is finally within reach. The renovated farmhouse will center our community, serving as a versatile and accommodating educational facility unlike anything we’ve seen at the Horn Farm Center.
Next Friday, November 22nd, you’ll have the opportunity to double your impact during ExtraGive when you donate to help bridge our funding gap and build a new education center at the Horn Farm .
Click here to learn more
Learn the Art of Beekeeping
Keeping bees is an amazing experience with sweet rewards! This time-honored craft supports community pollination, food supplies, and much-needed bee populations in our local ecosystems.
Beekeeping can also provide a multitude of personal benefits: honey, beeswax, and pollen, all of which can support a small business or simply your own household use.
Next year, we are hosting our 10th Beekeeper Training Program at the Horn Farm Center. Taught by professional apiarist Mark Gingrich, the program explores all aspects of beekeeping from the science behind this fascinating practice to managing a hive at home.
Learn alongside a community of budding beekeepers, diving deep into all aspects of the practice. The program is held once a month from January-October.
At the end of the first year, you will take home your own bee colony. In year two, you’ll have the option to further grow your skills with advanced techniques.
Register now to join next year’s cohort of beekeepers. The 2025 Beekeeping program begins on January 22, 2025
A Few Spots Left: Eco-Restoration Program
Join us this winter for our Ecological Restoration Certificate: a three-week, hands-on workshop series where you’ll learn how to partner with nature and restore degraded ecosystems.
Taught by Waxwing EcoWorks and Reviving Wisdom, this program is an essential resource for professionals, volunteers, and homeowners aiming to advance environmental conservation. It offers practical stewardship skills for impactful ecological restoration.
Topics covered include: site assessment, nature-inspired planning, project implementation, and lifelong sustainable practices.
This program runs for 6-8 hours on three Saturdays in winter:
- December 14, 2024, 9am-3pm
- January 11, 2025, 9am-5pm
- January 25, 2025, 9am-3pm
Become an active, compassionate steward of the local landscape! We only have a few spaces left – register soon!
Register Now
Crafting Holiday Fun at the Horn Farm
The holiday season is a perfect time to connect and learn with friends and nature.
Join us at the Horn Farm Center for our Saturday kitchen classes! From baking to hand-made holiday gifts, these guided get-togethers in the kitchen are sure to spark your sense of community and creativity.
- Gluten-Free Sweet Breads & Cookies
- Saturday, November 30 | 10:30am-1pm
- DIY Holiday Gifts from the Kitchen
- Saturday, December 14 | 10:30am-1pm
- Guilt-Free Desserts for the New Year
- Saturday, December 28 | 10:30am-1pm
Let’s gather around the hearth to share warmth and learning with one another!