Don’t Miss Pawpaw-Palooza at Pawpaw Fest!
This weekend – celebrate local food and regenerative agriculture at the 18th annual York County Pawpaw Festival, presented by the Horn Farm Center and UPMC!
The York County Pawpaw Festival, held on September 24 & 25, 2022 from 10:00am-3:00pm at the Horn Farm Center, is an outdoor, family-friendly festival and fundraiser highlighting York County’s beloved pawpaw.
The main attractions of the event are the pawpaw fruit – both wild and cultivated varieties – and pawpaw trees, which will be available for purchase. Other pawpaw related items will be available including pawpaw cookbooks, books, t-shirts, and food items. In addition, the festival will feature local food vendors, artisans, and community organizations. Fresh produce from the Horn Farm, native plants, jams, jellies, honey, and more will be for sale.
Visitors can enjoy tours of the Horn Farm Center and pawpaw orchard each day of the festival at 11:00am, 12:30pm, and 1:30pm. The 12:30pm tour will be kid-focused!
The York County Pawpaw Festival is part of York County Watershed Week in partnership with the Watershed Alliance of York.
A $5.00 donation to the Horn Farm Center is requested at the door. All proceeds support local regenerative agriculture and educational programs at the Horn Farm Center.
This event will be held rain or shine. All pawpaws, produce, and products will be available while supplies last.
The 2022 Pawpaw Festival is supported by local businesses who believe in our mission. We thank the following sponsors for supporting regenerative agriculture and education at the Horn Farm Center:
- UMPC (Title Sponsor)
- 7group
- Richards Energy Group
- Natural Awakenings – Lancaster/Berks and South Central
- John Wright Restaurant
- The Wenger Group
- Rutter’s
- York County Solid Waste Authority
The Pawpaw Fest Raffle is also supported by:
- Shank’s Mare
- Wegmans
- Stauffer’s of Kissel Hill
- Calyx Native Nursery
- Brown’s Orchards
- Kens Gardens
Click here to learn more about the 2022 Pawpaw Festival.
Check Our Our Pawpaw Festival Vendors
We invited over 30 local food vendors, artisans, plant nurseries, and community organizations to help make this event a destination for family-fun!
The 2022 Pawpaw Festival vendors include:
- Gardener of the Owl Valley
- Horn Farm Center
- 4 Herbs & 7 Spices Ago
- Locally Seasoned
- Heartwood Nursery
- Off the Beaten Path Nursery
- Watershed Alliance of York
- Alpacas of York/Soap Treasures
- Wildwood Lavender Farm
- Candi J. Duda Stained Glass & Garden Art
- Joy-Full Creations from Joyful ViBraytions (Saturday Only)
- Josh Brandstadter with Adventures of Fuzzy and Buzzy
- Virtue Local Art Market
- Kilgore Family Farm
- Bee Bee’s All Natural
- Gino’s Nursery
- The Sweet Botanist
- Historic Wrightsville
- Audubon York Chapter
- Native Roots Farm Foundation (Sunday Only)
- Character Coffee
- Stoney’s Burgers & Fries
- Ort Family Farm
- Swallowtail Forest Farm (Saturday Only)
- Heart & Hands Homemade
- Penn State Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners
- Audubon York Chapter (Sunday Only)
- West Shore Wildlife Center
- York Hiking Club (Saturday Only)
- Calyx Native Nursery (Sunday Only)
- York Water Company
- Lancaster Conservancy
- Nomadic Inspiration
- Lancaster Composting Co-Op
- York County Solid Waste Authority (Saturday Only)
- Future Forest Plants
- Eastern High School Spanish Club
- Leg Up Farmers Market
Cash & credit cards will be accepted dependent upon individual vendors. No available ATM on site.
From 11:00am–2:30pm on Saturday, September 24th, stop by the Joyful ViBRAYtions tent for a community weaving project using repurposed materials and nature-gifted items sourced from the Horn Farm. Festival participants can stop by at any time to see woven art in action and contribute to an original, spontaneous project reflecting the Horn Farm’s community-rooted values. The resulting artwork will be displayed on Sunday and will be celebrated in the Horn Farm Center’s new building once it is reconstructed.
Horn Farm CSA Update
This year, our CSA members enjoyed an incredibly abundant growing season thanks to our CSA team Andrew Horn, Anna Echo-Hawk, and Logan Kline as well as our farm partners: Kilgore Family Farm, York Fresh Food Farms, and Green Barn Farm.
The 2022 Horn Farm CSA will come to a close on Wednesday, October 12th. We thank our dedicated CSA members for supporting regenerative and sustainable farming at the Horn Farm Center. CSA membership goes beyond just the production fields and helps to support our mission, work, and programs at the Horn Farm!
Pawpaws: A Truly Local Delicacy
Finicky and fleeting. The pawpaw fruit has a remarkably short shelf life, making it an unfavorable choice for big-box supermarkets that depend on intensive shipping and storage. In fact, pawpaw fruit ripens very rapidly, and will spoil only a few days after harvest.
Pawpaws are best gathered around the time they ripen, because unlike apples and pears, firm pawpaw fruits don’t ripen well off the tree. All of this makes pawpaw a genuinely “local” commodity that naturally resists the mass market, though pulp extraction and cultivar research are increasingly making it possible for wider audiences to access pawpaw fruit in places where it doesn’t grow.
Learn more about the Amazing Pawpaw in the HFC blog article written by David Dietz linked below.
You can also find pawpaw fun facts that we posted throughout this month on our Facebook and Instagram as part of our countdown to the 2022 Pawpaw Festival. Join us on September 24th and 25th, 10am-3pm at the Horn Farm Center!
Read more about the Amazing Pawpaw
This Week is Watershed Week!
The purpose of the Watershed Week is to increase public awareness about the importance of local watersheds to community health, sustainable economies, and environmental quality of the Chesapeake Bay. Participants can get to know their watershed and the folks and organizations who are working hard to enhance, restore, and protect them. Watershed Week is fun for the whole family!
For a full list of events happening THIS WEEK around York County, visit the Watershed Alliance of York website. \
Sponsor Highlight: Richards Energy Group
Pawpaws are rare, delicate, and delicious. So is good customer service. Since 1995, Richards Energy Group has worked closely with regional businesses helping them save energy and control costs by providing utility and energy consulting, education, and expertise.
Pawpaw trees thrive in their own complex ecosystem. The fruits aren’t mass marketable and can’t be pumped out on an industrial scale. Similarly, every company has its own specific energy needs requiring an individualized solution. The Richards Energy team comes alongside and partners with companies to provide tailored solutions for each business’s needs.
Pawpaw trees take years to bear fruit. After generations, they form long-standing groves that sustain themselves and, in doing so, benefit the creatures around them. Richards Energy is in it for the long haul too, striving to be a trusted extension of their clients’ teams as a long-term energy partner, providing analysis and implementing solutions that will add resilience and bear more fruit as time goes by.
In addition to serving clients, Richards Energy Group gives back for the betterment of our community and our world. This year, Richards Energy is supporting regenerative agriculture and educational programs at the Horn Farm Center by sponsoring the 18th Annual York County Pawpaw Festival. Richards Energy Group is proud to be a friend of the farm!
Learn more about Richards Energy Group
Photo by Brigid Corbett
Hugelkultur Workshop
What is Hugelkultur? Find out on October 1st at the Horn Farm Center!
Learn about the Hugelkultur gardening technique, which consists of large pieces of organic matter, typically wood, buried for the purpose of long term, slow release of nutrients, maintaining higher moisture content, and increasing the fungal population of the soil.
This gardening technique is both complex in the inner workings and simple in design and has been touted by some as the perfect garden method. Done correctly, they can become self fertilizing, require little to no watering, and are abundant in both plant growth, soil health, and biodiversity.
But like most gardening techniques, they are site-specific and should be designed with intention and well thought-out planning. Find out how, where, and when a hugelkultur garden is appropriate.
Led by Jon Darby of Riverbend Farm
Join us on Saturday, October 1st at 9AM-12PM for our first Hugelkultur Workshop with Jon Darby.