Photos Courtesy Of Horn Farm Center
In a field of willow, growing in bushy stalks, a world of possibilities opens up. At the Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education in York, the willow stems are coppiced each winter and cured for basket weaving or used for animal fodder and making biochar. However, they can also be harvested every three years to grow long posts suitable for building fences and furniture.
The myriad functions of this plant make a good metaphor for wellness at Horn Farm—where agricultural education, ecological preservation and community gathering take precedence.
“Wellness is not just for our bodies. Through the learning experience and community experience people have here, it’s also something that is for our minds and our spirits,” says Andrew Leahy, community engagement coordinator at Horn Farm.
Photos Courtesy Of Horn Farm Center
Located near Hallam, Horn Farm’s property is county owned ever since the family of the farm’s namesake, David Horn, donated it in the former owner’s honor. In the early aughts, the county intended to develop the property, but the community put a stop to it. Horn Farm came to fruition soon after, and it’s only in recent years the historically volunteer-led nonprofit organization had any employees at all. Now a small team of five, Horn Farm is spearheaded by Alexis Campbell, executive director since 2020.
The farm’s educational programs cover a broad spectrum of activities: from gardening, composting and cooking classes to foraging walks and beyond.
“A lot of the focus is on what can we glean from the natural spaces, what can we harvest,” Campbell says. “We are always trying to balance that with general ecological education so people better understand the bioregion that they live in.”
Photos Courtesy Of Horn Farm Center
Educational programs range from one-off, two-hour courses to weekend-long intensives or multi-week training programs, allowing people of all interest and skill levels to find a space for them. The Ecological Gardener Training Program, for example, is a 16-week program that explores lawn conversion methods, scaled designing, and seasonal management techniques for home-scale and market-scale production. Participants can also explore techniques like the food forest model, exemplified in what the farm calls a “wellness patch” with elderberry as the overstory and mountain mint, echinacea and other medicinals underneath.
On the contrary, a backyard composting workshop, sourdough bread baking class and regional history session, for example, all take place in only a matter of hours.
Every season, the farm puts on guided foraging walks, the results of which vary depending on the season you attend. Foraging is often an adventurous practice that takes participants into the woods. However, many of the plants that they talk about on foraging walks are ones you can find in your backyard, garden or other accessible spaces. “It’s taking that adventure into areas that you might not actually initially think of falling into that category,” says Leahy.
Photos Courtesy Of Horn Farm Center
Every September, Horn Farm is the site of York’s annual Pawpaw Festival, which celebrates the pawpaw tree that is unique to the region and produces the largest edible fruit indigenous to the United States. This year was the festival’s 20th anniversary, showing how integral Horn Farm has become to the region’s consciousness.
While locals and visitors alike must wait until next year for another chance to explore the festival, there will be no shortage of events in the meantime. Spring is perhaps their most bustling season, with the land coming alive again and a plant sale to mark the occasion. However, programs are held even in winter, in a cozy, woodstove-warmed bell tent dubbed the Woodland Classroom. Plus, winter is when community garden plot registration for the growing season ahead opens up. While returning gardeners get priority, about half of the plots are available for newcomers.
There’s something about being in this place that is special,” Campbell says. “Some of that is the opportunity to be with others and garden together and grow healthy food.”
Also on the horizon for Horn Farm is the return of the farmhouse, which lost its roof after being struck by lightning in 2021. As the organization shores up fundraising, construction will soon begin on the plan from Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects, not just to fix the roof but also to develop a new classroom and office area. The revitalized building will be more accessible with ADA upgrades, have energy-efficient installations like solar power, and maintain its beloved historic elements.
Photos Courtesy Of Horn Farm Center
In the meantime, Horn Farm continues to spread its mission. “What we always are trying to do here is just connect people with the land, connect people with others that are interested in the same types of experiences,” Campbell says. But, she adds, it’s also a personal journey. “Once you start getting out there looking at the world in a different way through some of the lenses that we teach here, as well as the experience of being in a natural space,” she says, “you do get a better sense of self and a better sense of your own relationship to the land.”
Photos Courtesy Of Horn Farm Center
To learn more, including how you can participate, please visit: hornfarmcenter.org
