05/02/2026
Time seems to get elastic and I don’t realize how things that feel like yesterday are so long ago. We took a family outing to an alpaca shearing event at Shear Haven Farm today (a hoot in itself) and the drive took me by several properties I’ve had the pleasure helping preserve with Farm & Natural Lands Trust of York County.
I had an FNLT sign with me, so I was hoping I’d see a familiar landowner to hand it off to. No luck there and I didn’t want to pop in unexpected (which almost feels illegal nowadays)… so I drove a bit and realized today was a big day for the Horn Farm Center.
Walking in the newly renovated house, it took me back to all the great people involved in the Horn Farm Center and how hard we all worked with the County of York to convince them that placing a conservation easement on the farm was a wise idea.
I got to know legendary Hellam farmer Dave Dietz almost 25 years ago when he and his folks had their stand at Central Market. When I joined FNLT in 2008, Dave told me about the Horn Farm. I always loved catching up with Dave at least once at week at the Market – and I laugh at my favorite memory of convincing him to go with me to Philadelphia to see Tame Impala back in 2012 just after their album “Lonerism” came out ($16 ticket!) (adding this for pure coolness factor), but the laugh is Dave, in true farmer fashion, falling asleep within 30 seconds of getting into the car and not waking up until we pulled up to his house.
Around my start at FNLT I also met Warren and June Evans, who I adored and learned so much from over time. I never met people so welcoming, who at the same time could call out people on their BS to their face, which I found a riot. I got to spend time with them on preserving their home property in 2010, now owned by our friends at Lancaster Conservancy, which will open this beautiful forest up for generations to come and enjoy.
I worked with Warren and June, Dave and many dedicated folks to eventually do the unthinkable… adding the Horn Farm Center land – owned by the County of York – into the FNLT preservation family. Special shout out to then County Commissioners Susan Byrnes, Chris Reilly and Doug Hoke (and all current and future Commissioners) – whose work on this and the immense support of natural resource preservation in our communities will be appreciated.
It feels like just yesterday at the County Commissioners’ meeting where they voted to sign the Horn Farm conservation easement in December 2016. June, about at least half my size, pulled me down and kissed me, saying she felt like she could die happy knowing the property was protected. I always say at FNLT we preserve land and not people – but Warren and June were something else. They both passed within a year of that day, but I imagine them smiling down on Hellam (and wishing they could rattle some Township meetings, haha).
Anyway, I was greeted today by a Horn Farm Center Board member, who took this picture of their Executive Director Alexis Campbell and me with the FNLT sign. The work that so many people have done at the Horn Farm Center from their start to now, is amazing and commendable.
We had a great time and laughs – it just made me want to say something in appreciation of the work we get to do, the people we meet and the support we get at FNLT. We had great success yesterday with Give Local York – I’d like to give a shoutout to all who have worked to make GLY possible, from the start until now.
Thank you for your support, and we promise to keep making you proud! (sorry for rambling)
- SPK
Adding some photos from today and before – below is the story June wrote when we placed the conservation easement.
Milestone Preservation of the Horn Farm, by June Evans of Hellam Township
There were smiles all around on the morning of December 21 last year when the York County Commissioners unanimously approved the signing of a conservation agreement between the County of York and the FNLT for the 180+ acre Horn Farm. This happy occasion marked the end of a long journey to preserve this prime farmland property. Beginning in 2000, with the gathering of 2300 signatures from York County residents by a concerned citizens’ group formed to successfully save the site from proposed industrial development, the Horn Farm has since proven its value as an agricultural resource in many exciting ways, leading the Commissioners to take action to permanently protect and preserve it.
In 2007 the County granted an initial lease to the Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to “showcase the past, present and future of York County agriculture. By bringing people together to directly experience sustainable agriculture, the Center promotes the rich heritage of our land and the fundamental importance of local agriculture to the health and well being of our community, our economy, and our environment”. The success of this organization and the importance of its mission were recognized by the County earlier last year when the Horn Farm Center’s original lease on the farm was amended with a new 99-year term.
Located in Hellam Township north of Route 30 just east of the Hallam exit, the Horn Farm is near the Hauser Farm, the first York County farm property preserved by FNLT. With the addition of the Horn Farm, Hellam Township now boasts over 760 acres preserved by the FNLT. Hellam Township has a long and rich farming history as the first Township settled west of the Susquehanna River, and it retains much of its early rural character as a farming community today.
The Horn Farm’s fertile Class I and II prime soils are typical of those that stretch through the York and Lancaster limestone valley. The Horn Farm has been continuously farmed for more than 250 years, since the granting of its original land patents in the 18th century. Early owners included members of the Sultzbach, Strickler and Ruby families; Samuel Ruby built the present brick farmhouse in the 1800s.
David E. Horn purchased the property in the 1940s. For many years he owned and operated D.E. Horn and Co., a feed manufacturer and retailer in York County. Although he did not live there, he loved the farm, and after his death his wife and daughters donated more than 200 acres of the property to the County in his memory. One of his daughters, Marie Horn Altland, left a substantial endowment to the Horn Farm Center.
The conservation easement on the Horn Farm now enables the Horn Farm Center to solidify its plans for the future. With infrastructure that includes two barns, the farmhouse, a recently renovated summer kitchen with squirrel tail oven, and a pond for irrigation, the Center’s community gardens, incubator farms project, educational workshops, and classes are all thriving and growing, thanks in large part to a talented staff and an army of dedicated volunteers. In addition to its events, classes and workshops the Center has provided opportunities for local Scout groups (many of their service projects dot the farm’s grounds) and other social and service organizations. This year’s plans include a Horn Farm Center CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program and the continuation of farm and beekeeping internship programs.
The permanent protection the conservation easement provides assures that this farm’s fertile soils and its contributions to local food production and agricultural education will remain viable in perpetuity. Check the Horn Farm website at www.hornfarmcenter.org or the Horn Farm’s page for what’s happening at the farm!
