Heritage Creek Farm & Education Center
Farm
Heritage Creek is a family owned and operated farm. We are a diversified vegetable and small fruits farm that offers a variety of agriculturally-based programs for children and families. Being a good steward of land and water, teaching about food origin and producing food through natural growing practices are fundamental elements at Heritage Creek.
"Lettuce" be your farmer
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
By joining our CSA food subscription your family will receive weekly or bi-weekly farm-fresh, locally grown produce. The food grown on our farm is also sold to camp families, community partners, and at an on-site farmers market and off-site mobile markets at local schools.
Farm Camp
The interest in our camps generally out numbers the space in our programs particularly when campers attend more than one session. Each season the registrations for our camps are managed by a lottery-style registration process. The lottery for 2025 summer camp will be open from January 6-19. Make sure you are on our email list to receive camp information as it becomes available. See Farm & Forest Camp and Little Seeds Camp for additional details.
Home School Enrichment Program - Thursdays
This popular program for homeschool students ages 6+ offers a spring block (mid-march to end of May) and a fall block (early September to early December) - 22 days of farm-based learning during the school year calendar.
Field Trips and Private Group Tours
Visit the farm for a field trip or private group tour. Use the online scheduling/inquiring form to request more information about visiting the farm.
Family Events and Family Farms
Family Events provide the opportunity for the young and young at heart to visit Heritage Creek to experience a seasonal sampling of life on the farm!
During 2025, we will be offer 4 Family Events - Spring Eggstravaganza/Plant Sale (May), Pickled Palozza (August), Pumpkin Showcase (October) and Sinterklass (December).
Farm-to-School
We offer a variety of farm-based programs for students of all ages. Contact us for more information. We are happy to design a farm-to-school activity to meet your curricular goals.
Teen Summer Program
This program is designed for teens 13+ that are interested in spending time on the farm over the summer. Through hands-on activities, teens learn about agriculture and animal care and develop a variety of life skills.
A message from Cindi hughes, owner
Organic farming dwells deep within my soul. My youthful memories are filled with walking barefoot in the warm soil, nurturing crops to ripeness, harvesting produce for our daily meals and preserving food for winter storage. I am a prodigy child of the organic movement that was locally inspired by Rodale Institute and Gene Logsdon. From seedling to adulthood, I have been nourished by wholesome food and have been steeped in the love of caretaking the land.
We live in a face paced age of technology where a lifestyle rooted in the simplicity of farm life is like finding a pearl in an oyster. Children are growing up without experiencing the wonders of nature. The art of growing our own food is becoming a lost tradition, in need of revitalization.
Our farm's mission is to plant the seeds of learning. Teaching regenerative agricultural practices provide the e opportunity to spark meaningful conversations, light the fire for environmental awareness and model how individual actions can make a difference in our world.
We hope to cultivate a new generation that values a healthy lifestyle and understands the local and global responsibilities of taking care of the environment. Our mission is two-fold in nature - raising wholesome food and and educating and encouraging people to grow their own food!
Heritage Creek Farm Camp provides an authentic farm experience. Our farm is a popular destination for field trips. Our summer camp serves children in Lancaster, York, Lebanon and Dauphin Counties and also welcomes children from other areas of the country that are visiting family during the summer.
Why the name Heritage Creek?
Here in Lancaster County, PA, we are blessed with a mild climate, plentiful rainfall, and rich soil. Southeastern PA is also rich in values, traditions, culture, and knowledge handed down by previous generations. Our owner, Cindi Hughes, comes from a long line of ancestors that valued the importance of growing and preserving their own food.
At Heritage Creek Farm camp, we believe the art of agriculture has historic and cultural value worthy of preserving. We are rooted in the legacy and history of agriculture; gleaming the best from the old and combining it with modern day knowledge to pursue a broad approach to food production that works in harmony with nature.
The tiny creek that graces our 26+ acre hillside property, is a tributary of the Little Chiques Creek. We are a small part of a large system of creeks that flow into the Susquehanna River and eventually leads into the Chesapeake Bay. The creek and its surrounding riparian buffer, provide a wetland ecosystem to explore, and a memorable place for campers to cool off a bit during hot summer days.
Farm Camp activities
- Animal Science: Meet and greet farm animal, animal care, animal adaptation and diets and digestive system of ruminant animals.
- Plant Science: Farming activities teach food origin and plant life cycles
- Regenerative agriculture principles and sustainable farming techniques
- Land stewardship
- Environmental literacy
- Science: Botany, ecology
- Engineering and Simple Machines
- Practical life skills
- Textiles, plant and animal fibers, fiber arts and basic knots
- Entrepreneurship - Learning farming as a business
- Creative and traditional art skills
- Kitchen arts, fermentation and preservation
- Farm-to-Table sampling
- Time to plug into nature and the simplicity of farm life
- Explorential learning
- Cooperative work and creative play
- Collaboration through chores, activities and games
- Will-building skills and development of work ethic
Our Facility
Pavilion - Lower Farm
Little Seeds Classroom/Deck-Lower Farm
Forest Classroom - Lower Farm
The lower farm pavilion is located by the creek and is used for field trips and summer camp dining, and large group events/presentations.
Forest Classroom - Lower Farm
Little Seeds Classroom/Deck-Lower Farm
Forest Classroom - Lower Farm
The Forest Classroom provides an open air space on the lower farm. Our Art Barn is located in this outbuilding.
Little Seeds Classroom/Deck-Lower Farm
Little Seeds Classroom/Deck-Lower Farm
Little Seeds Classroom/Deck-Lower Farm
The Little Seeds Classroom/Deck is used for large group events. During summer camp it used for fiber arts, reading and board games.
Farmhouse - Lower Farm
The Market - Upper Farm
Little Seeds Classroom/Deck-Lower Farm
The old farmhouse was built in the 1890's. It is currently a private residence on the lower farm.
Farmhouse - Upper Farm
The Market - Upper Farm
The Market - Upper Farm
The new farmhouse was built in 2022 and is currently a private residence on the upper farm.
The Market - Upper Farm
The Market - Upper Farm
The Market - Upper Farm
The "Market Building" is an open air outbuilding on the upper farm and used for a variety of agriculturally related purposes.
Production Barn - Upper Farm
Small Greenhouse - Upper Farm
Production Greenhouse - Upper Farm
The Production Barn is on the upper farm and is the CSA pick up location.
Production Greenhouse - Upper Farm
Small Greenhouse - Upper Farm
Production Greenhouse - Upper Farm
The Production Greenhouse provides 1800 square feet of growing space. Visitors to the farm often tour this greenhouse. This is the future site of our botany lab.
Small Greenhouse - Upper Farm
Small Greenhouse - Upper Farm
Small Greenhouse - Upper Farm
This greenhouse when not being used to start seedlings, or curing vegetables, it provides a warm conversation space for visitors during the colder months.
