20th Annual Corn Harvest and Celebration!
Salamander Springs Farm
Saturday, September 26, 2026
 
1880's-style Apple Cider pressing,
Community Potluck Celebration,
Documentary film project, Stories,
Awesome Music & Bonfire!

Bring friends and family to share good work, local food,
music and fresh mountain air!

Harvest Party Schedule

1-5 PM

Cornfield Harvest
Team up to harvest the ears and remaining beans on the cornstalks before cutting stalks from the field. We'll leave any squash that is still ripening.
Harvest goes quickly with a community so come early to take part!
Husking Circles
Shuck ears together, clean any bird or insect damage for drying in a traditional-style corn crib.

See below for helpful tools to bring.

1880's-style Cider Pressing
Bring Fall APPLES and Winter PEARS
It takes a about 30# to make a gallon of cider!

5:30 PM
Circle for Community Potluck
Celebrate the bounty with dishes from our local gardens!  
Label whether your dish is plant-based or has gluten, meat, or dairy. 
Stove available in the outdoor kitchen to heat dishes.
We'll have the "3 Sisters" from Salamander Springs Farm--beans, cornbread & squash--staple foods on this continent since ancient times. 
Salamander Springs mineral-rich springwater on tap!

Special Music from Local Favorites, Jewelweed!  
(jewelweed-band.com)
Bring your musical instruments to jam afterwards 
on the granary porch or at the bonfire. 

Bonfire at dark.  Field available for camping!
Camp in the field near the bonfire or the edge of the woods by the beanfield.  Enjoy the brilliant starry sky!
WHAT TO BRING!
Sturdy shoes & gloves for cornfield
Layered clothes for variable temperatures
(jacket or sweater for evening)
Lawn chair (limited chairs at the farm)
FALL APPLES and HARD PEARS for pressing cider!
Potluck dish, BYOB
Musical instruments 
Camping gear
HELPFUL HARVEST TOOLS:
Small pocket knife to clean ears of damaged kernels after husking
Small "one-hand" pruners (Felco or Corona) for damaged ears
Machete or branch pruners ("loppers") to cut corn stalks at harvest.
If you can bring an extra wheelbarrow, let Susana know.  Thanks!  
WHERE:
Salamander Springs Farm - Clear Creek Valley
5972 Wildie Road, Mt. Vernon, KY 40456
9 miles south of Berea from College Square.
Gravel driveway is across from a little old tan house and 4 mailboxes (including #5972). Go straight UP through the woods (not the right fork), with creek below on your right. Front wheel drive cars do okay, rear-wheel drive trucks (without 4WD) need weight in the back. About 1/4 mile to the top, when you pass a small wooden barn (granary) on the left, someone will greet you and help you park according to how long you'll be staying.  Welcome!
Carpool!  Parking is limited. 

CAN YOU lead a field harvest or corn husking team?  Take photos?  
Prepare a "3-Sisters" (beans, squash, corn) dish from the harvest?
Thanks!! Text Susana at the farm: 859-893-3360.
    "An annual fall tradition, Corn-Shucking Day is how my family celebrates the harvest of this important staple and shares in the labor of processing it. 
    Because of corn's long history on this continent, people have gathered for hundreds of years to do this, and we have stepped into that river of tradition.    " 

    - Kim Kobersmith (Berea, KY), "Keeping an Ear to the Ground," Taproot magazine:  Inspiration for Makers, Doers & Dreamers, July 2023, Issue 58
     
    NOTES FOR NEWBIES to Salamander Springs Farm:
     
    THE FARM IS TOTALLY OFF-GRID.  The tiny house and clay-straw building have a small solar electric system.  The outdoor community kitchen, solar shower & outhouse have small LED solar lights, candles or kerosine lamps.   The field near the campfire has passable cell phone reception.
     

    DISHWASHING STATION on long table by the outdoor kitchen shack, with 3 washtubs:  pre-wash, wash & rinse. There are old dishwasher racks for drying.  Don't forget to take your dishes home!

    OUTHOUSE at the top of the cornfield (west of the tiny house) is a sawdust bucket compost system that will appreciate loving attention to covering your contributions (ask if you need assistance). A light comes on inside when you open the outhouse door.  Campers:  DIY solar-heated shower and sink attached.

    ENJOY SALAMANDER SPRINGS WATER (finest in the region!) in water cooler outside outdoor kitchen shack. It comes gravity-fed from the top of watershed by a water line Susana dug and buried through the forest in 2002-03.  You are welcome to fill jugs to take home, use spigot near outhouse.
     

    "LEAVE NO TRACE" PACK-IN-PACK-OUT POLICY on packaged food and beverage containers.  There’s no trash or recycling service at the farm.  Boycott the chain stores.  Support local foods.  Thanks!!
    Event Details
    Region: 
    Southeast
    Type: 
    Workshop
    Community Event
    Festival
    Location: 
    Salamander Springs Farm Mt. Vernon , KY
    Date: 
    09/26/2026
    Website Link: 
    Salamander Springs Farm