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Special connections

Sonja Hedlund
Posted 5/16/23

Apple Pond Farm and Renewable

Energy Education Center

Callicoon

To the editor:

People who raise goats have a special connection.

My connection with Scott Conley happened in a …

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Special connections

Posted

Apple Pond Farm and Renewable

Energy Education Center

Callicoon

To the editor:

People who raise goats have a special connection.

My connection with Scott Conley happened in a flash years ago, almost 10 years ago. His farm is in Roscoe: www.trouttownfarms.com.

He needed milk for his newborn goats. 

I had some on hand from my own herd and found more for him elsewhere.

The milk guaranteed the survival of his kids. It was not a huge gesture. But us goat herders know the importance of it.

I had not seen or heard from Scott Conley until the terrible morning of Sunday, April 23. 

When the day dawned that calm spring day, Dick Riseling and I were able to finally survey the massive amount of destruction at our Apple Pond Farm. By now the extent of the damage brought on by the EF-2 tornado is well known. 

What’s not so well know is the story of one man, a relative stranger to us, who turned up at the farm that morning - as so many others did - and got right to work. He was intent on restoring our water, even though the farm pump house was completely gone. He began thinking of ways we could cope with the animals whose barn was without a roof and who were left without a fenced pasture in-tact. He came trundling up the Apple Pone driveway, only passable due to some 20 friends and neighbors with chainsaws, to lend us a generator. 

And later that day, or a day or two later, he posted a simple photo and message on the Crowdfunding site, Go Fund Me, saying we needed help. 

Today, as I write this, 20 days later, almost 600 people have contributed. Donations have come from as close as next door to as far away as California. The sum totals more than $60,000. And of course, it is more than money and numbers. To us, it is the remarkable, truly unbelievable sense of support that shines through. To say that this outpouring has taken the edge off our loss is an enormous understatement. To read messages like, “The NAACP of Sullivan County members are keeping you lifted in prayer,” really did lift us!

Scott Conley is a neighbor, he is a goat herder, like me, he’s a member of this community. No one asked him to start up the fund with a donation of his own, he did it of his own accord. And it has made all the difference.

From the simple act of providing a bottle of goat’s milk to a newborn kid came a gesture that helped us begin to put back together our lives. We know the farm will never be the same. Some days, we can hardly stand to look at the devastation that remains all around us. But, at the same time, we know we will get through. A thank you to Scott Conley and to all who have given is really not enough. But we offer it humbly and with the greatest of gratitude nonetheless.

He thought the tragedy at the farm was a matter for community concern.

Although lives were not lost, the destruction was vast, and we thank our community for their incredible efforts and support.

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