When neighbors help their neighbors

In the tornado’s wake, Apple Pond Farm rebuilds

By Mio Moser | Manor Ink

Callicoon Center, NY – Nestled in the western outliers of the Catskills near the Delaware River is a small idyllic, pastoral farm by the name of Apple Pond Farm. Many may know the farm as an educational center, allowing visitors to experience the everyday life of a working farm, as well as a source of quality local foods. However, Apple Pond Farm recently experienced a catastrophe like no other – a natural disaster likely to alter the future of the farm for decades to come.

Farm owners and married couple Sonja Hedlund and Dick Riseling moved into Apple Pond Farm fifty years ago, and they have been farming the land ever since. When they first acquired the farm, they were greeted with an utter mess. Its buildings, abandoned for nearly 100 years, were heavily vandalized. However, Hedlund and Riseling’s love and passion for farming motivated them to purchase the 80-acre farm, and restore it.

Soon enough, Hedlund and Riseling began raising horses on the property. Sheep and goats followed. Since its inception,

Apple Pond Farm has been open to the public and has dedicated itself to education. Today, the farm is home to hundreds of animals, and plays host to countless guests seeking to enjoy the rural farm lifestyle, as well as interns and apprentices looking for jobs in the agricultural field. The farm has been prosperous for many years, and had been looking forward to a bright future when the single deadliest day in its entire history struck.

A freak weather event

Toward the evening of Saturday, April 22, Apple Pond Farm was struck by an EF-2 tornado, with wind gusts reaching speeds upwards of 115 miles per hour. The farm’s staff received a notification on their cellphones informing them of the incoming tornado and urging them to take immediate shelter in a secure room. But the storm came up Hahn Road so quickly that by the time they reached the secure room, the tornado had already passed by. It would take several hours to gauge just how bad the destruction was.

Within mere moments, the farm lost all access to the outside world, whether digital or physical. Water, electricity and wi-fi were lost immediately, while a heap of fallen hemlock trees barricaded the main house’s front door, trapping farm residents inside. Soon though, volunteer helpers appeared. The first were members of the Callicoon Center Fire Department, who came to cut up all the trees blocking the driveway and the house. It was only then that Hedlund and Riseling could leave their house and assess the staggering extent of the damage.

“The destruction could not be described,” Hedlund said. Nearly every tree on the property had fallen over. A carport housing two vehicles had been completely crushed. A chicken house, as well as several sheds for farm equipment, had also been destroyed. The main barn’s roof had been torn off. Despite all this wreckage, miraculously no human or animal was hurt.

In the days immediately following the catastrophe, members of the neighboring communities came out in droves to support the farm and aid it in its long path to recovery. On just the first day after the tornado, 60 people alone came to visit the farm and provide food and care. “It would be impossible to single out individuals because there’d been so many,” Hedlund said. However, a few went the extra mile to ensure that the farm had all the essentials required for basic survival.

The community responds

First and foremost, a meal train was started by Early Bird Cookery of Callicoon, in which volunteers took turns going to the farm to bring food and other necessities for the staff. Additionally, members of the food nonprofit A Single Bite of Youngsville offered to take all of the farm’s frozen goods until the electricity needed to power the farm’s own freezers returned.

Perhaps most important of all was Scott Conley, who owns Trout Town Farms, a store in Roscoe. Conley was the one who set up a GoFundMe online fundraiser with the goal of raising enough money to help restore the farm to its original condition. So far, the campaign has seen 597 donations and has raised over $63,000, well beyond its original goal of $50,000.

Despite the seemingly hopeless situation that Apple Pond Farm seems to be in, owner Sonja Hedlund sees the situation as an opportunity for change toward a brighter future.

“Catastrophes like this can happen to anybody. Though you can prepare a bit, you’ll never be truly ready, and I think my life will never be the same after this,” Hedlund said.

“Maybe you can be somewhat prepared with insurance and finances, but the emotional side is very hard to get a grip on, and that emotional strength is something one builds up over a lifetime of coping and being calm and steady, keeping focused and at the same time being very grateful and thankful.”