My name is Peter Zander and I am a professional photographer. I also consider myself privileged to be good friends with Joan Harris and Mike Scannell, the owners of Harrier Fields Farm in Columbia County, NY. On July 27th, 2010, their four barns and everything in them burned to the ground. When I heard about the fire, I felt impelled to take action and create this site, as Joan and Mike are two of the finest people I’ve met and a rare breed of farmer. These are people that work 14 hours a day, seven days a week to earn a small, but very honorable living. As is the case with most small-scale organic farmers, they had little insurance…enough to cover a very small fraction of the replacement costs.
The fire burned down all four barns and everything in them. Machines, tools, hay, feed, breeding equipment, two cherished work horses…basically everything they needed to keep the farm going. Two smaller tractors survived, which happened to be out of the barn at the time of the fire.
After the Fire...
Read an article about the fire
Another article with after pictures
This is a devastating loss for them, and one they will not recover from without help. If you are here reading this, I’m assuming you want to help. If so, there are several ways to do it:
1. Give a donation of Funds. You can donate by credit card or Paypal* by clicking on the link to the right, or you can send a check to:
Harrier Fields Farm Assistance Fund
C/O Kinderhook Bank
1 Hudson Street,
Kinderhook, NY 12106
Check should be made out to “Harrier Fields Farm Assistance Fund”
*If you need further assurance that this site is legit, please contact Mike himself, 518-732-7350 or me at peter@peterzander.com and I will answer any concerns you might have. Thank you in advance for your trust
2. Give a donation of tools, supplies or equipment. Click here to see the list of things that were lost in the fire that are still needed.
Harrier Fields Farm
4116 County Route 21
Schodack Landing, NY 12156
3. Help Rebuild. At some point we are going to have a good, old-fashioned barn raising. Fill in your email in the “Subscribe” block to the right to be kept updated on the rebuild progress and hear about chances to volunteer your time. Note: putting your email in does not mean you are committing to help, just that you want to be informed of the opportunity. You don’t have to be skilled (though that wouldn’t hurt 
), there will be appropriate jobs for everyone. And I imagine it will be an amazing, once in a lifetime event.
Please donate! It doesn’t have to be much, it just has to be many. Thank you for helping to make this tragedy a little easier for them.
