A new generation
- Barbara Ouellette
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
Pete and Chadam Christensen take the reins at Flamig Farm
Written by Carl Wise, staff writer
Flamig Farm in Simsbury - the one with the backward “EGGS” painted on the big red barn - has passed to the fifth generation: Pete and Chadam Christensen, who take over from their parents, Nevin and Julie. Pete, who turns 26 in May, had other plans when he was going to Simsbury High, where he graduated in 2017.
“My gym teacher, Mr. Luzietti, used to call me ‘Farm Boy,’ and I hated it,” he says. “I wanted to play sports and fit in with the crowd. But later in life, now becoming Farmer Pete, it’s truly an honor to be one of the main guys over here. People rely on me, and everywhere I go I seem to get stopped. Somebody’s always screaming, ‘Farmer Pete!’ We’re a little famous in the town.”
Chadam, who’s 20, went through different stages as well. “I had a lot of different careerideas but found myself sticking more towards the farm as I got older,” he says. “There’s something about the family business and the aspect that we all work together. Something that we can build as a family seems pretty cool to me, so I really enjoy it.”
Flamig Farm is focused on agritourism, with a petting zoo, very popular summer camps, and seasonal events like a haunted walkthrough and visit with Santa. It also hosts weddings and birthday parties, and offers a farm stay above the store via Airbnb. It’s evolved over the years to meet many challenges.
“Dumb Yankee Farmers”
Herman and Bertha Flamig bought the farm in 1907 after moving here from Germany. They passed it to their son, Bill Flamig. The third generation, which wasn’t much involved in the operation, was Bill’s daughter Evelyn, who married Randy Christensen and had five boys: Nevin, Nord, Neils, Norris, and Noel. Nevin and Nord took it over, and after a while Nord parted ways, leaving it to Nevin.
Bill (Nevin’s grandfather) tried to sell the farm but died before he could. But he did sell the topsoil, so Nevin and Nord had to get creative when they inherited it. They started a mulch and compost business, and when the soil was fertile, grew vegetables and raised chickens and pigs for meat. “That worked for a while, but all of a sudden it was losing money year after year after year,” he says. “My brother and I were dumb Yankee farmers: Let’s just work harder! Eventually an accountant friend showed us how working harder was not going to make it. Everything we were doing was losing money.”
Nord quit, and to save the farm, Nevin sold the development rights to the town of Simsbury. “I can farm it, these guys [his sons] can take it over, but they can never put up houses,” he says. “That saved the farm.”
COVID and Nevin’s Stroke
The community came to the rescue during COVID, which hit in March 2020 just as Flamig Farm’s busy season was supposed to start. Suddenly they had zero revenue, but the animals still had to be fed and cared for. Then on April 7, Nevin had a stroke while vaccinating cows.
“A few people did a GoFundMe for us, and it was just the most amazing thing,” Julie says. “Some of the things they had written I would share with Nevin in the hospital. The whole community came together and helped us, and we were able to pay for everything. It just blew us away how loved we felt.”
For Pete, it was a turning point. “That was really when I grew up and realized that now is my time to shine,” he says.
It was also a wake-up call for Nevin.
“For most of my life trying to keep up with this place I’ve been stressed and in a hurry - not the laid-back farm life it’s supposed to be,” he says. “I have thanked God for that experience [the stroke] because I knew there was some growth to learn from it. Not what I would choose, but thank you. I couldn’t walk. I could not talk without drooling. It was not pretty, but after really intense rehab, I came home six or eight weeks later walking with a cane, very slowly.”
With Nevin hobbled and lockdowns still in place, the summer camp almost didn’t happen in 2020, but Julie fought for it. “The kids needed something that year,” she says. “We were one of the only camps running.”
Pete and Chadam
The brothers have very different personalities and skill sets. Pete can fix just about anything on the farm, and Chadam is great with the animals.
“My happy place is on my mower,” Pete says. “Playing on the machines. I like fixing them up, I like riding on them, and I like the beautification aspect, like putting in a new mulch bed, edging - anything that makes it look better.”
Pete was accepted to UConn and almost went. “I was going to go into the business side of agriculture,” he says. “But it just wasn’t for me. The homework aspect and going $72,000 in debt to get that degree while this business was sitting here right in front of me with great opportunity, I just couldn’t do it. My mindset was, I can always go back and get a degree, but the farm needs me now. There was nobody next in line, and I realized it was my time to step up to the plate and do something.”
“Pete wants everything beautiful, which I love,” Julie says. “Everything’s got to be in its place and perfect and organized. He wants things done right.”
When he’s not working, Pete is often hanging out with friends or with his fiancée, Molly. They’re hoping to produce the next generation of Flamig Farmers.
As for Chadam, “He is so smart as far as any kind of animal ailment,” Julie says. “He can just do it all. He knows how to research something and get it done, and he’s amazing with the customers.”
He went to Suffield High School for the agriscience program and has worked to bring a variety of animals to the farm. “Since our farm is mainly agritourism based, we’re primarily focused on making memories, introducing new animals to people,” he says. “A big part of what separates out our farm is, we like to take a lot of rescue animals and rehabilitate them. I love the interaction between the people and the animals. It does good things for both the animals and the people.”
Chadam plays guitar and tends to stay outside even when he’s not working. “I always love to be out in nature, looking for different animals,” he says. “That’s a big thing for me.”
The brothers share a vision of making constant improvements to the farm and keeping it open to the public. “I think what we’re doing now works,” Pete says. “We see kids from places that don’t have a lot of animals. They can come in here and pet a donkey, hear an emu make its drum sound. That gives them a whole new experience.”
“We don’t bring politics into this farm,” he adds. “Everybody is welcome here, and I think that is the main thing to running a business.”
Dirty Jobs
“It’s a rare day you come home clean,” Chadam says. “Recently I had to climb under our duck pond tarp to patch it up, and I came out looking like I had just jumped in the pond with the ducks, with all the poop, dirt and everything else in there. Every once in a while we have to patch up some water lines. Sometimes they can be leaking inside the animals’ pens, so you’re getting knee deep in manure. You really like to take a shower at the end of the day.”
“The whole farm is fed by a mountain-fed spring that bubbles up out of the ground,” says Pete. “Delicious, clean, beautiful water. But those lines are old. Grandpa dug them with every high school kid he could hire back in the day, so they’re not very deep in the ground, and it causes freezing and breaking and stuff like that. So when you’re 10 feet in a hole that’s spewing water, you come out with some messy boots and some wet ankles, but it’s what you gotta do.”
“Cleaning the chicken coop is pretty low on my list of fun things to do,” says Julie. “And castrating the piglets - that’s a dirty job!”
Adds Nevin, “Sometimes you just end up getting gross. It’s part of the deal.”
Retirement
Julie and Nevin will stay involved with the farm because it’s what they love to do.
“I’ll still keep working,” Julie says. “I love the Airbnb and decorating, giving everything a fresh face lift. All those improvements bring me a lot of joy.”
“I can sit and watch trees grow,” says Nevin. “I don’t worry about what I’m going to do, but I can still drive a tractor and do stuff like that. My efforts will be going into making this place the best I can.”
And how does Nevin feel about the kids taking over?
“Just spectacular. Because otherwise, it would be gone. We couldn’t hire somebody to do this.”
The boys are happy to have their parents around.
“One thing Pete and I both learned from my mom is beautification, just making sure everything’s done right and looks well,” Chadam says. “And my dad’s taught me a lot of mechanical stuff. I’ve learned how to analyze something to see how it works. You really have to look at every single detail before you put something together or fix something.”
“Something that’s been instilled in me is just constant problem solving, figuring it out,” says Pete. “I’m blessed to still have Dad here. He’s constantly teaching me, and Mom does too.”
“It’s time for the next major evolution here,” says Nevin. “They have to decide what’s next. I’ll guide and help wherever I can.” VL
