Family Farms - Moravian College

From the Ground Up
Future producers on the Fromm farm.
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Neil M. Fromm ’90
Neil Fromm worked several jobs after
graduation with a political science de-
gree, but wanted a life that would put his
destiny in his own hands—literally. So three
years ago, he moved to a cabin in northern
Vermont and built his 40-acre organic dairy
farm from scratch. His barn was once a
town barbershop. “It was hard starting with
nothing,” he says. “There’s not a lot of time or
extra money for other things, like building a
home addition or buying a new piece of farm
equipment.” The farm’s come a long way in
a short time, but Neil says he’s just getting
started. “We’re in the early stages right now,”
he explains. “We have ten cows we currently
milk, seven cows we hope to milk next year,
and four tiny ones just born this past Spring.
Eventually we’d like to milk at least twenty
cows.”
As if a farming start-up wasn’t enough
of a challenge, the Fromm family farm—and
the Fromm household, for that matter—is
deliberately lacking in modern conveniences.
“We don’t use a lot of technology here,”
Neil says. “Propane, not electricity, lights
our home. We have no TV, no computer, no
Internet, no power tools. And we drink fresh
spring water that’s pumped in; if we need
hot water, we heat it ourselves with a wood
stove.” (They do have electricity in the barn
to chill the milk.) “I use draft horses for
haying and mowing our land,” Neil says.
“During the winter people hire me to go in
and selectively cut trees on their land, and I
use the horses to take the logs out for them.”
He bought a used tractor last spring, though
he seems philosophical about the concession
to the internal combustion engine. “It has a
bucket so we can move manure and sawdust,
which we couldn’t do before. But ideally, I’d
like to do all that with my horses.”
Neil’s partner Lenore and their blended
family tackle the farm work together, al-
though the kids attend school, as well as all
the accompanying extracurricular activities.
“The boys help a lot,” he says, “but like other
kids, they play soccer, basketball, and what-
ever sport’s in season at school.” Neil chose
this life not only because he loves the work
itself, but also because farm life helps him
teach his children life lessons they might
not learn in another setting. “I want my
boys to learn lots of different skills, to build
things, and to solve problems that come up,”
he says. “On a farm, you learn a little about
everything while you’re putting in a good
day’s work.”
16 MORAVIAN COLLEGE MAGAZINE FALL 2007
phoTo By neil FroMM ´90