Meet the People Behind Ames Farm

Ames Farm is a honey farm and apiary with 500 bee hives in 20 bee yard locations based in Delano Minnesota. Our beekeepers and workers produce, extract and bottle our honey on our honey farm. We make over a dozen varieties of high quality, raw single-source honeys, edible honeycomb, creamed honey, 100% beeswax candles, and other natural bee products, as well as sell bee nucs and offer bee hive rentals in spring. We also maintain four apple orchards and market 10 varieties of apples exclusively at the Mill City Farmers Market.

We also own a farm in East Texas where we winter our honeybees and raise bees from them for sale in the spring. All of our honey production is done in Minnesota from May to September.

Meet our diverse and skilled team of artisans below

Apis Melifera - Honeybee

Honeybee at Ames Farm apiary and bee farm

Brian Fredericksen Founder & Owner

Brian Fredericksen, owner of Ames Farm, has been passionate about nature since he was young. He attributes this interest in the natural environment to his grandmother Verna, who grew all her own food. Through their frequent foraging expeditions in the woods near her home, she sparked Brian’s lifelong curiosity and love of the land that led him to become a honey farmer.

In 1994, Brian purchased a seven-acre orchard from David Bedford a horticulturist at the University of MN who created the Honeycrisp & First Kiss Apples, which also included two bee hives. “Given my grandmother’s influence, the idea of an orchard was not too scary,” said Brian. “But from the beginning, I had a lot of respect for the bees … and with time, I learned that being a successful honey farmer is both an art and a science.”

Marty Bergland Worker Bee/Madame Butterfly

A former educator and current master gardener, Marty has worked at Ames Farm for the past 19 years. She loves gardening and nature— especially bees and butterflies. An appreciation of the unique flavors of pure raw honey keeps her happily engaged with us, contributing in candle making, gift packaging, and honey demos at many local stores and co-ops in Minnesota.

Marty Bergland, worker bee at Ames Farm honey in Minnesota

Terell Harris General Manager

Future beekeeper, family man raising sons. Lifelong student, avid gamer, and an opportunist for everyday wellness. Ecstatically escaping the rat race to begin his beekeeper journey buzzing with the bees and honey at Ames Farm.

Ames Farm employee

Selene Thomas Beekeeper & Orchardist

Selene brings a Biology background and a love for photography and nature to Ames Farm. She is in her 5th year now as a beekeeper and has learned the technical skills of raising queen bees during spring and summer. She also manages our apple harvest during the fall season .

On Saturdays from May to October she runs the Mill City Farmers Market stall as well. During her free time she can be found enjoying and caring for her rescue cats or making hard cider an emerging new direction for Ames Farm.

Beekeeper checking queen cells in Minnesota

Tom Jackson Driver & All Around Handyman

Tom came to us during the pandemic as our weekly delivery driver to metro Natural Food Coops, Cheese Shops, Whole Foods and area small businesses and has since expanded his footprint to include honey extracting during the summer and maintenance around the honey house. Tom is following the path of previous Ames Farm employees that came for “a job” and stayed for the learning experience and ultimately became a core employee with knowledge of our unique Single Source Honey process.

Nadia Hulett

Greg Robinson

Greg came to us in 2025 out of his newly-acquired interest to engage only in career endeavors that truly interest or inspire him at this stage in his career-life. He took what was one of his buried interests-one of many, and decided to take the plunge.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from the University of Northern Iowa and has work a variety of capacities prior to joining us. Greg is a father of 3 grown children and a grandfather of 2 boys. He enjoys landscaping, home renovations and exploring the many trails around his home near Baker Park with his dog.