Joe and Becca Babolian
Babolian Honey in Glyndon is a family-owned company of third-, fourth-, and fifth-generation commercial beekeepers. The family operation formally became Babolian Honey in 1976, though the family had been beekeeping for a few years before that.
The Babolians have bee yards in Norman, Clay, and Becker counties. Besides running bees for honey production in Minnesota, Joe and Becca also take their bees to California to pollinate almonds. The bees winter in Silsbee, Texas, where Babolian Honey raises queen bees.
Joe does the lion’s share of the work alongside his dad, Larry. Joe works with the bees pretty much every day and travels with them when they leave Minnesota. Becca holds down the fort at home and helps when the family extracts honey. Becca and Joe have two sons, Dan and JP. Dan goes to bee yards and helps extract honey when the bees are in Minnesota. JP would live in the bee yard if he could. Once school lets out, he's in the bee yards almost every day. He loves to extract honey too. Joe's mom, Pat, and sister Amy also work in the family business, and when they are extracting honey the entire extended family shows up to lend a hand.
The Babolians provide a live bee display for the ag education building during the Norman County Fair. Dan has presented at ag education days. The family enters a live bee display as an open class entry in the Beltrami County Fair. The family is heavily involved in Norman County 4-H, mostly with horses, dogs, pigs and poultry.