THE TEAM
The owners Morten & Min are sorting through a harvest of Trumpet Chantarelles from the forest.
Upstate Charm—NYC Service Standards
Seven Ponds and its sister farm Blenheim, were founded by entrepreneur-couple Min Ye and Morten Sohlberg.
A Yale graduate who began her career in investment banking, Min also holds a certificate in classic French cuisine, and became an avid speaker on women entrepreneurship. Morten is a chef and designer, with an art degree from Florence Italy and a Scandinavian design background from his native Norway. Min and Morten sold their businesses in New York City, and adventured on a lifestyle journey to develop three gorgeous inns and two historic farms.
Designer-turned farmers, the couple is now growing food and raising livestock on over 500 acres in the Catskills and hosting farm-to-table sustainable weddings. Min and Morten traded Manhattan's spires of skyscrapers for gorgeous land, with ancient forests, over 20 private lakes and ponds, and mountain views spanning all of Catskills. Instead of giving keynote speeches across the country or cooking on national television, they now care for Belted Galloway cattle and grow hundreds of crops for their wedding couples and guests.
Morten and Min dancing at their wedding anniversary held at Blenheim Hill Farm.
Min and Morten once founded and sold the largest online college of design in the world, and later built a hospitality group of 7 restaurants in and around Manhattan. They leveraged all that experience, and with their 3 boys in tow, permanently relocated upstate. They have created a natural, sustainable and fun setting for couples who want to get married, far away from the glitzy banquets halls, ballrooms or country clubs. In a place that represents their own lifestyle choices; food with integrity, and time spent with nature, farm animals and the outdoors.
As Morten and Min moved upstate, many of their team members followed them. Today the team that runs the weddings at the two farms come from both New York City and nearby local areas - those who grew up near the farms. Everyone has one objective, to create an experience for our couples that is as warm, friendly and stress-free, as it is organized and professional. Everyone from cooks, bartenders, servers, housekeepers, farmers, managers, chefs, are all one coordinated team. That matters when you are creating some of the most precious memories of your life.
