About Us:
Founded in 1955 by brothers Calvin & George Frelk, Northern Family Farms (formerly Northern Christmas Trees & Nursery) began as a wholesale Christmas tree company. Both brothers lived in Illinois and also ran an additional farming business there growing tomatoes and asparagus for Campbell Soup.
As both businesses grew, they were divided in 1972 and Cal and his wife, Arlene took over the growing operation in Wisconsin. In 1979 their daughter and son-in-law, Ginger and John Ahl, entered the business. John saw the nursery business as a new challenge and began to rapidly expand into other growing aspects of the nursery industry.
Northern was one of the first growers in the Midwest to plant trees pot-in-pot. With over 2 decades of experience, they are now one of the largest state of the art pot-in-pot producers in the Midwest utilizing drip irrigation and fertigation. Northern produces container grown shade, fruit and ornamental trees, hardy shrub roses, small fruits, shrubs and evergreens.
With over 58 years of growing experience, Northern is also Wisconsin's largest Christmas tree grower operating on over 7000 acres offering Fraser and Balsam Fir, Scotch and White Pine as well as wreaths, garland and related tree lot products.
As leaders in the industry, John Ahl was President of the Wisconsin Nurseryman's Association, Wisconsin Christmas Tree Producers Association and sat on the National Christmas Tree Association's Board of Directors.
Northern has earned many accolades for Grand Champion Christmas trees and has had the honor of providing a tree to the Blue Room at the White House as well as numerous trees to Governors of Wisconsin.
Northern remains a family owned business and has recently welcomed the 3rd generation with daughter, Ashley Ahl, in 2010 and son, Derek Ahl in 2012. We pride ourselves in treating our customers and employees like "family" and will continue this tradition with our future generations.
It is our goal at Northern Family Farms to be a leading supplier of high quality Nursery stock and Christmas trees while providing the best customer service possible. We invite you to join our Northern Family of satisfied customers and welcome your visit to tour our facilities.
