Molly Yeh’s 2 Children: All About the Food Network Star’s Daughters Bernie and Ira (Including Their Favorite Meal from Mom!)

Molly Yeh loves being at home with her daughters, Bernie and Ira.

The Girl Meets Farm host shares her children with her husband, fifth-generation farmer Nick Hagen. The couple first met while studying music at The Juilliard School. After graduation, they started dating and moved from New York to Hagen’s farm in Minnesota, where they married in December 2014. A few years later, the pair welcomed their first child together, daughter Bernie, in March 2019. Their second daughter, Ira, followed in February 2022.

Despite her busy schedule, the Food Network star tries to spend as much quality time with her kids as possible. “Working from home a lot of the time, I am able to spend little bits of time with them throughout the day,” she told The Cut in May 2023.

While Yeh knows quality time with her children is vital, she admitted in a June 2024 interview with Parents magazine, that she isn’t exactly the “fun parent,” explaining that she was “terrible at just playing.”

Still, she doesn’t let herself feel mom-guilt over it, instead choosing to emphasize her strengths. “They know that I’m happy being with them,” she said, adding that although she isn’t the one to join in on their pretend play, she “will create a very good setting for them in which to play.”

From the heartfelt meanings behind their names to how they spend time together, here’s everything to know about Molly Yeh’s children: Bernie and Ira.

Bernadette “Bernie” Rosemary Yeh Hagen, 5

Yeh and Hagen welcomed their daughter, Bernadette “Bernie” Rosemary Yeh Hagen, on March 30, 2019.

Yeh revealed that they were expecting their first child six months earlier. “I am so excited,” she told PEOPLE in November 2018. “I was made to make cute little lunches. I am so excited for that. I’m so excited to go to Disney World. I just really love kid stuff.”

At the time, the chef explained that they wanted to find out the sex of the baby during the birth and were compiling names in the meantime. “We have a lot of fun, cool names from our ancestors, so we’re also starting there as some ideas and ways to form variations of those names,” she said.

Fast forward, Yeh announced their daughter’s arrival on Instagram, revealing her sweet nickname. “💕 Meet Bernie!!” she wrote, adding that the infant “arrived promptly and calmly on her due date (today!) at 1:30am, weighing 7 lb 6 oz. We are so wildly in love!”

Yeh also shared the special meaning behind their daughter’s moniker. “Bernie is named after Nick’s great great grandpa Bernt, who came from Norway and started the Hagen farm, and my great grandpa Bernard, who came over from Hungary. Rosemary was my mom’s mom,” she added.

Speaking to Babe by Hatch, Yeh explained that she wanted to honor her Jewish and Chinese heritage in different ways.

“In the Ashkenazi tradition, you name kids after deceased ancestors, so that was a tradition that we followed with her name,” she said. “That to me is so important. Any time we talk about her name we can talk about her and tell her those stories.”

In addition, Yeh shared that she celebrated the family’s roots through holidays and food. “Matzoh ball soup is her favorite food. I’m always cooking up Chinese and Jewish food,” she added.

Yeh also explained that she wanted to pass on more than just her heritage, such as having the space to strive for personal goals.

“I think the greatest gift my parents gave me was encouragement to follow my passions and follow my heart and really lean into whatever it was excited about,” she said. “That’s what I want to give my child.”

In late 2022, Yeh opened her first restaurant in her hometown of East Grand Forks, Minn., named Bernie’s in honor of her older daughter.

Ira Dorothy Yeh Hagen, 2

Yeh and Hagen welcomed their second daughter, Ira Dorothy Yeh Hagen, on Feb. 20, 2022.

“We’re so excited to add a new little bean to the family!” she told PEOPLE in September 2021, shortly after announcing her pregnancy news. “Bernie is already training to be a big sister with her Cabbage Patch doll, and she’s doing great!”

This time around, the Girl Meets Farm host decided to find out the baby’s sex ahead of time. “We’re having a girl,” she told Babe by Hatch, adding that initially she didn’t believe it. “I feel so different this time around. I thought it must be a boy. But I’m so excited for another girl.”

Yeh also elaborated on how Bernie was preparing to be a big sister. “She’s been changing diapers on her stuffed animals and wraps up her babies and carries them around,” she said. “Every morning she wakes up and lifts my shirts and pats my belly and says good morning to the baby.”

Two days after Ira’s birth, Yeh posted about her arrival on Instagram. “She’s here!!!” she captioned family photos. “I think she looks just like a tiny bernie and also a tiny grandpa.”

Like her older sister, Ira’s name holds a special meaning. According to Yeh’s Instagram post, they chose her middle name, Dorothy, to honor Hagen’s great-great-grandmother, Dorothea. On the other hand, the name Ira was a friend’s idea.

“Ira was suggested by the Girl Meets Farm director of photography, Jamie, and we loved it because it was unique but easy to pronounce,” she told the parenting website, Kveller.

Speaking to The Cut in May 2023, Yeh opened up about raising two girls as a working mom.

“The biggest thing that shifted in my work life after having kids was that my time management and my efficiency had to skyrocket,” she said. “When they’re napping, I’ll be like, ‘Okay, I have an hour. I’m going to bang out a batch of blondies.’ Things definitely move at a slower pace.”

She continued, explaining that she prioritizes spending as much time as possible with her daughters during the workday.

“Every single morning when I’m filming Girl Meets Farm, I sit down in the hair-and-makeup room and the girls toddle over to me,” Yeh said. “I always have lunch with one or both of them.”