IT STARTED WITH A BOY, A BURNING RAG, AND A TREE FULL OF BEES.
Decades later, those bees found him again. This is the story of how Crooked Creek Honey Farm came to be — starting with a childhood lesson from Uncle Travis and ending with a life neither of us ever expected.
A LESSON FROM UNCLE TRAVIS
Russell's mom grew up in Meridian, Texas — one of eight kids raised by a widowed grandmother who supported the family by sharecropping and cooking in the cafeteria at the town's only school. His mom's brother Travis never married. He stayed with their grandmother and made it his job to teach the next generation how to hunt, fish, and live off the land.
One day, Uncle Travis took Russell and his cousin Garry out into the woods. He covered their faces with netting, handed each of them a stick with a burning rag wrapped around the end, and had them climb a tree to smoke out a hive of wild honey bees so they could harvest the honey.
Russell was a kid. But that experience — the bees, the smoke, the sticky golden reward — left an impression that would last a lifetime.
THE SWARM THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Fast forward to 2011. Russell and Lisa had built their dream house on nearly 20 acres in Anna, Texas — the very first piece of land they had looked at, and the one they kept coming back to after a full year of searching. Good soil. Woods. Water. It had everything they wanted.
A few years after they moved in, a swarm of honey bees settled in a small oak tree on the property. They called the Collin County Hobby Beekeepers Association, and a beekeeper came out that same evening to capture the swarm.
Russell talked with that beekeeper for hours. By the time the conversation ended, he knew two things: where to sign up for beekeeping classes, and that this was something he had to try.
TWO HIVES AND A STING BETWEEN THE EYES
Russell and Lisa enrolled in a five-month beekeeping program in January of 2012. By May, they had purchased their first two nucleus hives. The plan was simple: learn the craft and see if they were cut out for it.
Not long after the hives arrived, Russell decided to check on the bees — without suiting up or wearing a veil. A guard bee took exception and stung him right between the eyes. By the next morning, both eyes were so swollen he spent the entire day at work explaining what had happened to his coworkers.
Lesson learned. But the bees survived their first year, and they were strong enough to split into six colonies. Russell and Lisa also purchased two more nucleus hives and captured a couple of swarms. Year two started with ten hives. The hobby had officially taken hold.
THE FIRST THREE YEARS
How a weekend hobby became a full-time way of life.
FROM HOBBY TO BUSINESS
By 2014, Russell and Lisa had more honey than their family could eat. They needed a plan. The answer came in the form of the Melissa Farmer's Market — the inaugural season — where they set up a booth and started selling every other weekend.
That first market was the start of something much bigger than either of them anticipated. They gradually broadened their reach, setting up at local events, community gatherings, and large festivals. Today, they attend over 80 markets and events each year.
What began as a way to qualify their 19.75 acres for the Texas agriculture exemption became a full-blown beekeeping business — and then something even deeper. A mission to help save honey bees and a way of life they never want to give up.
LEARNING FROM THE BEST
Russell and Lisa did not learn beekeeping in isolation. They joined the Collin County Hobby Beekeepers Association, the Texas Beekeepers Association, and the American Beekeeping Federation. They attended local club meetings, state conferences, regional workshops, and national conventions.
They consumed every piece of information they could find — books, lectures, hands-on demonstrations — because they learned early on that the best way to learn beekeeping is from other beekeepers. That commitment to the community shaped not just how they keep bees, but how they treat every new beekeeper who comes to them for advice.
FINDING THE LAND THAT FOUND US
After their youngest child left for college, Russell and Lisa started looking for land. The dream was simple: live in the country, garden, can their own food, and live off the land the way Russell grew up watching his family do.
The very first piece of property they looked at was in Anna, Texas — 19.75 acres with good soil, woods, and water. They spent an entire year looking at other land, trying to find something better. Nothing came close.
They came back and bought it. They built their dream house. And a few years later, the bees arrived. It feels like the land was waiting for them all along.
FROM TWO HIVES TO A WAY OF LIFE.
Crooked Creek Honey Farm is not just a business. It is the life Russell and Lisa spent 47 years building toward. Come meet them at a market, taste the honey, and ask about the bees. They will talk your ear off — and they would not have it any other way.
FIND US AT A MARKET