Our Story

Crazy Joe's Natural Products started with a young man who wanted to carry on the traditions that were passed down to him by his father, grandfather, and great grandfather.

 

Donny Crass grew up in northern Wisconsin around Eagle River and Phelps. Before he was born, his great-grandpa, Joe Crass, began tapping maple trees in Phelps, WI at the Hazen Inn. This became a tradition he passed on to his 19 children, Grandpa Donald being one.

 

As a boy he got to make maple syrup with his Grandpa (Donald) and his Dad (Don). Those memories stayed with him and once he was married and had his own home with some land, he decided he was going to continue the tradition and Crazy Joe's was born!

​

We started out just making maple syrup each spring over a homemade outdoor wood stove and collecting sap by hand in old (cleaned) 1 gallon milk jugs. Today we are operating with a vacuumed line system which has increased the amount we are able to collect during the season, and a larger evaporator so we can make more syrup at a time.

​

Along with the maple syrup business, Don became interested in learning how to keep bees.  Over several years of building, losing bees, re-building, grafting queens out of over-wintered stock, and making a heartier stock of honeybee, he has learned a lot about how to manage honeybees in our extreme winters. Don currently has over 200 hives in the Phelps and Eagle River area of northern Wisconsin. 

​

​