About Us

Alisa is Nana’s assistant on all things cooking. When we are planning family meals, the two of them spend countless hours enthusiastically preparing menus before the cooking ever starts. She is also the scheduler for the garden. She knows when we need to plant, gather, and store our crops. As a result, she is an avid weather watcher. Ask her at any moment what the weather is supposed to be for the upcoming week, and she’ll know.

Chris is the family inventor and manager. Whatever you’re doing, he’ll know enough about the job to help problem solve when you run into trouble; therefore, he gets lots of phone calls throughout the day.  If you have a hard job, he’ll help you figure out an easier way to get it done. It may slow the work at the beginning, but you will be thankful for his creativity and ingenuity by the end of the job. He is also lovingly known as Uncle Santa Claus, because all of the kids know that he loves to spoil the ones he loves.

When we need to present something to the public, Dan is the man. He captures moments to share our joy on the farm. His sunset and landscape pictures are phenomenal and are often used to help tell our story. We can request a picture or video from any time in our family’s history, and he’ll be able to find it in his infinite store of digital data. When he is not taking pictures or making movies, he is watching them. As a result, he is the movie trivia master.

Our little nerd, Erin. She loves deeply and has an eagerness, and sometimes naivety, to life. As a result, she is the brunt of many jokes as we teach her that the world is full of imperfect people. She lovingly takes care of the little ones by teaching them about science and Shakespeare. She studies in her downtime as she is currently a full-time college student that recently was accepted into medical school.

When you think of a strong West Texas woman, you are probably thinking of someone like Gigi. From her tough work schedule to her independence, Gigi works from sunup to sundown. When there is no work to do, she is looking for more. She is the brains of our beef production and knows what our calves need day-to-day to stay healthy and what do to when they’re sick. She is also in charge of the organized chaos of bottle feeding our orphan calves with the kids.

It is always fun to have Jeremiah on your work crew for the day. No matter the amount of physical labor or how mentally perplexing, he’ll lighten the mood with stories of yesteryear or a string of jokes. If you aren’t careful, you’ll probably get a free counseling session as it is hard to be dishonest with his piercing questions. To the kids, he is affectionately known as Uncle Bear.

Jill is a child wrangler and our resident arborist.  She encourages literacy and reading independence with the children by letting them explore books through her eyes.  It is the family joke that when she is not reading to the children, she is reading to her fruit trees. She loves spending her downtime giving the apple, peach, and apricot trees additional love and care. Let’s just say, no one wants to be the crow or deer that messes with her trees.

Cha-Ka is Joseph’s most common nickname as he reminds us of the bumbling idiot in “Land of the Lost.” Don’t get us wrong, we love him dearly, but he can take a joke really well. Plus, we really don’t think he’s an idiot. We just have to keep the young ones humble. He is a fast learner and always ready to try something new even if he’s not sure of himself. He endears you by his willingness to make a fool of himself trying.  Due to this willing nature, he is fast developing his plumbing skills, and has recently been able to fix water lines independently.

Kati is the face of Sanctuary Family Farms. If you contact us, there is a high likelihood, you’ll deal with her at some point. The ironic thing is that Kati was the shy kid growing up, but she now tackles life and it’s challenges with eagerness and optimism. She absolutely loves meeting each person that contacts us whether it is to make a payment or ask for prayer.

When we have a junk pile that keeps growing and growing, at some point we call in Ky. She can quickly see what needs to be thrown out or what can be used for later. When she is done sorting, no one has an excuse for not being able to find something . . . or to not put it back where they found it.  As a natural expansion, she is also the one that inventories all of our vine-ripened fruits and vegetables when we are donating produce bags.  You can catch her at any moment, and she’s got a good idea of how many bags we made last week and how many we will be able to make the next week.  Without her organization, we’d likely be walking in a sea of chaos.

Lee is the engineer of the family. If we can’t find him (and all of the equipment is working at the moment), he is probably in the barn building or planning something new. He is the master of any tool or equipment on the farm and is usually the one called to fix things when they are broken. He does have a sense of humor, but you may not realize it until you are in tears. His straight steely face is misleading.

Nana is the heart of the family.  Everyone knows that if they have Nana’s love, it will be okay.  In fact, everyone may be mad at you, but Nana will always be your advocate.  If she is not with her grandchildren, she is in the kitchen.  The only thing that makes her cooking time better is having someone learning from her in the kitchen.  Each week, she shares a recipe with the public.

Sunshine, or Michaela, has started a small leather shop, so look her up if you need a custom gift or treat for yourself.  She is learning how to embrace the joy she had in childhood and take it with her into adulthood as she faces the seemingly volatile life of post high school.  As she ends her undergraduate schooling, she is looking forward to a postgraduate career in mental health care.  She has started a podcast where she encourages other Christians by sharing her struggles and victories through Christ.  Check it out and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and follow her on Facebook.  Don’t do podcasts, but want to connect with her?  Send her an email: strengthfromgrace412@gmail.com

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Everyone knows Pa. He is our dad, grandad, and spiritual counsel. He leads by word and action daily, and all decisions go through him so that the circus we call family may go on. He starts each workday with prayer and scripture and ends each day with an hour-long meeting to discuss our failures and plans for change. If you don’t want to be honest, don’t show up. Through his testimony, we are encouraged to be better each day.