45 Years, One East Texas Farm

Who We Are

Hi, I'm Alan — and I've Been
Getting My Hands Dirty Since 1979

I was born and raised in Texas, and I've spent the majority of my 70+ years working the land. Since 1979, my wife Sandra and I have lived and worked on our small farm in East Texas — raising animals, growing food, and building a self-sufficient life from the ground up.

What started as necessity became a passion, and what became a passion eventually became a calling to teach. That's what TexasPrepper2 is: everything I've learned over 45+ years of real homesteading, shared as plainly and practically as I know how.

What I Know (From Actually Doing It)

Over the decades, I've raised cattle, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, bees, and fish. I've grown just about every vegetable you can grow in East Texas, along with fruit trees, blackberries, and more herbs than I can name. I've built greenhouses, fences, coops, raised beds, and barns — most of them with my own two hands.

I've also learned hard lessons: crops that failed, animals that died, projects that went sideways. I share those too, because the mistakes are where the real learning happens. My YouTube channel — which has now reached over 140 million views and 155,000 subscribers — has always been about telling the truth, not selling a dream.

The YouTube Channel

I started posting videos on YouTube years ago with nothing more than a camera and something to say. I never expected it to become what it is. Over 1,500 videos and 140 million views later, I still just show up, share what I know, and try to be helpful. Topics I cover regularly include:

• Greenhouse building (my cattle panel greenhouse design has been replicated around the world)
• Raised bed vegetable gardening
• Backyard chickens — from first coop to first egg
• Blackberry and fruit production
• Emergency preparedness and food storage
• Beekeeping basics
• Livestock management on small farms
• Home food preservation — canning, drying, fermenting
• Off-grid and self-sufficient living strategies

Sandra — The Other Half of This Operation

Sandra and I have been married over 50 years. She is, without question, the reason any of this works. She's been my partner in every sense — on the farm, in our family, in our faith, and in this ministry of teaching others. Most of what I know about food preservation, home cooking, and the daily rhythm of homestead life, I learned alongside her.

Faith and Family First

We've served in church ministry for most of our adult lives. Our faith is the foundation of everything we do — how we treat people, how we approach the land, and why we believe it matters to be prepared and self-reliant. We raised two daughters on this farm. Both of them grew up learning where food comes from and how to take care of themselves. That's the whole point, really.

Why TexasPrepper2.com

I built this site as a home for everything that doesn't fit in a YouTube video — written guides, in-depth articles, printable planners, and resources you can reference without having to watch a video. Whether you've got 40 acres in Texas or a 10x10 raised bed on a balcony in New York, there's something here for you.

I'm not trying to sell you a lifestyle. I'm not trying to scare you into prepping. I'm just a 70-something-year-old farmer from East Texas who figured some things out, and wants to pass them on before he can't anymore.

I hope something here helps you.

— Alan