A backyard garden

for stress relief and nutritious food.

Small scale commercial food production

About Me

Living a Life Worth Living

and Making a Difference

Hello; My name is Mark Groo.

My passion for "health and well-being" motivated me to start a Water Store, which is doing very well, thank you.

That business can be found at purewaterwatsonville.com.

My passion now includes "restoring land".

Working with natural systems to improve Soil health.

I earned a reputation as "The Water Guy" in my current business.

I want to be "The Soil Guy" in the next business!!

I began this journey many years ago. The seed was planted when I was a teen, helping out on my grandparents farm.

Groo Acres is my return to that lifestyle.

That LifeStyle includes;

1) Working in harmony with the land,

2) Using natural systems to add fertility,

3) Teaching others and learning from others,

4) Land Restoration and Community building,

5) Spending quality time with the ones we love.

Mark Groo

Structures and Access

Water

My twisted journey of finding my way

to "The Soil Food Web"

I grew up in Northern California, exploring the lakes, mountains and remote trails.

My parents were very active and we did a lot of car camping, with the family. So as a kid I spent a lot of time swimming, hiking and exploring.

As a teen I spent many summers on my grandparents ranch, helping with the farming operation.

I learned the value of personal health and fitness in order to more fully appreciate all these outdoor activities.

Math and science came easy to me so got a BSEE degree from Chico State University. My hometown happened to be Cupertino, in the heart of Silicon Valley. So I got a job as an electrical engineer, started a family and had a very successful 24 year career. I had all the comforts of living the american dream; nice home, boat, motorcycles, (the "stuff" of success), and borrowed more than I saved. The Dot Com boom passed me by and in 2003 found myself unemployed due to a department wide lay off.

I knew that this was a pivotal time in my life. I looked at the lay off as an opportunity because I was free to move in any direction. But also realized that I had few options because I had a very narrow skill set. I could continue in the engineering field but I wanted to explore other areas. But I had no idea where to put my time and energy.

So I took a sabbatical to discover my passion. I sold my house bought a trailer and hit the road. I was on the road for 2 years. Exploring remote areas of Utah, Arizona and the High Sierras. It became clear to me that my passion was to "promote health and well-being".

So I returned home, in 2005, to start the Pure Water Store. www.purewaterwatsonville.com

During the housing market crash of 2008, I decided to dig into the cause of the crash. I was already prepared to find a bunch of corruption, given what I had learned about the 911 incident several years prior. The more I learned about the cause of the '08 crash the more concerned I became. It seemed that after a basic understanding of our monetary system and how money is created and business cycles are manipulated, I lost hope in our monetary system. I was reminded of the movie "Matrix", this economic education was like taking the red pill and there was no going back.

There is corruption in every system; economic, political, health care, education, energy, food, and on and on. There seemed to be no accountability for the injustice and immoral behavior. This lead to a study of our legal system, specifically our constitution.

Finally there was hope. The founding fathers wrote at length about the principles and intent behind the constitution. They also warned us if we strayed from these principles and what would happen. What they warned us about has come true. Were the founding fathers profits, or does history repeat itself? I am sure it is the latter. The point is that the mess we are in can be changed, by living true to a set of principles and laws.

These principles include;

Do no harm to another person or person's property (golden rule)
Non intervention policy (both with foreign policy and domestic policies)
Never strike first (violence is only justified in self defense)
Honest money (digital currency free from central banks)
Fair market (eliminate regulations and let the markets regulate business)

If you agree with these principles you are an anarchist and a libertarian.

The question I asked myself was "What to do?" because the systems we depend on are not sustainable. they are collapsing due to the corruption and inefficiencies. I have no interest in saving them or taking a stand against them. I have decided to selfishly take care of myself and minimize my dependence on those systems. Being selfish turns out to be the most responsible action for all involved. I can not care for anyone else if I can not care for myself. The more I learn how to live sustain-ably to more I can show others to do the same. Then I found Permaculture.

Permaculture is a study of natural systems (ecosystems) and the relationships between the elements of the system, and using strategies and techniques that harmonize with these relationships to bring about the desired results from that ecosystem.

I found my niche within Permaculture by attending a Permaculture Conference in San Diego where I met Dr. Elaine Ingham and "The Soil Food Web". This is now my life passion, to improve soil health. My mission statement of promoting health and well-being is still valid. I can now use water and soil to fulfill that mission statement.

I am committed to learning all I can about the Soil Food Web so I can teach it to others.

I intent to start a homestead as a demonstration site and start a consulting business to help others with their soil.