A teacher and steward of the land, Marco’s infectious energy and ideas tend to inspire those who work beside him. As a learned disciple of herbalism, permaculture, acupuncture, and martial arts—to name a few of Marco’s passions—he is guided to make the world a healthier, more sustainable place for communities of people and the natural environment.

Marco grew up outside of Boston, but escaped to sunny UC-Santa Barbara for college. Soon after, he began to study permaculture under the tutelage of the movement’s co-founder, Bill Mollison, thereby moving from indirect environmental activism to directly growing plants for food and medicine. Ever since, the tenets of permaculture have shaped his life and they continue to influence his work and teaching at Elkstone Farm. Marco loves showing the local community what is possible with permaculture, and the abundance that can be grown in the mountains.

Marco’s path to Elkstone Farm was never straightforward, but has always been marked by his curiosity, compassion, and intention. Among other pursuits, he has studied acupuncture with a 64th-generation master at a Taoist monastery, participated in rituals with Hawaiian elders, and helped Maui landowners transform their properties into sustainable, regenerative farms. He has climbed mountains throughout the Americas and is still awed by nature’s incredible beauty—especially in places with a sense of time and antiquity like old-growth forests and river-forged canyons. He has been the clinical director of an integrative medicine clinic in Boulder for over twenty years, where he also practiced Chinese medicine and acupuncture, operated an herbal supplement business, and taught permaculture. His pivot to managing Elkstone Farm reflects a long term vision for his work and his family—one that more closely realigns them with the land. He is a loving husband to Jamie and father to Cassidy, both of whom are sharing in the Elkstone dream.