Adrian Grenier Shows Off His Sustainable Texas Ranch in the 'Perfection of Nature’ (Exclusive)

When Adrian Grenier decided he wanted to leave Hollywood behind to live closer to nature, Austin was an easy choice.

The Entourage alum, who was familiar with the Texas city from visits to its annual South by Southwest festival, tells PEOPLE, “I really liked the down home vibe. Very cosmopolitan, yet no frills, no posturing.”

In 2020, the actor found Kintsugi Ranch, the homestead where he currently lives with his wife, Jordan Roemmele, and their baby son, Seiko, in Bastrop, Texas, 45 minutes outside the capital city.

While Grenier had been an active environmentalist for years, the ranch inspired him to rededicate himself to focusing on his own habits and impact.

“I wanted to really take the next step in my environmental journey and get very close to nature and how I can be a greater steward every day in practice as a lifestyle, not just as an idea,” he says.

Sustainability is “just a more enjoyable life experience,” according to the New York City native.

“You sleep better, you're more grounded, you have a sense of wellbeing. It's good for mental health, it's good for skill building, resilience and all of that, I think it allows you to make more informed, wiser choices when it comes to how you live, how you treat others, and in particular, how you treat the environment,” he adds.

Grenier and Roemmele began storing seeds and wood cuttings for plantings and rainwater for irrigation. The obvious next step, he says, was to store energy.

Grenier worked with the solar energy company Sunrun to power the ranch using solar panels and home batteries that provide power during outages.

“Out of all the renewable energy sources, I love solar because it's so personal,” he says. “I like the autonomy and the independence and the resilience that it allows for a customer. Instead of being at the mercy of a grid that could crash, could go down, power outages, a tree falls in a storm and suddenly you're without power, you can have your own power source so you're not beholden to that centralized system.”

The couple’s other eco-friendly efforts include growing much of their own food, using regenerative practices to replenish the soil, and creating a wildlife sanctuary.

Grenier says they now have bobcats, wild boar, fish, egrets, hawks, vultures, ducks, llamas, donkeys, goats, and chickens on their 46-acre property.

The Devil Wears Prada actor describes the home as “a Spanish hacienda villa style with a little Moroccan flair,” set amid ponds, springs and “countless pecan trees.” They also have plans to make wine from their grapevines.

“I am humbled every day,” he says of the sprawling farmland. “If you wanted to feel powerful, I think go work on Wall Street or something. This is a process of being continuously humbled by the perfection of nature and its systems and also how small you are really relative to its infinite power. I'm just here to serve in any way I can. So for me, it's chop wood, carry water, and just show up and do the best I can.”

In fact, he thinks his 4-month-old son might have inspired him to move there.

“I really wonder sometimes whether or not all of these decisions to move to the land were my own, or if it was my son from the spirit world telling me, ‘I'm not coming in until you move to the land,’ because I really do believe that he's so naturally connected to this place.”

Grenier calls living in Texas “a breath of fresh air” after his life in Hollywood — particularly because of the down-to-earth people.

“There's not a lot of social climbing, not a lot of status people,” he says. “Everyone's cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, so to speak. A lot of times in cities, I've always felt a little bit like I have to keep up with the Joneses. And here, it feels there's a lot of acceptance and, especially where I live, a lot of my friends are farmers and homesteaders and just really open-hearted and not afraid to put in a hard day's work. Salt of the earth and very loving.”

Grenier's plans for the ranch include growing more food, expanding their fruit and nut trees, and welcoming more animals. 

“Really, the last couple years have been a learning opportunity for my wife and I to get our feet dirty and just know our limitations, so that when we invite others to come in and support, we'll know how to ask for the right kind of help,” he says.

Grenier says he doesn’t miss city life.

“When I wake up here, I don't have anywhere to go,” he says. “I'm here already. I already have a place in the world, so I have a much more easy morning to just be alive, take the dogs out, have coffee with my wife. It's just stress-free, really.”