Talking Water Nature Retreat

10/09/2024

The weather is changing & boy are we excited! Nothing beats sitting on Blackbird’s patio, taking in the mountains, and smelling the fresh mint blowing in the wind 🍃🍁

Grower’s tip: snakes don’t like scented plants. Mint is a natural 🐍 repellent

29/08/2024

It’s fun to play around with recycled material & we think these benches prove it! 😎

We just added a trio of funky benches beside the pavilion. Our glass bottles are donated from and James lovingly stayed late to cut up spare rebar to anchor in the bases (the guys got roped into some late nights with me these last couple of weeks!).

Our process included:
- Leveling the ground to lean the benches slightly against the incline (mountain leans forward, benches lean backwards)
- Placing bags of concrete along the base and anchoring those to the ground with ~18” rebar and topping them with scrap pen netting
- Using standard concreting to form walls with rows of cleaned glass bottles protruding 🍾
- Cutting pvc scrap to create weep holes (and testing them repeatedly to ensure they function during the build)
- Laying plaster seam rolls along the tops for extra strength
- Covering the backs of the benches with concrete up to the necks of the bottles to prevent future breakage - “Poppy”/ John stayed late to do this. *side note: you don’t want to plug the ends of glass bottles in case any moisture is trapped, leading the glass to break due to the pressure when the water heats up
- Covering the tops and fronts of the benches with exterior thinset and decorating them with scrap metal pieces and glass beads (I didn’t snap photos of my little 👨‍🎨 helpers doing this)
- Cleaning off the glass with wire brush heads

Everything is an experiment and it’s always so fun to see what we can come up with!

24/08/2024

It’s a busy day down here at Coolidge Park! We are on Day 2 of the Chatt Town Cool Down Festival 💦💧 and having a great time! Come on down if you haven’t swung by already!

We are making DIY linen spray at our table and talking about earthbuilding, cordwood construction, and earth-friendly materials 🌎🍃

17/07/2024

We took advantage of the recent dry spell to meander along the shallows of last night.

The sounds of the water and the birds singing made it all the more magical 💧🎶🪶 Now we are even more eager to extend our trail system this winter!

12/07/2024

There are few things more magical than watching the light filter in through the glass bottles in Goldfinch Cabin 😇

Goldfinch's exterior walls were handbuilt by our family using an earthbuilding technique called Cordwood Construction and the interior walls are made of hempcrete & plaster. It sure feels like a work of art!

Want to come to the mountains and check it out yourself? Book a stay now at TalkingWaterTN.com. Bon Voyage! 🧚‍♂️

03/05/2024

Doesn’t matter how many times you see it - cresting the mountain & seeing the Smoky mist takes your breath away every time

Come see for yourself! Book a cabin at http://talkingwatertn.com/

A place for everybody

01/05/2024

Days like today are perfect for hikes down to chalkboard rock with littles 🌸

Want to stay in a Talking Water cabin and hike with your family on the trails too? Click the link below to check out our listings:

http://talkingwatertn.com/

10/04/2024

Foggy mornings really make the clover pop ☘️🍀☘️

We utilize clover for no-mow/low-mow landscaping. It makes the mountainside looks like Scottish rolling hills 🤗

Daisy Feed & Seed Company in Soddy-Daisy, TN deserves recognition for having the best quality and price clover seed. Please go check them out if you want to try no-mow for your own property!

Now, time to hunt for more four-leaf clovers 🕵️‍♀️

05/04/2024

Our youngest crew members have been hard at work on the trail! We are excited to share more photos of progress soon!

Want to book at a stay in our cabins? Check out our website: TalkingWaterTN.com

04/04/2024

Festival season has arrived and we would love to say hi! Talking Water is going to be at the inaugural Chattanooga Outdoor Festival on April 6 from 12-7 pm alongside 50+ other outdoor vendors, celebrating Chattanooga’s vibrant outdoor community and diverse recreational opportunities at the newly renovated Chattanooga Choo Choo Gardens.

The festival is free and open to all ages. It will have something for everyone, including live music, food and drink for purchase, kids activities and an outdoor vendor village. Come see what the hype is all about.

Get your free tickets in advance and you’ll be entered for a chance to win a weekend camper van rental from and an adventure package to immerse in Chattanooga’s vibrant outdoor scene.

Tag who you’re bringing to the most fun outdoor party of the year!

07/03/2024

Our green thumb came to visit for a week! 🌱 She has had to practice her defensive skills as the curious creatures are tempted by the flesh plantings

👩‍🌾🆚🐶👶

04/02/2024

Now that construction is mostly complete, we are turning our attention to redesigning our trail system. Two days in and things are already coming together well! It’s an adrenaline rush to traipse through the woods and orient the trail to different beauty points we find (uh…. how is bluff is more beautiful than the last?!).

We weren’t able to snag photos of everyone pitching in, but it was smooth work weaving through the woods and tackling this together 🙂

Big shout out to our friend Timmy Judge Seaman from Hard Boys Tree Surgery for dropping the unsafe trees, clearing fallen logs from our paths, and hopping around shooting ideas with us. Dude operates a chainsaw as if he was born with one in his hand 🌳🪵

26/01/2024

We happily present GOLDFINCH to you! This little lady is a labor of love and it is a little overwhelming to sit back and think of everything we accomplished putting her together.

Goldfinch is made with Cordwood Construction 🪵 It’s been a satisfying experience to assemble each call one log and bottle-log at a time!

More details to follow. But for now, I just want to say, Heck Yeah! Two Januaries ago, we first walked this land and dreamed of a family business with my folks. A lot has happened and it’s been an amazing (and all-consuming) experience. Cheers!🍻

Talkingwatertn.com

*****yes, this is a copy and paste from our business page because I cannot figure out how to share one Instagram to another. I will get better at this!

06/10/2023

Our supervisor is on site today (but she does nap on the job)

02/10/2023

02/10/2023

The walls of our little 8x10 “solar shed” are complete!

This was all an experiment, so we tried nearly a dozen recipes for a crack-free mortar mix 👩‍🔬🛠️👷‍♀️. We will be cordwood experts by the time Goldfinch (our cabin) is done!

Each day of building is preceded by about 4 days of prep work beforehand. So many steps involved! We will share tips/the process in other posts.



As always, kudos to our team. My biggest support along the way has included:

— Ken Kelly Sonner assembling the frame with my hella pregnant self (nearly a year ago) & later returning to prep logs

— James Such cutting logs and loading the kiln

— Karen Sonner prepping logs, running material, cleaning cabins, and staying clean enough to touch the kids (I get covered in lime)

— Jamie Kovarik giving the kids a weekly play time away from construction 🛝

— Richard Flatau for phone consultations to get this thing right!

— Rob & Jaki Roy for a mini workshop at their house in upper New York

— G, U, C, & S for keeping things interesting with the chaos factor. I’d just prefer they keep their arms out of the mortar mixer 🫨

09/08/2023

On a Tuesday! 🪵 We are finally building our cordwood walls!

The (underaged) day crew has gotten involved sanding, moving, stacking, and embellishing. “Momka” and I work longer shifts and are certified in quality control

It’s a slow handbuilding process, but so satisfying 🙌🏽 First up, finishing our little solar shed. Second up, putting up walls for a whole freaking house 😱

It’s shaping up to be another busy Autumn 🍃🍂






*our 4th cabin is Goldfinch. Just like the shed, it is a timber frame on poured slab foundation. We used 18” overhangs for the roof and 24” of stone/cinderblock walls to keep the cordwood off the ground. We are using a lime/sand mortar suggested by our plaster folks at Lancaster Lime Works