Northeast Tennessee, Land, Cob & Friends

My wife and I live in the Tri-Cities area of NE TN. We are looking for land, 2-10 acres, to build cob homes for ourselves and maybe our children and retired parents. Would love to connect with others from our area learning to do the same thing. We want to get out of our mortgage and live on what we can afford from the sale of our home and the income from our business. ( We hope to list it soon, perfect for large family with children, right next to elementary and middle school..... 8 bedroom, 3 bath.) We had 8 kids when we got married (4 each), so I had to add on, but 5 are on their own now, with 3 soon to follow. We want to down size and show the kids how to live simply and affordably, teaching them to build their own homes, if they choose, with no mortgage and survive college without debt. Looking for land, other cob lovers and permie friends in our area. We are only 10 minutes from Bristol, VA and 45 minutes from the NC boarder. (It's about 1.5 hours to Asheville, NC and 2 hours to Knoxville, TN)

Hi Land , Cob , and Friends! I'm inquiring on how you are coming along with buying land and building cob home structures?
I have this interest also, living within means, simply and well, without being in debt to mortgage companies, etc.
I have experimented with building cob ovens in Johnson City, TN- where I live. I have also done a very small amount of natural building with a local natural building farm. I would like to start and be part of the growth of a natural building sustainable movement in this area.
I would like to hear how you are coming along.
Much Care~

josette

Hello Joe! Josette and I have worked together on a few natural building projects here in east TN. Y'all should reach out to the Baleyreeshire out in Limestone, who are doing natural building education workshops and workdays - Jamie and Angie are incredibly kind and knowledgeable. Their webpage is at http://thebaleyreeshire.com/ and their facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/thebaleyreeshire. Unlike a lot of places, they have "open house days" where they don't charge for you to come learn with them on their projects.

While I'm definitely very interested in all this, I've been focusing more on perennial agroforestry since my relatively recent exposure to permaculture, so my knowledge is pretty limited. A project I'm interested in getting into sometime soon is the creation of a rocket stove at our community edible park. Maybe y'all could make it out to one of our workdays! You can follow us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/treestreetsfoodforest

Look forward to potentially collaborating!

Taylor Malone
Program Leader
Build It Up East TN

I live in Church Hill, TN close to Kingsport. I'm curious about how you are coming along with your project? I started an online magazine called PermaMag. I'm interested in documenting your progress from start to finish.

Hi! I'm very new here, but would love to be kept abreast of your progress! We live in Speedwell, TN currently, but lived in the Tri-Cities area for about 4 years, primarily in Kingsport and Erwin. Speedwell is about 2 hours from you (hour and a half if you take 58 through Virginia, just watch for troopers! ), I would absolutely love to see a cob house in person! Haha.


~Cody

Hi Joe just wondering how everything was going for you?  I am in hamblen county and would like to continue my dad's legacy of off the grid living/alternative energy/preservation and I just found out about cob homes and fell in love!  I would like to get someone to  build a cob home for me (I am an artist and designer so I def want to be involved but I want an expert to be in charge lol) and possibly barter for a spot to build their own.  It is a beautiful secluded spot on a mountain with stunning lake and mountain views, esp in the winter.  I would possibly like to build more and provide artist/writer residencies in my dad's name as well as help others with the same passion and heart that he had, but not the ability due to not being able to get the land to do it on.  Anyone interested please contact me.  Thank you!    Heather

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