Christina and Jeff Escalante first discovered the transformative power of community during a whirlwind backpacking trip that took them to intentional communities in places like Spain, Israel, and Japan. At the time, they were living in a New York City apartment building where they barely knew their neighbors, a stark contrast that left a lasting impression.

Fast forward a few years to the height of the pandemic. Christina was finishing her medical residency in Philadelphia, and the couple began searching up and down the East Coast for a new place to call home. Their commitment to the idea of intentional community was so strong that they even considered building one themselves – until a realtor in Atlanta recommended they visit Serenbe and everything clicked. Within three days of exploring the neighborhood, they were under contract on a new home.

As if that story weren’t inspiring enough, Christina is also the co-founder of Acorn to Oak, a personalized healthcare practice based right here in Serenbe. She provides care for children from birth through age 18, while her partner, Dr. Samer Blackmon, sees adult patients. Designed from the ground up, this innovative and welcoming practice is focused on building deep, meaningful relationships with every patient.

In this episode, Monica and Steve sit down with Christina to talk about planting roots in a close-knit community, the scary but rewarding journey of starting her own medical practice, and the everyday magic of Food Truck Fridays in Serenbe.

Shownotes

• Acorn to Oak Health
• Serenbe Events Calendar
• Radical Dough
• The General Store at Serenbe

Keywords: serenbe, community, intentional community, lifestyle, medicine, healthcare, personalized healthcare, medical practice, acorn to oak, travel, backpacking, intentional living, medical school, residency, pediatric medicine, New York City, New York, Philadelphia, road trip, motherhood, parenting, parenthood

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Serenbe Stories is a podcast about making an impact, building a better life, and the extraordinary power of nature and community. Follow Serenbe on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Josh Green is an Atlanta-based journalist whose work has appeared in prominent publications such as Garden & Gun, Atlanta Magazine, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Urbanize Atlanta, where he covers the city’s evolving real estate landscape and development trends. Josh first visited Serenbe with his family all the way back in 2013 – and while he recognized its promise, he also saw that this budding community still had a long way to go. Since that first visit, he’s had a front-row seat to Serenbe’s evolution and he’s written extensively about the urban planning and architecture that make it stand out from Atlanta and its surrounding suburbs.

Beyond journalism, Josh is also an accomplished fiction writer. His debut novel, Secrets of Ash, earned the Indie Reader Discovery Award for Literary Fiction and earned him a nomination for the 2024 Georgia Author of the Year. His latest release, Goodbye, Sweetberry Park, came out just last month and is already getting rave reviews.

In this conversation, Steve and Monica sit down with Josh to talk about Serenbe’s transformation over the years, the importance of supporting local authors, and how storytelling helps us make sense of the places we live.

Show Notes

• Pre-Order Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where We Live with Radical Common Sense by Steve Nygren
• Urbanize Atlanta
• Goodbye, Sweetberry Park: A Novel of City Life, Creeping Gentrification and Flesh-eating Snakes by Josh Green
• Kirkwood Spring Festival | May 17 2025
• Gothic short stories and a comic crime thriller for spring reading (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
• Serenbe Unveils Plans for Large New Neighborhood with Central Park (Urbanize Atlanta)
• Serenbe at 20 (Urbanize Atlanta)
• Hollywood to Serenbe: Finding Magic in Community with Randy Zisk (Serenbe Stories)
• ARTS ATL
• Serenbe Events Calendar

Keywords: Josh Green, Serenbe, journalism, urban planning, novel writing, Atlanta neighborhoods, family experiences, book promotion, gentrification, Atlanta, built environment, biophilic design, architecture, design, nature, biophilia

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Serenbe Stories is a podcast about making an impact, building a better life, and the extraordinary power of nature and community. Follow Serenbe on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

If you’re a longtime listener , you already know that Serenbe is more than just a place - it’s a nature-based model for living that inspires others to challenge the status quo, embrace optimism, and reimagine their communities. And along the way, many people discover they’re reinventing themselves, too.

Steve Nygren would be the first to tell you he’s learned a great deal over his 20-year journey as an “accidental developer.” Now, he’s sharing those insights in a new book, Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where We Live with Radical Common Sense. It’s a call to action for anyone looking to create meaningful change no matter how small their sphere of influence may seem. The book offers a blueprint for building sustainable communities where wonder lives in the everyday and people of all ages can thrive.

Steve’s ideas and solutions aren’t complex or costly. They’re grounded in simple, yet radical, common sense.

In this episode of Serenbe Stories, Steve and Monica sit down to explore what inspired him to write the book, why local solutions matter more than ever, and the guidance he’d offer to anyone who’s feeling stuck or searching for a fresh path forward.

Shownotes

• Pre-Order Start in Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where We Live With Radical Common Sense by Steve Nygren
• Subscribe to Steve Nygren on Substack
• Are You Ready for Radical Common Sense? By Steve Nygren (Substack)
• Serenbe Events Calendar
• Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

Key Words: book launch, radical common sense, community building, nature impact, practical solutions, mindset shifts, local solutions, sustainable communities, personal influence, change

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Serenbe Stories is a podcast about making an impact, building a better life, and the extraordinary power of nature and community. Follow Serenbe on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn.