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Door #3

Short Mountain Coffee

I started a small business this year bringing fair trade, organic, locally roasted coffee to the neighborhood. Short Mountain Coffee – Woodbury Blend – is available only in Cannon County.

Coffee can be purchased ground or whole bean at the Arts Center of Cannon County, The Antique & Feedstore, and through Morningside Buying Club, the local food buying club run by Barb and Jim Joyner.

Woodbury Blend is a medium roast mix of Mexican, Peruvian, and Sumatran beans. The beans are sourced and roasted for Short Mountain Coffee by Bongo Java Roasting Company in Nashville.

Each sale contributes money towards environmental preservation projects in the county.

Stones River Watershed Association

Google - Define:Watershed

After acclimating to TN and learning about the local water supply, we began attending meetings and events organized by SRWA. We and many of our neighbors rely on springs for our water. The system of springs and streams in our region are closely intertwined.

In our case our spring overflows into the Parchcorn Branch (stream) which flows directly into the East Fork of the Stones River which then merges with the West and Middle-Fork flowing for many miles before emptying into Piercy Priest Lake. Several sizable municipalities take their water from the lake. Our local town, Woodbury, draws directly from the East Fork just 4 miles from our house and spring.

What we know? All water is connected. All neighbors are connected by that water. This connectivity obligates us to take seriously how we treat our land and our water. Any chemicals or siltation in our stream flows down and impacts the neighbors and that impacts us.

We participated in last year’s Watershed Summit, a weekend meeting of watershed associations, environmental focused state agencies, and other statewide not-for-profits involved with water quality and water recreation. The event was held in our county on top of Short Mountain – the highest point in Middle TN.

Watershed Summit II is scheduled for the same location and will run from Sept 19-21, 2008.

Contact us for more information. Check their website, SRWA, to become a member

Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation

www.tenngreen.org/

This organization is a Nashville based, statewide not-for-profit. The mission of the Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation is to preserve Tennessee’s natural treasures – waterfalls, caves, springs, rock bridges, and bluffs.

Upon moving to TN with a goal of finding land on which to build, an opportunity to acquire and preserve land on Short Mountain could not be passed up.

TN Parks and Greenways Foundation President, Kathleen Williams, provided the necessary legal structure and encouragement to work through preserving a piece of land – 535 acres of forest abutting Short Mountain Sanctuary. SMS already was overseeing 200 acres.

Since that initial interaction, TN Parks and Greenways Foundation staff and board have assisted me in engaging the state of TN to preserve another 1,000 acres nearby. That project is still underway.

If you have family lands that need to be preserved or want to contribute and participate with the preservation of lands of statewide significance, do not hesitate to call me or TN Parks and Greenways at 615-386-3171.