Copeland's Frank Lloyd Wright® Coonley Coffee Tables

Do you find yourself eating dinner in front of the fireplace or TV more these days?  One of the Top 10 Trends in Furniture for 2012 is the move towards large custom coffee tables.  Why is that?

I know at my house, if the boys are home, we eat at the kitchen table. But if it's just Ken and me we sit down on the couch and use the coffee table instead.  It's casual and comfy and relaxing.

The large square coffee tables can fit up to 6 or 8 people around them.  They're great for playing cards or setting drinks and snacks on or even just putting your feet up on after a long day.

Check out some of the new coffee tables we've recently added to our store.  Most are available in solid cherry, maple, walnut, oak or reclaimed barnwood and can be customized to fit your space– large or small.  Give Rebecca and Shannon a call to learn more.

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Bird-friendly, shade-grown coffee

Shannon is always whipping us into shape here at Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture.  In the few months she's been here, she's made several suggestions to help us get greener.  For example… do you use paper towels or hand dryers in your restroom?  Neither is all that green…so Shannon got Ken to go out and purchase cotton hand towels for each person in the office (color coded, of course). She even has Douglas buying organic half and half for his coffee… who knew?

And now we have organic, shade-grown, bird-friendly coffee in our break room.  I had written in January about the importance of buying shade-grown, bird-friendly coffee (we learned this from our friend Roz Renfrew over at the Vermont Center for EcoStudies).  Unfortunately we've gotten spolied with our K-cup coffee brewer though and I was feeling bad that I couldn't find K-cups with bird friendly coffee.  But Shannon came through as usual and found a company called San Francisco Bay Coffee, whose:

100% Arabica coffee is shade-grown on high altitude farms over 3000 feet elevation. These farms employ a bio-diverse natural cover of shade trees to develop the beans slowly – and give them more character and depth compared to full-sun, "monoculture" coffee farms. This shade grown farming also provides habitat to animals and birds and helps restore the ecosystems including local water supplies. We are committed to organic farming as well, and we’ve perfected innovative techniques to turn coffee pulp waste into organic fertilizer using vermiculture (worm composting)! We’re spreading that technology to organic farms (and even non-organic ones) throughout the world.

I'm happy to report that the coffee tastes great!  I did take a picture of Shannon drinking a cup but she deleted it and sent this one over instead.  Everyone around here is so camera shy.

The post Organic, Shade Grown Coffee For K-Cups: Shannon Found It! appeared first on Vermont Woods Studios.

Here's how they describe their work:  "VCE biologists scale high peaks, paddle remote ponds, slog through wetlands, visit ordinary backyards, and traverse the Americas to study birds, insects, mammals, amphibians and other wildlife."  How cool would that be?

One of my favorite VCE project areas is bird conservation.  In fact, we named a line of our furniture after Roz Renfrew a champion VCE ecologist. Roz has dedicated her life to conserving tropical habitat for Vermont migratory birds in places like Hispaniola and Bolivia.  Through her work we've come to understand the importance of buying shade grown coffee.

It turns out that the reason we started Vermont Woods Studios (to promote rainforest conservation) is also the reason to buy "bird friendly coffee".  Whereas coffee used to be grown under the canopy of the rainforest (thus providing great habitat for birds) it's now more profitable to cut the rainforest down and grow coffee in the sun.  Besides requiring tons of pesticides and fertilizers which destroy life in nearby streams, rivers and coastline this un-natural practice eliminates critical habitat for birds.

So… I've been able to make the switch at home, no problem but now I've got to get Douglas to find Bird Friendly coffee for our Kuerig dispenser at work.  I've looked everywhere and can't find it. Any ideas?  I'd welcome your suggestions below or on our Facebook.  Thanks!

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