Billy Kaufman holds dirt John Whittemore plowed for the distillery.

This isn’t exactly what corporate America would call an official ground breaking, but in its own special way that’s exactly what it is.

Local farmer John Whittemore started early Friday morning plowing the rich farm land where Short Mountain Distillery’s first organic corn crops will be planted this coming Spring.

The spot is roughly 4 acres on the future home of the distillery, nestled in the rolling hills of Short Mountain in Cannon County. The distillery will need well over 100 tons of corn a year to make our fine Tennessee whiskey and moonshine, and we intend to get every bit of it from Cannon County and surrounding Tennessee farms.

We know we won’t get all of our corn organic at first. Over time, we want to help farmers we work with adopt more sustainable practices and help preserve our agricultural heritage for generations to come.

We also know the yield might not be as good as the corn Jack Daniel’s and George Dickel have shipped in from other states, but we also know what we’re producing is something we’re all producing together.

That’s what makes this unofficial ground breaking so special when you think about it, because this is where it all begins. This is the start of something real and something wholeheartedly Tennessee.