is on the road in search of North America’s native caffeine plant, the Yaupon holly.Our search led us today to the peak of Mt Ida, a mountain full of crystals literally coming out of the earth, where we stumbled upon a very fantastic and magical spring and met a beautiful human named James who told us all about the local native lore and traveler’s history of the region- the mystical side, if you will.
While we filled up our water out of the gushing natural spring, we talked about Hot Springs, Arkansas and all of the wonderful things to explore there. We’ll head there tomorrow and visit the places he told us about and make a detailed account of our journey.
Natural springs are the most potent and health giving water sources on the planet. The earth pours forth ancient and wild water. Oftentimes this means the water coming out has never been in contact with modern pollutants and has been cycling deep in the earth for a very long time.
When it rises up is the first time it comes in contact with human culture and it has an incredible purity to it. There is something to these springs which we’ve known about for ages, and humans often make them important places in our communities. With the plague of modernity, we see the forgetting of these sacred and health giving places, but there are still those who care to nurture and draw from these gems.
All was not lost today, even though we didn’t find any wild Yaupon. We enjoyed the journey and did come across a Yaupon. As we went to a local health food store and asked Marilyn, the owner, if she knew of any Yaupon in the wild, she said she knew of a plant just a ways down the road in the yard of a house that’s for sale. So here we are able to present you with a photo of a domesticated Yaupon. We will continue our search tomorrow as we head over to Hot Springs where we’ve heard reports of one of the biggest Yaupons in the wild.
