The story of Singing Springs begins on an enchanted Mesa halfway between the towns of Telluride and Ridgway in Southwest Colorado. The southwest corner of this colorful state is quiet, still greatly wild and sparsely populated. I migrated here in 1990, first to Durango from my birthplace on the front range of Colorado. The rugged beauty of this place has captiveated me ever since. The local mountain range, the San Juan’s, are magnificently aesthetic. They have a unique diversity of ecosystems being on the edge of the Utah desert and the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Due to this, they hold an abundance of wild medicine plants. These plants called to me from the beginning and beckoned for me to learn about them: their names, their locales, their nature and their gifts.
When I started this herbal products company I needed a name. With so many incredible plants around I was tempted to choose one of them; Artemisia, Osha, Desert Sage or Aspen, but I always felt to choose one would be to exclude the others. At the time, I was living in a yurt on the enchanted mesa, at the edge of a meadow and an old-growth Gamble Oak grove. Right behind the Oaks lies an immense Aspen forest and nestled here and there in these great white giants is a collection of freshwater springs. The springs are collectively referred to as the Singing Springs. Like most springs their water is clean, pure and precious. Like spring herself they have regenerative powers and healing powers. These waters gift life to the forest and symbolize for me renewal, regeneration, purity, health, well-being and sacredness. These particular springs are so content with their situation and so vital they simply sing to embody their gratitude and their joy. This seemed to me something to emulate in every regard and therefore became my chosen name for the herbal medicine company that strives to embody these same qualities.
Singing Springs (plural) is also the antithesis of the dreaded silent spring. A water-spring that has gone dry and lifeless, a season– spring devoid of birdsong. Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was the first of its kind, the first to speak out about the dangers of pesticide use. It said in short, if we continue to poison the insects, the birds who eat them will also die and we will experience a silent spring. This apocalyptic view is poetically summed up with her title. For me this has always been another meaning for Singing Springs – to be the ardent supporter of the opposite. To do anything and everything in my power to prevent a silent spring. This desire is embodied in actions such as only buying organically produced materials despite the cost. It is using the nicest glass containers to reduce plastics in the environment, despite the cost. It is any action that honors the health of the pollinators, the birds and really, all our relations. When caring deeply, there is no other choice. Each day decisions are made and actions taken that say -may we all reside on a vibrant, thriving, healthy Earth and may the Earth express this vitality each and every spring. May there be an eternity of springs filled with song.
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NAMA (National Ayurvedic Medical Association) Professional member.