Birch bark – what you know – or should know

BIRCHES ARE NOT COLLECTED BUT PEELED IN EARLY SUMMER! BIRCH BARK IS THE FASTEST GROWING RAW MATERIAL!

Birch bark, the raw material that can still be used infinitely, which our ancestors already knew in the Stone Age and used for many things in everyday life.

The first plastic glue made from birch bark. It is proven that the Neanderthals already attached their arrow and spearheads with an adhesive that they produced from birch bark . More than 40,000 years have passed since then.

Birch bark – say many scientists – was known to people over 200,000 years ago. As an adhesive, wound dressings-birch bark is antiseptic and antibacterial.

Or as shoes, hats, containers, sleeping mats, for beauty care and more.

The cambium, the lower layer of the birch bark, is edible; it contains, among other things, the sugar alcohol xylitol = birch bark spaghetti.

Ötzi, the famous “ice mummy”, lived about 5000 years ago. He was carrying two cans made of birch bark. There was charcoal in one of them. There was a birch bark insert in his shoes for insulation.

Birch bark: the first papyrus in the north! More than ten thousand documents from the 15th and 16th century – found in the RU – written on birch bark. It was also used for this by the Vikings.

The Indians of North America built canoes from birch bark. The insulating properties of the birch bark are enormous. That’s why you covered your wigwams with it. In winter only furs were fastened over it.

Thin birch bark was and is used as a dressing material.

Birch bark has been known as a natural remedy since the Middle Ages.

The triterpenes contained in the birch bark, especially betulin, are helpful in healing wounds. They serve the plant to ward off pests and to protect against UV radiation and are bactericidal. In addition, antiviral effects have been recognized, for example against HIV. Effects against malaria and tumors have also been shown.

In January 2016, the European Commission granted the betulin-containing drug Episalvan European approval for the treatment of dermal wounds in adults.

Crafts made from birch and birch bark

In Europe, this tradition has largely been lost – especially since the central European birch is no longer so well suited to peeling off large pieces.

It is completely different in northern and eastern Europe, Russia and North America. Especially with the Swedish, Finnish, Russian, but also North American birch, where huge forests still grow healthy.

In Finland and especially in Siberia, the arts and crafts are still highly valued.

We work with artists and craftsmen who produce a variety of everyday objects, jewelry and art from birch and / or birch bark. Using traditional techniques to keep tradition alive.

We cannot show and offer everything we have seen. And so we put together a small initial collection – for example with cans in different shapes and sizes. With or without a pattern.

What are the advantages of birch bark products?

Birch bark is antiseptic and antibacterial.

Practical and decorative

Easy to maintain – warm water is enough – no dishwasher

Healthy and pleasant, for example, “birch bark bustle” is extremely good for blood circulation

Buy birch bark products now …