Spring is slowly coming into view now at the horizon (hold your horses, there is some more winter to enjoy before we get to the new awakening of life here in the north 
and that makes me inevitably think of birches around here. Those trees are predominant in our area and they are wonderful and elastic and uplifting and a joy to look at.
Maybe we like them so much since they have so much to offer: The young leaves make for a great healing tee, the bark contains wound healing betulin, the birch water that runs in gallons through the tree in spring is sweet and cleansing and even the fungi that grow on birches offer a variety of healing properties that are known to mankind for thousand of years. This tree is exceptional when it comes to the benefits it provides. Apart from all the other obvious benefits every kind of tree clearly provides for us: Renewing the air, giving us something outstanding and beautiful to look at and providing fire wood, shelter and an immune supporting climate, while they interact and communicate with everything around them, including us.
When extracted from the wood, birch essential oil can be used for a variety of things, especially for conditions relating to the use and support of the skeletal system like muscle development, muscle tone, whiplash, cartilage injury and muscle aches. It has anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, disinfectant, diuretic, stimulating (bone, liver) and warming properties. It can also be used for the treatment of acne, bladder infections, edema, gallstones, gout, infection, kidney stones, cleansing the lymphatic system, obesity, ulcers and osteoporosis. Quite the Jack of all trades, isn’t it? What’s not to love about birches?
Be well and see you around!