My personal experience with the medicinal aspects of Birch is limited yet Birch trees conjure up positive memories and feelings for me when I see them that I would not have remembered otherwise.  Birch trees have always fascinated me.  In my eyes, they stand out among other trees because of their beautiful white bark.  Every time I catch a glimpse of a Birch tree, a little smile spreads across my face and brings a feeling of peace to my body. 

A friend once wrote me a note on the bark of a Birch tree and sent it to me in the mail.  I still have it and from time to time I come across it and besides the white color being a bit yellow, it looks as if it was sent yesterday.  It is still in perfect condition and I now know that to be due to the betulin that resides in the bark of Birch trees, among many other properties.

My experiences with its medicinal qualities are limited to its external application.  I make an Arnica infused oil and add the essential oil of Birch to it to be used on sore muscles and twisted ankles as well as for massage oil.  I made it once as a gift for my sister who loved it so much that she insisted that I market it.  So I added it to my catalog for my botanical business.  It has been quite a popular seller.  Especially when I lived out west where a mountain bikers and kayakers are plentiful.  These people seemed to need my Arnica/Birch oil the most. I look forward to using Birch as medicine more in the future.

When my family and I were considering moving to Michigan, we took a road trip to visit first. As we passed through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I bought a book called “Forests of Michigan” by Donald Dickmann and Larry Leefers which I read almost cover to cover for the rest of the trip.  What I learned was that the Birch tree seemed to have the biggest influence for the Native people’s survival and I became very interested in finding out more about the Birches.  One of the most interesting things to me is that Birch trees have existed in a 360-degree radius of the northern latitudes of the Earth.  Many people in many countries made similar uses from the Birch trees.  For example: the canoes- the idea of making canoes from Birch trees infiltrated the minds of people all over the world who were possibly completely unconnected.  They didn’t make rafts, they didn’t make rowboat type boats, they made canoes.  It makes me wonder how in this day in age when we are completely connected to billions of people on the Earth via, mail, phone and internet, we can fail to have that collective consciousness that it seems once existed between humans and between all other species. The Birch tree gives me hope that humans are truly intuitive beings and one day when we get all of this consumerism and greediness out of our system, we may one day rely on our intuitive nature and our nature resources again.