Ethnobotanical Advent 2025 - Super saplings!

Ethnobotanical advent is back! 🎄🌟🎁 This year I'm going to introduce you to some of our young whipper-snapper saplings and excite you with snippets of tree info!

#1: Beginning with Birch!

I was curious about why birch is a favourite for sauna rituals...like in Finland with their vihta/vaska 'sauna whisks' made of bundle of fresh birch twigs.

So I investigated.

Whipping the skin with these birch bundles stimulates circulation, opens the pores and eases pain, with the added bonus of scenting the air with an incredible fresh 'green' aroma!

Which, by the way, is all down to the volatile essential oil in the tree - methyl salicylate. Related to aspirin, it's a natural pain killer, flavouring and fragrant reminder of the forest! Sweet, herbal and minty it's a perfect partner for the sauna!

Who needs any better excuse than to come jump in the sauna on a day like today and test it out! 🔥 (Open all throughout the winter season, including Christmas - only £45 for an hour for up to six peeps!) You could even get it as a gift! Apologies for the shameless sell of the sauna, but IT IS BRILLIANT after all!

Make all the more brilliant with Birch!