Borealis Birch Farms

Birch oil is a highly therapeutic oil with wonderful healing properties that is in very short supply. Quality therapeutic birch is virtually non-existant. You can find birch oil that is not therapeutic, having been altered with chemical additives and extenders, but these oils have no healing properties.

Birch oil has a strong aroma, reminiscent of wintergreen. Birch and wintergreen are totally unrelated, however, they have nearly identical chemical contituents. Birch properties are: analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, disinfectant, diuretic, stimulant to bone and liver and warming. It helps to stimulate the body's natural production of cortisone.

Native Americans and early settlers used birch bark for tea that was used for medicinal purposes. The french use birch for these medicinal purposes: rheumatism, muscular pain, inflammation, hypertension, tendonitis, and cramps. There are many more therapeutic uses for birch....if there were only a continuously renewable supply....

Borealis Birch Farms was born on May 24th, 2007. It is the dream of Gary and Sheila Hay to grow yellow birch, Betula alleghaniensis, for distilling into Therapeutic Grade Birch Essential Oils. To learn more about Therapeutic Essential Oils, please click

The farm is currently in Delta Junction, Alaska, 600 birch seedlings strong. We planted 300 yellow birch and 300 cherry birch, Betula lenta. Our seedlings are in a test plot to determine the viability of the species here in Alaska. Birch is a natural tree to Alaska, however, the species is paper birch, Betula papyfira, and the essential oil from this tree has little to no therapeutic value. Our goal is to bring the yellow birch tree, which has the highest therapeutic value birch essential oil, to Alaska and to create the Borealis Birch Consortium in which growers across the state of Alaska can join to distill and market the oil. We would also like to explore the possibility of distilling the native plants of Alaska for therapeutic usage.

As of October 26th, 2007, the 300 yellow trees had leafed out over the summer and were about 2.5 feet tall prior to being covered with snow for the winter. The 300 cherry trees had not leafed and looked like they were less hardy and had not really grown beyond th 12-18 inch height from planting. Blessings at planting and each visit are bestowed upon these trees in order to bring them the energy to grow strong and supple. Today, February 9th, 2008, the trees are under snow and protected from the hungry moose. Hopefully the wind in Delta Junction does not blow all of the snow away as it gives the trees insulation from the sub-zero temperatures, Delta can get -50 below zero in the winter at worse, as well as keeping it from the moose. They just can't pass a tender morsel like a seedling up in the middle of winter!

Our trees are being grown organically with no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. The birch trees will grow to 6-8 feet prior to harvest. They will then be cut 4-6 inches above the ground and will be allowed to grow again. The trees will be chipped and then steam distilled to preserve the therapeutic constituents of the oil. The birch are a "Renewable Resource" which we hope will continue far into the future. Our goal is to have 1000 acres in Delta Junction with a Distillery, Visitor's Center and a Birch Museum.