Until what date are birch brooms harvested? Birch broom for a bath - features and independent preparation. Collection rules for coniferous trees

Most amateurs baths express their warmest sympathy for birch broom- the symbol of the Russian bathhouse. Birch is a real biological miracle of our nature. In a forest where there are many birches, breathing is easy and pleasant, because birch leaves emit volatile substances that purify the air and kill pathogenic microbes. The birch broom, as already mentioned, is the most popular among lovers of the Russian bath, its decoration and symbol. Birch leaves are porous, and when you steam in a bathhouse with a birch broom, they fit tightly to the steamed body and absorb sweat well.

When to cut a broom?

A birch broom is cut on Trinity Day, but in fact, experience suggests that birch brooms cut until the “earrings” appear; by that time, the leaf on the birch will get stronger and gain strength.

Oak brooms are cut in July. Oak brooms are prepared as soon as the leaves are strong. The earlier the oak broom is harvested, the more delicate the foliage and, accordingly, the less strength. Acorns on an oak tree are a sure sign of harvesting too late.

We have different types of birch trees, about 50 of them, so the residents of our country have the opportunity to choose their own type of birch for a broom.

Weeping birch brooms are very good, whose branches hang down in long strands, the branches of this birch are flexible and not brittle. Best time harvesting birch branches for brooms - early-mid July; They are harvested in dry weather by cutting branches 50-60 cm long. It is advisable to cut branches from trees growing in damp, damp places, near water. Twigs should be thin, straight and flexible. When cutting branches, be sure to pay attention to the condition birch leaf: if the leaves on top are smooth, tender, as if velvety, this is what you need. Do not cut branches with rough leaves; they will make a rough and hard broom.

In a birch forest, choose a low-growing, fluffy young birch tree. Carefully bend its trunk and cut off a few branches 50-60 cm long. Only the side shoots should be cut, without touching the top of the tree. A true Russian bath lover will never destroy a tree! Twigs growing from old stumps or birch roots are also good; they are very flexible and tender.

How to knit a broom?

First, you need to clear the branches of twigs and leaves in the place where the broom handle will be, collect them together, giving the broom a flattened shape. The broom should not be made heavy, it should be light and comfortable for the hand. Then the collected branches are wrapped with twine at the handle, squeezing them with the left hand. The end of the broom handle is carefully cut off and wrapped with a bandage or a strip of cloth, so as not to get calluses on your hands in the steam room. Brooms must be dried in a dry, dark place, in the attic of a bathhouse, country house or garage. You can also store prepared brooms in the garage, in the attic of a bathhouse or at home, preferably in a small heap of hay. In urban environments, brooms can be stored on the balcony or mezzanine in paper or plastic bags. The above methods for making and storing a birch broom are also suitable for all other brooms.


Preparation of brooms:
a – laying branches;
b – application of the cord;
c – wrapping the handle;
d – contraction of branches;
d – tying a knot;
e – tightening the knot;
g – trimming;
h – storage of the finished broom.

Oak broom- harvested in June-August in damp, dark oak forests.

Oak broom good in the bathhouse, it is very durable, the leaves do not fall off, and it is enough for 3-4 visits to the bathhouse. This broom can easily blow steam onto the body; it is usually used by those who like to thoroughly warm up in a steam room and douse themselves high fever. In general, an oak broom is fun and comfort for healthy and hardy Russian bath lovers.

Cherry broom- very soft, it is pleasant to steam with it and gives off a delicate cherry aroma. It is harvested in early June, cutting off young unnecessary shoots and root shoots. At the same time, you can make brooms from black currant. Although cherry-currant brooms are not as durable as birch and oak brooms, they do give off an amazing aroma. Cherry and currant brooms are very beneficial for the skin.

Fir broom This broom is not dried; it is used in fresh, i.e. once. In a hot steam room, a fir broom helps with joint pain, radiculitis, and various neuralgia; improves condition blood vessels. Fir needles are rich in phytoncides, and steam saturated with them acts as inhalation to prevent acute respiratory infections and colds.

Eucalyptus broom A broom made from twig-shaped eucalyptus branches is very useful for the treatment and prevention of diseases respiratory system. Like the fir broom, it relieves joint and neuralgic pain, and also promotes fast healing minor wounds and scratches on the skin, healing skin diseases. But eucalyptus branches are too flexible and soft. To steam with such a broom it was more convenient, several oak branches were added to it. Or you can simply steam a eucalyptus broom and inhale its vapors, and “whip” with some other, less exotic one.

Linden broom Using this broom in a bath cleanses the bronchi, softens the skin, increases sweating (and therefore cleanses the body of toxins), reduces headaches and soothes. In addition, linden broom improves kidney function.

Brooms made of willow, alder, rowan and other trees are harvested at the zenith of summer - from early July to mid-August. In all cases, branches for brooms are cut from trees located no closer than 1 km from busy highways and 2-3 km from industrial zones.

Freshly cut branches must be dried for an hour in a shaded corner of the forest, avoiding direct sunlight. Branches should not be transported tightly packed, as they may overheat, which will lead to the leaves falling off.
Fir, spruce and juniper brooms cannot be harvested for future use; long term due to the fact that after drying all the needles fall off. Fans of such brooms use them only freshly cut.

nettle broom harvested in mid-summer before flowering and during the flowering of nettles. Nowadays it is rare to see a steam room lover with a nettle broom, but in the old days this broom was a success. Our ancestors successfully treated radiculitis, rheumatism, and gout with it.

Combined broom made up of branches of various trees and herbs: birch, oak, linden, cherry, ash, eucalyptus, currant, tansy, etc. Every lover of a Russian bath can, according to his desire and experience, create one or another bath “bouquet”. The broom is composed in a certain sequence: thicker branches are placed inside. This is the frame, the base of the future combined broom. Then, around these thick branches, thinner branches are laid with a bend inside the broom different types trees.

In the old days, the art of making brooms was highly valued. Healers who master this skill and know healing power herbs, enjoyed great honor and respect among the people.

Ways drying brooms a lot, but there are required condition, which applies to everything: must be dried in the shade. In the sun, the leaves curl and quickly burn out. From the sun's rays, everything that is fragrant and volatile is carried away into the air. The leaves lose color, aroma and fly off. After the first steaming, such a broom will leave all the leaves in the basin.

It is also not recommended to dry brooms in a strong draft. The drying area should ideally be dark, cool and dry. Dry brooms by hanging or folding. The brooms must be turned over every day so that the branches dry evenly.

Drying a broom, in which it is hung under a canopy on an ordinary rope or on poles so that it does not fall directly sunlight, is the simplest. At first they are tied loosely so that they do not fall apart.

Preparing brooms for a bath is quite difficult process, requiring the procuring person to have broad erudition and knowledge of the national culture. This is due to the fact that deciduous trees, which have clear timing of leaf growth, undergo a number of physiological transformations during the warm season, which affect the state of their foliage.

ABOUT national traditions and the scientific nuances of preparing bath brooms in the field of botany - in the text presented below.

Since the time of the baptism of Rus', brooms have been prepared from the holiday of the Trinity. Trinity falls on the 50th day after Easter, and since it is not a fixed date, but a date that migrates from year to year, it falls during the summer period from mid to late June. The week before Trinity, according to the folk calendar, Semik or Green Week, last sunday which coincides with the harvest festival of the ancient Slavs, the period when grain began to ear and “the nightingale began to sing, having drunk the dew from the birch leaves.”

This period of summer is the grass growing and flowering period for plants.

In addition to the birch broom, in bath procedures oak brooms, nettle brooms, cherry and currant species are also used. They bring their indescribable aroma to the process, but are much less strong and durable than birch ones.

Determining the degree of maturity of a birch leaf

You need to choose a tall “weeping tree” with long branches falling to the ground or a very young tree that has never bloomed.

The leaf is tasted, and if it has two-sided velvety and tenderness, the long and straight branches are cut off.

Rules for harvesting birch brooms

Following the example of others medicinal herbs, the harvesting of birch brooms is carried out in clear, dry weather in the early morning, after the dew has disappeared.

• It is necessary to protect the plants by cutting off only branches from the lower tier and leaving the middle and high parts of the crown intact. Branches that are ideal for a bath grow low from the ground and are no more than two years old. They are cut with pruning shears.
• For harvesting brooms, only flexible young branches of the tree are selected. After cutting the required number of branches, they are dried in a dark place for an hour.

To avoid leaves falling off due to overheating, when transporting branches, they are easily packed, leaving the possibility fresh air circulate between branches.

The tied broom is placed under a small press to give it shape, and then hung in a cool, ventilated room for a couple of days.

This is the time and process of harvesting birch brooms.

There are unchanging attributes used in the steam room. One of them is a broom. It performs many functions, helping to better warm up the body, providing massage, and also providing an aromatic and relaxing effect.

You should find out when to harvest birch brooms before preparing to accept the procedures.

Properties of birch broom

A broom has been used in a bathhouse for many years as a universal remedy, which helps a person to steam in the best way, reaching the deepest layers of the skin.

It also performs massage functions, dispersing blood throughout the body. The smell emanating from the branches and leaves aromatizes the room and also heals the body. It’s not for nothing that so many people have been cured of many physical and spiritual diseases by regularly visiting the steam room.

To reveal everything as much as possible beneficial features, you should figure out when birch brooms are harvested. The strength of the effect it will have on the human body depends on this.

When preparing birch brooms, you should take into account that this remedy helps with pain in the back, muscles and joints, helps to relax the body after long periods of work. physical activity. If you add a few viburnum twigs to birch branches, you can relieve the skin from itching after mosquito bites.

Soaked and steamed birch brooms cleanse the respiratory tract.

Broom harvesting start date

There is a tradition of collecting branches to form birch brooms for the bathhouse after the Trinity holiday. It falls on a different date every year. Therefore, the date when birch brooms begin to be harvested shifts every year from the end of May to June.

Our ancestors had many traditions that were based on church holidays. Even long-term weather forecasts for the season were made based on an analysis of the state of nature on such key days of the calendar.

Therefore, the collection of herbs, branches, flowers medicinal plants always correlated with such special dates.

To answer the question of when birch brooms are harvested, the date of the beginning of this event is correlated with the Trinity. In 2015, the collection started on May 31. From this moment, according to tradition, the period of preparing birch brooms for the bathhouse began.

In 2016, this period begins on June 19. Folk legends say that the collection of material is carried out in the next 2 weeks from this date. This is when flowering and grass growth occur. The leaves of the plant have already gained the necessary strength and aroma.

Branch collection period

However, it is important not only what date birch brooms are prepared for the bath, but also what this day itself is like. It should be sunny and warm. Leaves that are wet from rain do not dry well and may spoil.

The best time to collect branches is from June to August. An important factor influencing the readiness of birch is the weather. The hotter they were last days May, the earlier it comes. The leaf should reach its maximum size and stay firmly on the branch. If the broom was collected early, the leaves will scatter and slide over the body while visiting the bathhouse.

The end of the collection period is marked by the coarsening of the branches. If collected late, they will fall out of the general bunch. It will be unpleasant to massage with such a product. Essential oils will be released to a much lesser extent.

Time of day

When collecting birch brooms for the winter, it even matters what time of day it was done.

The most the right time day starts at noon. When birch brooms are prepared for a bathhouse, the leaf is assessed for the presence of moisture on it. There may be dew on it in the morning. A broom collected during this period may deteriorate when dried.

After noon and until the evening on a sunny, warm day, the branches dry out well. This is the best way to collect them.

If the place where you collect the branches is quite far from the house and you have to carry them in your hands without the help of transport, it is better to do this after 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Direct Sun rays can severely dry out cut leaves and shoots. Towards evening the sun becomes less active and will not harm the future broom.

If there is a birch grove near the house, collection can be done even at noon.

How to assemble a broom

Birch and oak brooms are harvested at the same time. Raw materials are collected in environmentally friendly areas, away from roads and cities. The leaves absorb all the impurities, so when steamed, such substances will be released along with essential oils. There will be quite a bit of benefit from the procedure.

When preparing birch brooms for a bathhouse, do not break many branches from one tree. You should try to harm the plant as little as possible. Biennial shoots are best. They are located closer to the ground. Branches should be cut with pruning shears to a length of 60 cm.

How to shape a broom

Two methods are used to store cut shoots. The first involves collecting branches into a sheaf. The upper ones retain the internal ones. From above, the entire workpiece is wrapped in hay. As necessary, the internal shoots are taken out and a broom is tied from them.

The second method involves storing the material in assembled form. When preparing birch brooms for the winter, they perform a certain sequence of actions.

First, the cut branches are laid out on burlap. After a couple of days, the dried shoots begin to be piled up. The length of the broom can be from 40 to 80 cm. otherwise it will be inconvenient to use.

In the place where the broom handle will be, the branches are cleared of twigs and leaves. By folding the product, it is given a flat shape.

When birch brooms are prepared and made for a bathhouse, the stronger branches are left to form the frame. Small thin shoots are used on top of the product.

The handle is wrapped with twine and cloth. You can steam with this broom up to 3 times.

Drying the product

When birch and oak brooms are harvested, they are dried in the shade. In the sun, the leaves may turn yellow and curl. The fragrant essential elements disappear, and the benefits of such a broom will be minimal.

The drying area should be dark, dry and blocked. Brooms are hung or laid out on the surface. They should be turned over every day.

At first the branches should be twisted loosely. After 6-7 days they can be folded more tightly. A properly dried broom has matte dark leaves and a lasting aroma.

How to store a broom

A properly dried broom should be stored in a cool, dark room with good ventilation.

Attics, garages or sheds are ideal for these purposes.

Careless storage will cause the leaves to turn yellow and fall off. A dry broom should not be moved, thrown, or placed on it frequently.

When birch brooms are harvested, they are often stored in hay. It adds even more flavor to the product and useful qualities. This method is more suitable for rural residents. In the city, brooms can be stored in paper or plastic film, as well as in vacuum packaging. At proper storage the product will not lose its positive qualities for a long time.

Harvesting errors

To better understand when birch brooms are prepared for a bath and how they are made, you should consider the main mistakes that should not be made in this matter.

There are miscalculations in the time of harvesting branches. Picking shoots too early or too late will degrade the quality of the final product. Therefore, you should pay attention to appearance leaves on them characteristic features readiness.

A common mistake is drying the material in the sun. This speeds up the process, but reduces the quality of the birch bundle. The broom should dry out gradually while in the shade.

It is wrong to collect branches immediately after rain. This omission will lead to darkening of the leaves. It is also unacceptable to wash a broom from dust at home. To get rid of dust settled on the leaves, you should immediately scald the broom before visiting the bathhouse. This will cleanse it of possible contaminants and help open the whole range of natural aromas.

When preparing brooms, you should provide such a number of them that you can take a new bunch with you each time. Each of them should be used once. Each time it will give off a fresh aroma and maximum benefits for the people in the steam room.

Having familiarized yourself with the rules that allow you to create the right birch broom, it will be quite simple to prepare them required amount for the whole year. By following the recommendations discussed above, you can get maximum benefit from visiting the bathhouse. When preparing birch brooms, take into account weather, time of year and even day. A scrupulous approach to collecting and storing material is a guarantee of a good and useful time spent in the steam room. The right birch broom will cure many diseases and prevent health problems in the future.

The bathhouse has a positive effect on health; exposure to hot steam cleanses the body. A suitable attribute for a steam room is a broom; it massages the body, supplying it with more steam and heat, and stimulates salt metabolism, the work of the heart, blood vessels, blood circulation. From this article you will learn in what period and how best to prepare brooms for a bath; their quality and aroma will depend on this.

Birch is used most often; it is one of the methods of herbal medicine. Promotes wound healing, soothes, reduces inflammation, and therefore reduces painful sensations, clears the lungs of phlegm.

Oak brooms for a bath, collected at the right time, are rich in essential oils that promote wound healing, soothe inflammation on the skin, making it more velvety and soft, and also normalizes blood pressure and improves overall emotional balance.

Time to prepare birch brooms for a bath

Each plant has its own harvest time; let’s look at when the bath brooms are prepared and collected:

• Weather: dry and clear. It is not advisable to collect after rain, since when dried the leaves will curl, darken and quickly fly off;
• Time of year: early or mid-July is the right time to harvest birch brooms for a bath; oak branches can be collected from mid-June to September. This time is the most favorable for collecting, because essential oils and other useful elements have accumulated in the leaves;
• Collection hours: morning or evening, while it is not too hot.

How to choose the right tree?

Choose young trees ecologically clean places, for example, near a forest. You can distinguish a young tree by its flexible branches and delicate smooth leaves. Such thin and straight branches are easy to tear off with your hands, but in order not to damage the tree, collect not from one birch, but from different trees. Optimal value blanks fifty or sixty centimeters. Freshly harvested preparations need to be spread out and left to dry a little.

Assembling a broom

After harvesting plants from birch or oak in correct timing, you can start assembling the broom. We clear each sprout of twigs and leaves where the handle will be. The handle is two widths wide. We fold them so that the sheet back side was towards the body, because on this side they accumulate useful material, extracts, vitamins, immunostimulants. So that the broom brings more more benefit, you can add the following plants to its middle along the sprout:

• Wormwood – good for calming, treats insomnia;
• Chamomile – also soothes and has an anti-inflammatory effect;
• Ivan tea - improves work genitourinary system, rich in essential oils and microelements;
• Field oregano – renders positive influence on the functioning of the nervous and arterial systems;
• Mint – soothing, good for the bronchial system;

All these herbs in combination with each other are fragrant.

Use thin branches and thick ones; place thick ones in the middle. You need to not just put them on top of each other, but constantly twist them, adding where there is not enough. This way it will be fluffy and even on all edges. To make it convenient to use, the handle should ultimately be five centimeters in diameter.

All that remains is to knit our bath product. A rope or cord made of natural material is suitable for this. We tie it with strong knots in two places: at his base and handle. We leave it under pressure to give it a flat shape, and then hang it for several days in a well-ventilated place.

The tips from this article will help you collect the plant on time and prepare the bath broom correctly. , so that it brings more benefits.

Connoisseurs of sauna paradise know how important a good broom is in a steam room. Everyone has their own preferences in this regard, but birch products are considered classics - fragrant, soft and healing.

Flexible branches and the velvet surface of the leaves, which adhere remarkably to a hot body, allow you to steam with comfort. The structure of a birch leaf, different big amount pores, ideal for absorbing sweat. Neither oak nor eucalyptus have this effect.

The fragrance emanating from a birch broom pleases the heart and heals the body. The bark and leaves of this tree contain aromatic balsamic oils that are destructive to microbes. Vitamins, resins and tannins There were also a lot of leaves and twigs.

For asthmatics and other sufferers respiratory diseases A bathhouse with a birch broom has a healing and beneficial effect. It is also useful for allergy sufferers, as well as those who have nerves. Smokers also feel relief. If your back hurts from rheumatism, your muscles hurt after overexertion, or your joints are twisted, the recipe is still the same.

Preparation time: don't rush and don't be late

First, we have to find suitable raw materials, going for it in dry and clear weather, waiting for the dew to dry.

We collect raw materials at the beginning of summer (no later than mid-summer). Ancient beliefs claim that the most best brooms are obtained from those branches that are collected on Trinity. However, it is permissible to deviate a little from the canons.

The main thing is that the leaf is already strong, but not yet rough. From mid-July, the trees are already preparing for autumn, and the broom season ends. And if it rains on the chosen day, you should postpone your trip until the weather is sunny. You cannot cut branches in wet– they will then turn black and smell unpleasant. They say that the broom “burned out.”

To check if a birch tree is ready for brooms, lick its leaf with outside, plucking it from a branch. It should be soft velvety, as if slightly covered with light fluff. If its surface is rough and hard, it means it’s too late. Such a broom will scratch.

And you shouldn’t prepare it too early either - the too young leaves still hold on to the branches weakly, so they will fall off while drying. And the finished broom will become unpleasantly slippery and will not last long.

How and when to cut? We collect twigs carefully and in the right place

Having decided on the right moment, we set off to mine. Preferably in a low area, where it is humid and shady. For example, near a river or lake. It is in such places that birch trees grow - curly and weeping. Their rods are considered the best for brooms.

We choose young trees that have never bloomed before. It’s also good to take note of stumps and shoots. However, let's not be barbarians! In order not to destroy the birch trees, we do not expose them completely. We take thinner side branches (without earrings) - from those that grow low. They should be fairly straight, between 50 and 60 centimeters long. We use pruning shears for pruning.

How to knit a birch broom correctly

Let's wither the branches for a day in the shade - now you can knit. Just don’t wash them - we’ll ruin the product. We remember that each broom should have two or three branches with forks - this makes it stronger. Where the handle will be, cut off all the knots.

We place thicker branches in the middle of the structure, thinner ones along the edges, bending them so that the final shape is a fan. This bend looks inward. All branches should be rich in leaves and have the same length. Some fans, in addition to birch twigs, put fragrant currant or mint leaves in the middle of the product.

We tightly intercept the ends of the rods with twine, constructing a handle no thicker than five centimeters. We make the first winding closer to the end of the handle, not very tightly. Then we divide the rods into two parts and twist them a full turn. After this, we secure the twine in several more places.

Never tie a broom with wire - you will get scratched later in the steam room. It is best to take nylon thread. You should not knit tightly - otherwise the finished product will not be able to dry well.

Leave the handle about fifteen centimeters long - this is optimal. When it is ready, the protruding edges of the branches are cut off with a hatchet, and the end is wrapped with something soft (so as not to rub the calluses later).

Secrets of making brooms in the video advice section from Doki:

How to dry?

For the first two or three days we will hold the broom under some kind of pressure, not forgetting to turn it over after a while. Then we start drying - in the shade, in a small draft, turning it over again daily. The sun is destructive for our purpose - its rays will instantly curl the leaves, making them fragile.

It will take about a week to dry. We determine readiness by the fragility of the leaves. After this, we tie several brooms tightly - two pieces together.

How to store - choose the right place

It’s easiest for villagers - the ideal place to store our products would be a haystack. They are placed there with the handles outward and the leaves inward, placed in a circle and sprinkled with hay on each layer. There is no haystack - a good option would be an attic or a dressing room.

For those who live in the city, we can recommend a glass balcony or loggia for storage. Large cardboard boxes or paper bags would be excellent containers. You can also take the brooms to the garage. In general, any place where it’s cool and has air flowing will do.

To ensure that the leaves on the branches of the broom remain green for a long time and are stored for at least two years, they can be sprinkled with coarse salt crystals.

Fans of technological progress use vacuum packaging. And the Finns actually came up with it interesting way– freeze brooms. Such products, created using shock-type freezing, are offered in some baths.

A knitted lush broom, in principle, can be used even immediately. But in this case it cannot be kept in boiling water - it will cook. Twenty minutes in cold water will be enough. Then pour warm water over it and steam – enough for several times. If the broom has gone through all the stages of drying, then it will already withstand boiling water.

How to steam properly?

The easiest way to steam a birch broom is to put it in boiling water for thirty or forty minutes. He's ready. There is another way that better preserves the healing power of birch. And the leaves fall off less. To do this, in the evening before the bath day, put a broom in cold water. Then we take it out and put it in a plastic bag until the morning.

Wash the broom with warm water after use. Let's put it in a bag and dry it at home, hanging it on a rope in a ventilated place. One product may well be enough for two to four visits to the steam room. However, it depends with what force you whip them on the sides and back.

However, gradually the leaves become less and less, the branches become “bald” and break off. And when not a trace remains of the former splendor, measures need to be taken. If you feel bad about throwing away the product, you can perform resuscitation.

To do this, take brooms and put them in a container of water (if cold, then overnight, hot, for half an hour). And then we sort, first throwing out completely bare twigs and those with less than a dozen leaves. And we divide the rest into short and long, then we knit them again. Done - you can steam three more times.

The water in which the birch branches lay is also very useful. You can rinse your hair and entire body with it after washing. It tones the skin, removes dandruff, and strengthens the hair roots.

Purchased or homemade?

In principle, if the broom is of good quality, then when using it it is not so important who made it. Some people don’t want to bother, and would prefer to purchase this item directly in the bathhouse - fortunately, such a service exists everywhere. Someone tries, knits brooms, and someone buys them. Quite natural.

However, how nice it is to proudly show off to friends and try out in practice a bath attribute, the branches for which were lovingly selected from young birch trees in June, and then knitted with your own hands. It's like getting a jar of your own mushrooms, collected in the forest and salted according to special recipe. So many people choose this option. And savings for the family budget, by the way.

Take care of your health!