
The story about the forest and the beech
The forest brings calm
They say that a man can only find peace in the forests, and the connection between man and nature is thought to be essential for physical and psychological wellbeing.
We entered the forest, the leaves rustle and while small branches crackle under our feet, all shades of yellow are laying low. The beech forest rises above the river and hides the sunlight above the old quarry. Should you look to the sky, you will see hawks as they circle the sky. The forest brings silence; at its foot the forest stream races to its inlet while black trumpets hide in the stumps and bumps. My gaze is captured by a spotted triton trying to escape the stranger in the forest by slowly waddling away. Only some 300 meters below is the old natural draft across the river Glina in whose immediate vicinity is the mystical place called Turkish Hair (Turska kosa). In this area lived the Colapians, Japodes, Illyrians, Celts… Pleasing the spirits of the ancestors was done in special cult places. Turkish Hair is convincingly the largest sanctuary between our regions and the Greek Olympia. That is why ninety per cent of all idols found on Croatian territory are from Turkish Hair. I am delighted with some of the objects found here, from glass bracelets to necklaces with amber.

I have my own friendly tree in this forest, in solitude it absorbs and stores more energy, so I hope that its energy is more healing. I need a strong support, a place where I am not frightened of reality and where I can warm up my heart, they say that beech strengthens one’s resistance to stress, sharpens concentration and repairs the bloodstream. The old peoples thought that the beech is best at keeping knowledge so they used beech boards for writing.

I present and recommend a homemade product made from certified Croatian beech of the highest quality which brings joy to our homes with its unpretentious and playful design. It is the Bookva, which is part of the ETO products collection. Beech is a particularly hard wood and has excellent antibacterial properties that make it an excellent choice for serving food. Its surface is protected by ecologic linseed oil. The coasters are of rubberised cork. Maintenance is simple: it can be washed under a jet of water or wiped with a damp cloth (it must not be washed in the dishwasher or soaked in water) and from time to time it should be smeared over with linseed oil, left an hour or two for the oil to seep in, and the excess oil wiped off with a dry cloth. The cork coasters can also be washed in water.
Link to the product in the web shop
The tree takes that which comes to it to feed itself. By sinking its roots deep into the soil, capturing the rain that comes towards it, stretching itself towards the sun, the tree perfects its character and becomes large. … Soak up, soak up, soak up. That is the secret of the tree.
Deng Ming-Dao, Tao of the everyday