When a passion for the forest turns into concrete action

An hour outside Umeå, in the small community of Granö, the air is filled with the scent of freshly baked bread. But Granö Gårdsbageri doesn’t just sell delicious warm buns. Here, you can also buy a small jar of pine resin salve with a fascinating backstory. Behind it all is Anne-Katrin Würthele, an ecologist and nature guide, who has found her own way to contribute to the future of the forest through her homemade Köxiken spruce resin balm.

From forest ecology to nature guide

Anne is originally from Germany, where she studied forest ecology and global change management. Her motivation was clear: to work on sustainable development and climate issues. But reality turned out to be more complex.

“You think you can save the world, but it’s not as easy as you’d hoped,” she says.

When she came to Sweden and began working as a nature guide, she met many people who shared the same feelings—a sense of sadness and frustration about the state of the forest, and a feeling that it’s hard to make a difference. That’s why Anne was drawn to Naturarvet.

– The great thing about Naturarvet is that everyone can contribute, and instead of focusing on what’s wrong, it’s about what we can actually do.

The resin ointment that sparked a movement

The idea for Köxiken’s pine resin ointment was born out of a practical need. During cold winter days as a nature guide, her hands would crack in the cold, and the solution came in the form of a recipe for pine resin ointment from a Finnish colleague. A gentle ointment that smells of the forest and heals dry skin. Anne’s idea was to make the pine resin ointment and sell it to her visitors. Every krona she earned from sales would go directly to Naturarvet. The pine resin ointment would become a way to combine practicality with a sense of purpose. However, running a shop wasn’t the easiest thing, and sales really took off only when the pine resin ointment found a spot on the shelf at Granö Gårdsbageri.

– Suddenly, we were selling up to 14 cans a week. Every can is a reminder to me that small initiatives can grow. What if this could help protect an entire forest one day?

The Eurasian jay is an ambassador

The name Köxiken comes from a word in the northern Swedish dialect for the Siberian jay, a fearless and curious bird that depends on old, dense spruce forests to survive. As such, it is a natural symbol for precisely the kind of forest that needs to be protected.

– Everyone who lives in or visits the forests around here has a connection to the Siberian jay. That’s why it’s the perfect ambassador for the old-growth forest and made for a great name for the resin ointment.

Behind Köxiken’s beeswax salve lies a network: artist Saga Holmgård, who designed the logo; beekeeper Sven Hellqvist in Umeå, who donates the beeswax for the product; and Anne herself, who provides the jars and handles the production.

“We give back together. Because it’s all about our relationship with nature. Spending time in the forest brings peace, strength, and a desire to preserve what remains,” she notes.

It was also because of the natural surroundings and the old-growth forests that Anne decided to move to Sweden seven years ago.

– I fell in love with the forests here. Forests like these are almost nonexistent in other countries. We must take good care of the ones we still have in Sweden.

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Stay tuned:

In collaboration with and inspired by Köxiken’s resin salve, we invite you to join us for a Christmas fundraiser centered around crafts, with proceeds from the sale of items going toward the protection of old-growth forests. More information will follow after the summer. But if you already have a sewing circle, knitting café, woodcarving club, or other craft group, you’re welcome to get in touch and start preparing for the “Crafts for the Old-Growth Forest” fundraiser.