NEWSLETTER #22 (English) from Urs & Izzy: And more...Summer Honey!
- Izzy the busy bee....
- Sep 29, 2023
- 4 min read
July & August 2023 (Issue #22)
We harvested summer honey this year! Our lovely bees allowed us to take some of their work and run away with it -- so we could share it wit hou.
This year, our summer honey is dark, strong and liquid - but don't worry, it will crystalize over time. Perfect for cakes, cheese, bread, teas and lemonades. Yummy!!
Are you enjoying the newsletter? Don't be shy, tell us at baerenhonig@gmx.ch , or whatsaupp us, if you prefer. We'd love to hear from you!
News from the Beehives
Summer is over! But our bees keep on flying!! You know (or you should know by now) what happens this month in the hive. The drones (the male bees) are kicked out of the beehive, and they die of cold and starvation. They eat too much food (3 times what the worker bees, females, eat), and are good for nothing over winter. Drones do not have a stinger, so they cannot defend the hive, they do not do perform any task on the operations of the hive, and there are no queens born until next year. So, at a given moment (usually mid september), all of the drones are defenestrated....
Where is my Honey...?
Your summer honey is here! Yes! our bees are very industrious and they were happily working - mostly in the forests of Witikon, getting nectar. The honey is dark in colour, strong in taste (like a forest honey), and liquid.
In the colonies that we harvest, we always leave 50% of the honey for the bees. And we do not harvest all of the colonies!
This year we had one very strong colony . We gave them some space. And what happens, when the bees have space? They build! So they built wild comb, and then they filled it with honey. It took them a while, but we have harvested a little bit of it, for those of you who want to try it.
Does it taste better? yes, it has a profounder taste - why? because it does not loose the light floral notes, as it is held it its original bee-packing! How do you eat it? '. Very easy! you just eat it! Look at the different cultures eating it -- You can see it here, directly from the tree in South America; from a wild home-based beehive in USA. In Japan, it is even packed and sold as a delicacy.
Of course, you can always spoon it with a knife, and spread it over butter or cheese. And the wax? the wax is perfectly edible. It is safe, and food-grade. It contains small amounts of vitamins, antioxidants, pollen and enzymes that benefit the immune system.
When was the last time that you tried something for the first time? This is your chance!
Facts & Figures
What do bees and Crimis have in common? A lot! Criminologists developed a statistical technique called geographic profiling (GP) in order to study repeat-offense crimes, like serial killings and burglaries. Based on the locations of the crimes, police can make educated guesses about where a suspect might live or visit regularly. That’s because in general, repeat offenders avoid committing crimes close to where they live so they can avoid detection — but they remain close enough to home for convenience. It turns out bees’ feeding patterns are similar!
Bees avoid detection by predators and parasites by creating a distraction zone — they leave flowers closest to their nest entrance untouched and feed further away from the hive. Researchers have used GP techniques to find their hives. They found that bees’ foraging patterns were as reliable and predictable as humans. Criminology experts now use insights from bee patterns to refine geographic profiling methods.
Did you know that...?
There is a cake that it is made with, by and almost just for honey. It is called ' Medovnik' ' Med = honey' and it is typical from Easter Europe (from Czech, Slovakia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Hungary, among others). Grandmothers cook it gladly in winter. Of course, winter is something around -10C to -20C in those countries... So Medovnik is a very powerful and strong source of energy - and children eat it very happily. Yet, it takes A LOT of time to make it. I have found a couple of great recipes for it, in case you want to give it a try. One without cream, Czech style. Another one with cream, Slavic style . It takes more than 4 hours of work in the kitchen...yet, it is not very complicated, and it is one-of-a-kind. Just a word of warning -- once that the kids try it...they will ask for more!
Swiss Bees
More than Swiss bees, kisses from Swiss bees! Remember that some years ago we made some lip balsam? Where I brushed off my witchcraft skills, and here we go again!.
100% bio lip balsam, perfect for winter - you can try making it yourself, if you want. Ingredients: wax, honey, propolis extract (all from our bees), bio-coconut oil, bio-olive oil, bio-camomille extract, Melt together at low temperature, stir, and fill the lip tubes! As simple as that! The perfect mixture for the winter chapped lips.
Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti microbial, and antiseptic. And beautifully packed! (or at least, that's what we think!)
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