NEWSLETTER #36 (English) from Urs & Izzy: Winter solstice is here!
- Izzy the busy bee....
- Dec 20
- 6 min read
December 2025 (Issue #36)
Dear honey lovers! This will be the last newsletter of this year, and also the last newspaper in this Wix platform. Izzy has been learning Wordpress (an app to create websites), and has now secured the domain '.ch' so from January, we will be 'e-moving' the website to the new platform (with also proprietary email). But don't worry, you will have access to all of the previous newsletters, if you still want to read them. Ah! probably, as you notice...this is being written by a human (with poor German skills) and not by AI! :-D
Meanwhile, our bees are 'wintering'. Or...are they? unfortunately, no. Why unfortunately? well, for a lot of reasons - read on, to know why they should be wintering...and why they are not doing it - this, and many more things in this newsletter!
Are you enjoying the newsletter? Don't be shy, tell us at baerenhonig@gmx.ch , or WhatsApp us, if you prefer. We'd love to hear from you!
News from the Beehives
It is winter, and in winter, bees 'overwinter'. They don't sleep, but they cluster around the Queen bee, to keep her (and the hive) at a cozy 35 - 38C, by flexing their muscles (like when you go to fitness, and...sweat). Remember that we have shown it already in this newsletter. The Queenbee takes a break from laying eggs, and the bees eat their honey savings. That is in theory. But when temperatures go above 12 C, and they see the sun shining through the hive entrance, they start doing the same as kids when you put them to sleep and they hear noise and see light in the living room. They go out, and want to party with the adults. Bad girls, bad girls. Increasing the movement, flying around and losing concentration to the overwintering makes them consume more reserves, which are essential for survival later in January or February, when they really are needed.
Unfortunately, the same that you cannot reason about it with children, you cannot reason with bees. So, the only thing to hope, is that temperatures drop soon, and snow covers the hives -- that will make them come back to reason!
Where is my Honey...?
Your honey is ...almost gone! We don't have anymore summer (liquid) honey, and only very few pots of spring (solid) honey, from our 2025 harvest. If you are reading this and want honey....send a whatsap as soon as possible, because when they are gone...they are gone!
Why we don't have more honey? Because we leave more than half of it to the bees, so they can survive a long winter. Or whichever winter it comes! No, we do not sell our honey in any shop, only directly to you, whom we know personally! Between now and next harvest, don't forget about us! We will have honey next year...if the bees behave!. Remember: first harvest occurs mid July, and spring honey is, for several months, liquid (then it solidifies). Second (and last) harvest, for forest honey, occurs mid August. Of course, we will keep you informed. Meanwhile, like the bees... we will have to consume the honey reserves!
Facts & Figures
Remember that we already spoke about propolis in our previous posts. But it is still not known for a lot of people. Propolis is called " a miracle of nature', because its properties. Propolis is a natural sticky solid that bees produce, and that they use as 'cement' to close the cracks on the hive, and to create barriers against bacteria, fungi, viruses and intruders. That is the usage that we can see. They might use propolis also for other ends, that we don't know. But, what we know, is that propolis, even if it does not look very attractive (see photo), is full of goodies.
Across generations and cultures, propolis’s medicinal properties have been used in traditional medicine. As it inhibits the growth and decomposition of bacteria and fungi, it was first (that we know) employed by the ancient Egyptians to embalm the mummies. Hippocrates used propolis to cure wounds and ulcers. In the 17th century, propolis was included as a legitimate treatment in the British Pharmacopoeia. During World War II, propolis was used as an antibacterial and anti-inflammatory medication. Propolis is now found in many supplementary healthcare products, including toothpaste, throat sprays, cough syrups, tinctures, mouthwash preparations, gels, skin lotions, shampoos, creams, lozenges, and chewing gum.
Bees produce propolis by collecting tree resins, sap and buds (mainly from pine and conifers), and mix them with wax and their own saliva, to create a sticky yellow-brown substance, that contains a massive amount of antioxidants, like flavonoids and phenolic compounds as you can see on the table to the right. A lot of research has been done, which shows that the phytochemicals contained in the humble propolis are good for very diverse ailments - from diabetes to ulcers, and offers from anti-allergic to neuroprotection properties. You don't have to take it from me, last year, an extensive review was published in medical journals, and it is now even presented as complementary medicine by governmental sites.
Why there are no medical products made just from propolis? Where, there are two problems. First, they are natural, known molecules, so they cannot be patented, and hence, it is not economically interesting for the pharma industry. On the other hand, there is no one 'unique' propolis formulation, the bees make their own formula, depending on the local flora - something that, obviously, is a problem for any industrial process!
Here comes the fun part. Collecting propolis is a nightmare! We scrap it from the wood of the honey frames. And it is sticky, terribly sticky. And where it touches... it leaves a yellow stain -forever. And I mean, forever..... How do you take propolis, easy! you can find the ways recommended by Swiss Agroscope directly here
Did you know that...?
" Time is honey" -- That's the bee-version of the human saying. Bees have an internal (circadian) clock, that allows them to track the time of the day -- and at what time also, a specific type of flower release its nectar. And they also know the date. Well, they don't count years (because they are short lived, except the Queen), but they know exactly the period of the year they are in. They don't follow the Gregorian calendar, they follow the natural ("pagan") calendar, based on the sun; they can read the solstices and the equinocces because they use the sun as a compass, and can see its polarized light patterns -- even when there are clouds! So they know exactly when the seasons change, when the days become longer or shorter, and so they prepare 'chronologically' for their duties.
Bees use the sun both as a calendar and geolocator (like the 'maps' on the dashboard of your car). And they are pretty damn good at it. A bee -which is 1 cm long- usually flies up to 2 - 3 km looking for honey. And comes back, as the saying goes ' on a bee-line'. No mistakes, not wrong turns... even if the researcher 'kidnaps' the bee for a couple of hours. They even extrapolate the sun position to recalculate the flying direction. In human terms, that would be as if you would walk around 'looking' for something -- in places where you have not been before - for up to 300 km. And then someone holds you back until it is night... would you be able to come back home relying on milestones (a tree, a shop, a mall...) - and no directions?. Well...a bee does!
Swiss Bees
The 'end of the year' report on the Swiss honey harvests has been now released, and is available in the 'Bienenschweiz'. The bees have been (in some Cantons) very busy, and the clickbait title on Swissinfo says that they have produced up to 50% more honey than last year. Before everybody makes 'the wave' for the bees, we need to clarify that the bees probably collected THE SAME (or roughly the same) amount of honey this year than last year -- there is no specific reason why the bees would be very lazy one year. The difference comes because of teh very special even that occurred last year - and only once in about 20 years. Last year, the summer honey was 'cement' (melezitose) honey, so a lot of it could not be extracted to be consumed as honey-in-a-glas. So, compared to last year, yes, more honey ( summer honey) made it to us, humans! On the other hand, you can see also in the graph that production depends very much on the local climate. And, unfortunately Zurich is not by far among the top producers per hive last year (and hence, we are by now out of honey for you)!
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