Three years ago we were given the gift of nature, our bees from Hamilton (Ham) Armstrong. After 70 years Hamilton understood he could know longer take care of his bees. After many conversations about our farm and a personal visit he knew we would take great care of them and thought we would be a good fit.
At the age of 85, Ham passed away peacefully in December 2011 at his home in Fayetteville, NY. After graduating from Tuft University. He
worked for Crouse Hinds, Crucible Steel and Carrier. And was a member of the Iroquois Group of the
Sierra Club, Onondaga Audubon, Adirondack Mountain Club, Green Lakes Park
Committee, Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music, the National Women in the Arts:
and a founding member of Council of Park Friends. Last September Syracuse University presented
a exhibition “A Magnificent Obsession: Selections from Hamilton Armstrong
Collection of Prints.” For decades Ham
had been collecting prints created by some of the most important and well-known
American and European artist of the last 200 years.
Ham often called our bees "The Lavender Hill Mob". So in honor of Ham I painted two of our new bee boxes in his memory. I think he would be pleased with how happy they are.
