DERRY — A butterfly flutters through a grassy meadow. As perennials bloom nearby, another serene day passes at one of the area's most historic and pristine spots.
For those who enjoy a jaunt around the Robert Frost Farm on Route 28, it's a chance to get up close and personal with a myriad of poetic inspirations at the local homestead of the famed American poet.
The Derry Garden Club joins the list of top supporters of the historic space and recently named the farm as its Community Star Award winner for this year.
The award was announced during the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Club's annual event earlier this year. A person or location making a difference in the life of the garden club is nominated and awarded each year in each garden club district, honoring a strong sense of community spirit for those helping carry out the programs and mission of clubs around the Granite State. Derry's club is in District 4, along with clubs from Salem, Windham, and Fremont.
According to Derry club member Michelle Mensinger, choosing the Frost Farm as this year's Community Star in District 4 was a great decision.
"We try to pick someone or [some location] that is beneficial to our club in some fashion," she said. "We have our July meeting there, they let us use the barn, they've done a lot."
Mensinger is no stranger to the natural wonders of the Robert Frost Farm. She serves on the farm's board of trustees, chairs the board's Gardens Committee, and is a supporter of the farm's place in local history.
As a member of the Derry Garden Club, she also helps lead the youth gardening program and brings children to the farm for gardening fun. In past years, young gardeners — the Derry Diggers — have grown vegetables, flowers, and created a butterfly children's garden outside the farmhouse window where Robert Frost's wife, Elinor, might have once watched her own children chase butterflies and walk amid the wildflowers.
Mensinger said the youth gardening program is rewarding for both the children and the adult garden club members, who get to spend time with the younger garden enthusiasts as well as gaining much-needed help with community projects around town.
As part of the official nomination process, Mensinger created a "book of evidence" about the farm.
"The highest scoring book of evidence gets the award," she said.
Frost Farm trustee Laura Burnham said the poet's homestead benefits immensely from the support of the garden club.
"The Frost Farm trustees are honored to receive this prestigious award and to have the opportunity to partner with the Derry Garden Club and the Derry Diggers, youngsters who volunteer to plant and weed the beautiful Children's Garden on the Frost Farm grounds," Burnham said. "Thanks to the hard work, dedication and expertise of Michelle Mensinger, visitors from across the globe can enjoy this lovely garden based on the ones the Frost children and their father planted and tended when they lived on the property 100 years ago."
The Derry Garden Club celebrates it 73rd year in 2008 and will honor its past presidents at its September meeting. To learn more about the club, its Frost Farm connection, or any of its community beautification work projects and other programs, visit online at www.derrygardenclub.org.
