Distant Hill Gardens in the News


“A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” Maya Angelou


The outdoor fire pit ‘living room’ at Distant Hill Gardens.

A Year at Distant Hill

An article about Distant Hill was published in New Hampshire Home magazine in the January/February 2012 issue.

 


The Stone Circle at Distant Hill Gardens in Walpole, New Hampshire.

'The Stone Circle at Distant Hill'

Published in the Summer Solstice 2012 issue of 'Club Meg News'.



photo by Michael Moore
photo by Michael Moore

Keene Sentinel Article About Michael Nerrie -

CEO (Chief Environmental Observer)

at Distant Hill Gardens and Nature Trail

 

On May 18th, 2013, the Keene Sentinel published an article titled: "Walpole's Nerrie still remembers how to play" written by contributing writer Melanie Plenda. Check it out below...

 

Michael Nerrie sitting on a large sitting-stone inside the Stone Circle at Distant Hill Gardens
photo by Michael Moore

Michael Nerrie of Distant Hill Gardens is show here accepting the 2015 award from Linda Brownson, the president of the NHACD.
Michael Nerrie accepting the 2015 NHACD Educator of the Year Award.

Educator of the Year Award

 

Distant Hill Gardens received the 'Educator of the Year Award' from the Cheshire County Conservation District (CCCD) in 2014, and from the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts (NHACD) in 2015 for our efforts to educate the public on the advantages of conservation through our many environmental and horticulture based workshops and talks.

 

 


5th-graders Kaleb Lawrence, left, and Riley Leining partner up on the construction of their bee houses. The bee houses were bulit under the guidance of Michael Nerrie, chief environmental observer of Distant Hill Gardens in Walpole.
5th-graders Kaleb Lawrence, left, and Riley Leining partner up on the construction of their bee houses.

Bee House Building with

Alstead School 5th-graders

 

Keene Sentinel Article

Posted: Sunday, April 10, 2016 

 

 

The 5th grade at Vilas Middle School in Alstead, NH, built bee houses for native reed-nesting bees recently under the guidance of Michael Nerrie, Chief Environmental Observer (CEO) at Distant Hill Gardens.

 


The sugarhouse overlooks a beautiful landscaped pond.
The sugarhouse overlooks a beautiful landscaped pond.

'A Visit to Distant Hill'

Posted in the online magazine 'Only in New Hampshire'

July 09, 2016 by Kelly A. Burch

 

At Distant Hill Gardens you’ll experience natural areas, stunning gardens, and plenty of wildlife just waiting to wow you.

 

A trip here is a nature lovers dream come true. Have a peak!

 


The following is an article written by

Michael Nerrie for the 'Home & Garden' magazine of the Keene Sentinel newspaper.

Landscaping for Wildlife

 Gardening with a Purpose

 

"Biological diversity is the key to the maintenance of the world as we know it."

E.O. Wilson

 

 

 


The following is an article written by Michael Nerrie for the June Blog posting of the Cheshire County Conservation District

 

Michael was an Associate Supervisor for the CCCD

Local Pollinators Need Our Help!
Pollinator populations worldwide are in decline, and they need our help. Whether you have 100 acres of land or just a small garden plot, there are a number of things you can do to encourage diversity and abundance of these vitally important creatures in the landscape:
 
Develop a Wildflower-Rich Garden
  • Provide a diverse assortment of nectar and pollen-rich flowers.
  • Incorporate caterpillar host plants, such as milkweed, for butterfly and moth larva.
  • Include a variety of flowering shrubs, trees, perennials, and annuals that bloom from spring to fall.
  • Use flowers of different sizes, shapes, and colors to attract the largest number of pollinator species.
  • Plant in clumps, rather than single plants. Pollinators will be able to visit more blooms.
  • Look for a sunny site when choosing a location for your planting.
  • Minimize your lawn area. And mow what lawn you do have less often and higher, allowing some of the shorter wildflowers such as white clover to bloom.
  • ‘Ditch the Doubles’ Hybridized double flowers are much harder for pollinators to use.
  • Use more native plants. They often attract more pollinators than non-native plants.
Provide Pollinator Nesting Sites
  • Leave patches of bare soil in you yard. The majority of native bees are ground nesters.
  • Include grasses and overgrown areas for nesting and cover sites for pollinators and beneficial insects.
  • Don’t clean up all plants in the fall. Some insects will use them to overwinter.
  • Build or buy some bee nesting boxes. Many native bees will thank you.
Just say NO to Pesticides and Herbicides
  • Most insecticides are highly toxic to pollinators. Try a nonchemical solution to insect problems by promoting and/or purchasing beneficial insects such as ladybugs.
  • Avoid using herbicides. Many weeds, such as the non-native dandelion, are an important spring nectar and pollen source for pollinators.
  • All wildlife, not just pollinators, benefit from the absence of insecticides and herbicides in their habitats.
The CCCD Takes Action for Pollinators
 
A number of groups nationwide have begun work on slowing, and hopefully reversing, the precipitous decline of pollinator populations. At the forefront of the local effort is the Cheshire County Conservation District (CCCD). It began its ‘Pollinator Habitat Initiative’ in 2013 as a way to help landowners manage their property for native pollinators, and to increase awareness of the importance of pollinators and pollinator conservation. The Conservation District received two major grants to install, maintain, and monitor more than 20 pollinator habitat sites around the county. It is still early, but the data the CCCD has collected so far from its pollinator sites regarding pollinator numbers and species diversity is encouraging. 

The following is an article written by

Michael Nerrie for the April Blog posting for the

Cheshire County Conservation District.

 

Michael was an Associate Supervisor for the CCCD

 

Welcoming Spring

 One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of March thaw, is the Spring.” ~ Aldo Leopold

 

Spring is Coming...

 

Here at Distant Hill Gardens & Nature Trail, in the hills of southwestern New Hampshire, over three feet of snow fell in the month of March. Although the calendar tells me that the season of renewal is upon us, gazing out a window at the head-high snow banks lining our driveway makes me think that spring will never arrive. But there is hope, for the early sounds of spring are in the air - literally!

 

As they typically do in early March, a large flock of red-winged blackbirds returned to Distant Hill. And they made their presence known in no uncertain terms. Singing from the tops of trees, the simultaneous clamor of hundreds of these avian songsters couldn’t be ignored. The cacophony of songs and calls of these early spring migrants was, at times, almost deafening. But after a long silent winter, I find the rich musical ‘conk-a-ree’ of the male red-winged blackbird to be an uplifting sound, no matter the decibel level.

 

Another sound of the season heard recently here at Distant Hill, a sound not heard since fall, was the ‘honk’ of Canada geese. The ponds were still mostly frozen when they arrived, but the few patches of open water here and there were irresistible to these migrating waterfowl. Heard in spring, their honking is yet another promising sign that warmer weather will prevail. Heard in fall however, their somewhat harsh refrain is a bit foreboding!

 

Spring Has Arrived!

 

But the sounds that I most eagerly await each spring, the sounds that prove to me that winter is truly over, come not from the sky above but from two species of native frogs: the wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) and the spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer). Both of these harbingers of spring freeze solid during the cold winter months, but as our wetlands and vernal pools begin to thaw, so will these cold-hardy amphibians. Even before all the snow and ice has melted, a loud chorus of newly awakened spring voices will be heard.

 

Often heard but seldom seen, spring peepers are the most vocal of these two frog species. In small numbers the ‘peep’ of the diminutive, inch-long ‘Pinkletink’ (its common name on Martha’s Vineyard) is soothing and melodious. But in a large army (the term for a group of frogs), the collective sound can be unbelievably loud.

 

The wood frog, although twice the size of its smaller cousin, has a call that is a much more restrained. And, unlike spring peepers who will breed in any wetland including permanent water bodies such as ponds or lakes, the wood frog breeds exclusively in seasonal vernal pools. They spend most of the year in wooded uplands, migrating to these ephemeral pools during the first rains of spring to breed. The males call to the females with a distinctive ‘quack-quack’, described by some as “ducks in the woods.”

 

Any day now, when we get a big soaking evening rain with temperatures above 40 degrees, the amphibian migration to vernal pools and ponds will begin. The sound of wood frogs and peepers will be the confirmation that we all have been waiting for: confirmation that spring has finally, truly, and definitely arrived!

 

Michael Nerrie  04/04/2018


One Of The Most Underrated Summer Destinations In New Hampshire

 

Here’s an article from July 2020 about Distant Hill Gardens written by Michelle and posted online to the website Only in New Hampshire


Distant Hill Gardens and Nature Trail

An article about the history of Distant Hill Gardens and Nature Trails by Emily Reily in the NH Union Leader, June 18, 2023.