A residential short course in reading environmental literature through nature immersion from October 20-24, 2025. Alternative session dates: April 27 - May 1, 2026. The course will be led by Gretchen Ernster Henderson at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, Virginia.
Overview: Have you ever wanted time to immerse in reading and in nature? The roots of ecology are seeded in meanings of “home” and “dwelling”—not merely a house but a life—interrelated with other lives. This short course engages literary readings (poetry, nonfiction, fiction) to connect the landscape of Oak Spring more deeply with senses of place. Ecology is not isolated but interconnected, as relationships between organisms and environments grow reciprocally with the more-than-human world. The act of reading environmental literature can hone the art of attention and invite more embodied ways of knowing (with fellow humans, animal and botanical presences, bodies of water and of land) to renew ways to care about our shared planetary home. Our short course will interweave some history of environmental literature alongside natural and artistic elements to expand our readings, including ways of being and "seeing," remembering and imagining, rewilding and seeding future possibilities. As you wander the paths of Oak Spring—around spring-fed creeks and ponds, forested woods and fields, moss-covered stacked stones, and essential soil under all—participants will read to reinhabit the world, to expand our sense of home on this living, breathing Earth.
Gretchen Henderson
Instructor: Gretchen E. Henderson writes across environmental literature and arts, cultural histories and integrative sciences. Her fifth book, Life in the Tar Seeps: A Spiraling Ecology from a Dying Sea (2023 Trinity University Press), has been melting across intermedia tributaries, exhibitions, performances, and field practices. Recent publications include Ecotone, Orion, Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, Notre Dame Review, LA+/Landscape Architecture Plus, and coauthored articles including Nature Sustainability. Her fourth book was translated across five languages. Gretchen is the 2023 Aldo & Estella Leopold Writer in Residence in New Mexico and 2023-2026 Lucas Artist Program Fellow in Literary Arts at Montalvo Arts Center in California; among other awards, she was a 2020-2022 Faculty Fellow at UT-Austin’s Humanities Institute and 2018-2019 Annie Clark Tanner Fellow in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah. Currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, she has taught widely including Georgetown University, University of Utah, MIT, University of Arizona Poetry Center, and other writing programs across communities. Born and raised in San Francisco, Gretchen lives seasonally in the biodiverse Sonoran Desert where she invites participation in Dear Body of Water: a poetic water-harvesting project to cultivate care for watersheds.
Guest instructors for this course will also include members of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation's Library, Garden and Bio Conservation Teams.
Eligibility: This course is ideally suited to individuals who wish to hone their skills of nature literature and learn to read more deeply and broadly. This course will be limited to 12 participants. The course has been very well received with previous attendees commenting how "Gretchen modelled sensitivity, warmth, and compassion combined with deep knowledge and insight poetically gathered from lived experience and academic training."
About OSGF: The Oak Spring Garden Foundation (OSGF) is an operating foundation based on the former estate of Paul and Rachel ‘Bunny’ Mellon, two of the major U.S. philanthropists of the second half of the twentieth century. OSGF is located in the northern Virginia Piedmont and Blue Ridge Mountains region (ca. one-hour drive from Washington, D.C.). Led by Sir Peter Crane, the Foundation’s inaugural President, OSGF supports fellowships and residencies for artists and scholars, offers short courses, and engages its multiple audiences, including its local community in practical horticulture, as well as land stewardship for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity. OSGF is rapidly becoming a new center of excellence and stimulation for all things botanical, from fundamental research in plant evolution, to horticulture and plant conservation, as well as the history and contemporary practice of plant, garden and landscape art.
Accommodation and Travel Information: Participants will be accommodated with all meals and private lodging on site at Oak Spring.
Participants are responsible for arranging their own travel to the Washington, D.C. area. If flying, please book flights to Dulles International Airport. International applicants are welcome, but fluency in English is necessary. Closer to the start date, our Programs team will assist with coordinating travel arrangements to the Oak Spring Garden Foundation site, as necessary.
Dates and Duration: The course runs for four (4) days with participants arriving on Monday, October 20, 2025 and leaving on Friday, October 24, 2025. Participants should plan to arrive between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Monday, October 20, 2025, and plan to depart at 12:00 pm on Friday, October 24.
Course Fee: $1000 is all-inclusive and covers full tuition, lodging on-site for four nights in our comfortable suites, and all meals on-site (from dinner on Monday through breakfast on Friday). A limited number of full or partial Fee Waivers are available for this course.
Selection Process: Applications will be reviewed by Gretchen E. Henderson and OSGF staff.
Application Deadline: Applications are due Monday, June 23, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST.
The Oak Spring Garden Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. Decisions are made on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other non-merit factor.