Thrushes’ Hermitage:
A Spiritual Retreat for Eco-Writers

– Robin Wall Kimmerer
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

To make a new story is an act of spiritual courage.

You nurture your writing with time and devotion. At The BTS Center, we aim to nurture you — spiritual people creating and leading, responding to a climate-changed world.

Therefore, we invite you to Thrushes’ Hermitage: a five-day spiritual retreat for eco-writers. This summer, bring your writing projects and creative yearning to Rolling Ridge, an historic lakeside Georgian manor and its verdant surroundings in North Andover, Massachusetts.

The retreat’s $1,150 program fee covers:

• 4 nights’ accommodation in single-occupancy rooms with shared bathrooms

• Nourishing meals each day, beginning with dinner on Monday and concluding with lunch on Friday; coffee, tea, and snacks

• Access to Rolling Ridge Retreat Center’s beautiful, extensive grounds

• All spiritual practices and gatherings led by expert facilitators

Retreat Guides

Ophelia Hu Kinney learned to write by copying stories at the kitchen table. She is the daughter of bilingual parents and a mesmerized witness to her bilingual daughter.

Ophelia plays with words for fun and for a living. Lately, you’ll find her in a tide pool where liturgy, ritual, and ecology meet.

At The BTS Center, Ophelia serves as the Strategic Communications Director – a cheerleader for the programs and ministries of her colleagues. Prior to joining The BTS Center’s staff, Ophelia was a member of The BTS Center’s Board of Trustees and a grateful participant of its community and programs. Most recently, she served as Director of Communications for Reconciling Ministries Network, an organization working for the full participation of LGBTQ+ people in the life and leadership of The United Methodist Church.

Ophelia’s creative writing has appeared in The Common, Inheritance Magazine, Geez Magazine, Unbound Justice, Our Bible App, and at Discipleship Ministries (UMC), to name a few. She is the lyricist of the 2024 opera mOthertongue, by Justine Chen, and the winner of the NYC Midnight 2020 Micro Fiction Contest.

Rev. Ash Temin is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who serves as the Staff Writer + Program Manager at The BTS Center. She also offers spiritual direction through her independent practice in Portland, Maine. Ash is a graduate of the University of Virginia (BA), the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin (MPhil) and Harvard Divinity School (MDiv). Her time at both the ISE and HDS sparked a passion for ecological theology and prompted her to begin delving more deeply into the experience of ecological grief.

Prior to moving to Portland, she served as an Acting Associate Pastor at Hope Central Church, a UCC/DOC congregation in Boston. Before answering the call to ordination, Ash worked in various administrative roles at Harvard University. She also has worked as a hospital and hospice chaplain, an adjunct professor, and a freelance editor.

After time spent living in Texas, Virginia, Colorado, Ireland, and Massachusetts, Ash is grateful to make her home in Maine, where she lives with her husband and two cats and spends part of most days walking on the shores of Casco Bay. When not absorbed in work, she can be found cooking with friends, laying in her garden hammock, hiking in the woods, playing in the ocean, or attempting to learn the Irish language with a cat on her lap.

Tory Stephens creates opportunities that transform organizations and shift culture. He is a visionary creative force driving climate justice through storytelling. At Grist, he serves as the creative manager of Imagine 2200, the award-winning climate fiction initiative he helped found. In this role, he shapes the artistic and narrative direction of the project, guiding a new generation of climate stories and overseeing the production of two groundbreaking anthologies: Afterglow: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors (published in English and Korean) and the newly released Metamorphosis: Climate Fiction for a Better Future. Today, Tory focuses on publishing climate fiction year-round, curating narratives that inspire, challenge, and empower.

Beyond publishing, Tory is a philanthropic advisor who helps generate and direct resources to under-resourced communities in the Deep South. He also builds strategic partnerships with grassroots organizations, helping communities access tools and platforms that amplify their voices in the climate conversation. With a background in health justice and movement-building, he has mobilized resources for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, and continues to advocate for resource justice across the region.

A justice-driven storyteller and network weaver, his work blends narrative strategy, partnership building, and imaginative possibility to envision a cleaner, greener, and more just future.

About Rolling Ridge

Located on 38 acres on the shores of Lake Cochichewick, Rolling Ridge Retreat and Conference Center is a premier retreat and conference center in North Andover, Massachusetts.

Serving the community since 1948, it is a historic place of natural beauty, gracious hospitality, and spiritually transforming programs, connecting all people, God, and creation. With 28 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms between the two houses of the 1920s mansion, Rolling Ridge offers beautiful space with delicious meals for groups and individuals to find their center.

Cancellation Policy

If it is necessary to cancel a registration for this retreat, we request that you provide as much notice as possible so that we can offer the available space to someone else.

Important dates:

• May 15: Registration deadline
• Before May 15: 100% refund
• Between May 15 – June 12: 50% refund
• After June 13: No refund unless we can fill the spot with another registrant

We are unable to provide a refund in the event of late arrival or early departure. Out of consideration for others who may be on the waiting list, we encourage you to make a commitment to attend the entire retreat.

Questions can be directed to Rev. Ash Temin: ash@thebtscenter.org.