Stories in the Land essays

“Stories in the Land” was a class on memoir and landscape taught in the fall of 2014 by Don Mitchell and John Elder. It was offered under the auspices of Hogback Community College and took place at Cheryl and Don Mitchell’s Treleven Farm in New Haven, Vermont—a working sheep farm that is also an educational and retreat center. Over the course of five two-and-a-half-hour sessions, our group engaged in prompted writing exercises and discussed published work by a variety of authors. We also carried out several small-group workshops, both in person and through email, on formulating, organizing, revising, and polishing the essays that grew from our prompts. We are happy to share this selection of them with you.

Sailing Past Safety by Nadine Canter Barnicle
Coming Home by Ed Blechner
Growing Space by Mike Blouin
Raw by Sas Carey
Shed Skin by Caitlin Cusack
Two Prompts by John Elder

Geographies of Feeling by Susan Jefts
Turning Over Stones by Alice Leeds
Last Night by Ken Martin
The Fall by Linda McCuen
Blowing Things Up by Don Mitchell
A Swinger of Birches by Bruce S. Post
Listen to the Landscape by Lisa Sausville

Below Ground by Maria Theresa Stadtmueller
One White Oak by Jill Vickers
The Farm by Alex Wylie