About

Together with their two kids (Abraham and Penelope), Anna Lentz and Patrick Sluka are the current, lucky stewards of these fourteen, wooded acres near Dundee, Illinois. The Spring Bird ethos is to hold space for creativity and ecological reciprocity.

Patrick manages the woodlands, practices forest gardening, and duck husbandry. Anna writes and illustrates nature love stories, advocates for seasonal mindfulness and engaging creatively with nature, and teaches practicing creativity. They both manage the cottage rental for guests seeking a woodland retreat.

Abe and Penelope maintain joy and life throughout the seasons by sledding down the big hill, walking barefoot in the cool creek, baking breadsticks, and fortifying the treehouse.

Last but certainly not least are Spring Bird’s pets. Cats – Marbles and Ninja – are proud Spring Bird greeters and lead tours at their own will, of course. Lucy, the rescue dog, never rejects a treat, and the silly ducks travel between meadows digging in mud and quacking up a storm.

The entire Spring Bird family invites you and welcomes you — whether it’s for your personal retreat, to attend a workshop, to enjoy some nature stories, or to learn more about seasonal mindfulness.

Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.
Henri Nouwen

Welcome! You Are Here

Mission

To nurture and sustain a thriving and creative place for performing radical acts of hospitality.

Vision

We envision welcoming visitors for retreat and for nature and art education. We wish to share Spring Bird with others as well as maintain its health. Furthermore, we conceive of this place as an opportunity for others to use as they envision as long as it does not interfere with Spring Bird’s mission.

History Of This Place

In 1947, naturalist and photographer Torkel Korling purchased land previously used by a dairy farmer for grazing cows. The farmer cooled his fresh milk cans in the spring fed creek. Just old growth oaks and hickories stood as they had for hundred of years when the land belonged to the Potawatomi. A Swedish immigrant, Korling designed and built his home into the side of the hill facing the creek. He worked with limited post-war materials to construct an early mid-century home, pool, garage, and barn. Later he converted the garage into a layout studio for his botany work, and eventually, he transformed it into a one bedroom cottage. Korling transfigured the dairy farm into an arboretum by planting trees and laying out trails and meadows.

In 1976 Martha and David Bartholomew followed their hearts buying the Korling home and arboretum. They continued to nurture and care for their oasis, Siloam, protecting it against suburban development, and by sharing its place of respite through their own practice of hospitality.

In 2014 we bought Siloam from the Bartholomews and wish to continue their practice of both sharing and protecting it. We gave Siloam the name Spring Bird derived from our names: “Lentz” meaning Spring and “Sluka” meaning Bird. We wish that it remain a place of hope just as spring birds are an annual reminder of life after each winter.