I am a Channel Manager for the Home and Garden Channel. As a long time gardener, plant fanatic and plant collector, I feel very much at home in this channel. Jim Bessey and I share the responsibilities for managing this channel, and we hope that we can continue to build the channel into a great one that provides inspiring titles for Helium members to write to and interesting articles that Internet searchers will want to read. If anyone has titles to suggest or comments about the channel, please feel free to contact me by using the Contact Writer link.

I am also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board, and am incredibly proud to be part of this amazing team of people who are helping to elevate the quality of writing at Helium in every possible way. I am always willing to assist Helium members who are looking for ways to improve their writing and grow as writers.

On a more personal note, here is some background about me.

My undergraduate degree is a B.Music degree in Music History and Literature. I studied at the Chicago College of Performing Arts (formerly known as Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University.) Music has always been a big part of my life, mostly because I was surrounded by it all the while I was growing up. My father was a well known Chicago violist.

I later moved to Iowa to do graduate work. After getting involved in the Book Arts community there, my career path changed radically and I wound up enrolling as a member of the first class of students to participate in the University of Iowa Center for the Book Graduate Certificate Program. My graduate work revolved around course work related to the history of the book. That also included several years of intensive Latin study. That program is now part of a joint degree program whereby students enrolled in the Center for the Book Program can also get a Master's Degree in Library Science with an emphasis on Special Collections.

I've been interested in plants, gardening and to a certain degree, farming for as long as I can remember. Although I was able to dabble in gardening as a teenager (through a high school horticulture program and later an experience at a camp that had a sizable garden and orchard,) and then at one of the places where I was living before I moved to Iowa,  I didn't really get into gardening and learning about plants until I moved to Iowa. Iowa is a huge farming state, and you'll be hard pressed to find a home anywhere where people aren't growing something. The fertile soil makes it an ideal place for anyone who wants to grow food on a small scale. I learned a lot from farmers and from experienced gardeners.

I am a strong believer in the exclusive use of organic gardening practices, and am a proponent of all facets of green living. Helium has given me the opportunity to give my love for gardening a  voice, and I hope that I am able to inspire people who have never gardened to take the plunge to learn about gardening. At a time when people are reeling from the effects of the US economic crisis, home gardening (especially vegetable gardening,) can be a vital way for people to improve their standard of living, save money and get healthier in the process. If through my writing, I can prove that gardening is more accessible than people may have believed, and if I can encourage more people to get involved in gardening, then my efforts will have been far more valuable than the contents of my articles on their own.

I love the challenge of writing about things I know little about, and the relaxation of writing about things that are greatly familiar to me. I am always challenged as a writer to become better, and to try to produce writing that is of value to the people who read it. Writing for the Internet is nothing like any other kind of writing, and one of the greatest challenges I have faced as a writer was learning to recognize that, accept that and to write in such a way as to appeal to as many people as possible. I continue to strive to improve on that because I firmly believe that writers never stop learning and improving.

I welcome communication from people who are interested in writing for the channel, or who have feedback to share about my writing or that of anyone who writes to titles in this channel.

Other writing may appear under the name Susan K. Beal or simply as skbeal.

My passion is ...

First and foremost, I'm passionate about writing , then exotic and tropical plants, garrdening - especially tropical plants and flowers and hummingbirds. I'm also passionate about classical music.

I know too much about ...

Probably Classical Music and plants, gardening and hummingbirds

My parents always told me ...

Always be honest and respectful of all people. Treat others as you'd want people to treat you. It is important to know that you are no better or worse than anyone else.

My childhood ambition ...

I had many..........but probably a professional musician or an international linguist. I also had dreams of becoming a librarian and a writer (I'm working on that last one!)

My favorite memory ...

Marrying my best friend or playing duets with my father and holidays with my family - especially the smell of my mom's Christmas goodies.

Why I write ...

I love to write, I love to put my thoughts into writing and I love to challenge myself creatively through writing. I am on a mission to encourage people to become more self sufficient through vegetable gardening.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

I'm watching the entertaining hummingbirds who are flocking to my feeders all day long.

My first job ...

stocking clothes in a woman's clothing store

My best moment ...

getting married for the first time to an amazing man just before I turned 50.

My inspiration ...

My husband and everything around me..........Mostly plants, birds, things in nature! Most of all, all of the people who have believed in me, continue to believe in me and are always encouraging me.

Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) The joys of gardening

1 of 51

Gardening is probably the most widely recognized and popular hobby in America. What is it about gardening that gives people so much satisfaction? Although I cannot speak for other people, I can try to articulate why I find so much joy in gardening. I happen to love plants. It doesn't matter whether they are flowering plants, plants grown for their foliage or plants grown for food. I love them no matter what they are. Nothing quite compares to the satisfaction of watching a seed that I planted germinate and grow into a mature plant. A seed planted for a food crop is somehow different, thoug...

More..

Writing:

Rating:

• Channel Steward Home & Garden
• Marketplace Premier Writer
• 32Writing Contest Winner
• Editorial Advisory Board
• Marketplace Approved Writer
• 1Marketplace Articles Sold