Dr. Karen E. Bledsoe teaches biology at Western Oregon University, where she specializes in science education for adult learners. A lifetime gardener, she naturally gravitated toward botany in college, and earned a master's degree in botany from Oregon State University. She later earned teaching credentials and taught high school for a time, then moved up to college teaching and earned a Ph.D. in Science Education. She writes about gardening on her blog, Reading Dirt, at http://readingdirt.blogspot.com. Karen also writes for children, and has published over 30 books for children, primarily nonfiction for the school and library market. Her writing website can be found at http://www.gkbledsoe.com.

My passion is ...

gardening, botany, education

My parents always told me ...

coffee is for grown-ups, which is why I don't drink it.

My childhood ambition ...

was to rich and famous. Still working on that. I'd settle for just rich.

Why I write ...

I've been addicted to writing since the age of four. Just try and stop me.

My first job ...

I worked in a cannery that processed beans and beets. Please - I'd rather not think about it.

My best moment ...

It's a toss-up between publishing my first book and finishing my Ph.D.

My inspiration ...

Life.

Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) How to attract wildlife in your garden

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Whether for their own pleasure or for the benefit of the planet, many people are getting into gardening for wildlife. Setting up an entire wildlife refuge on your property might sound like a job best left to professionals, but an inspection of your yard may reveal that only a few simple changes are needed to make your yard more attractive to wildlife. All you need to supply are four basic elements: food, water, cover, and nesting sites.

Food
The backbone of your wildlife food supply should be plants - preferably native plants - with high food value. This includes trees, shrubs and herba...

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