The author, Carol L. Young , was raised in San Francisco with four younger brothers in a family that loved the out-of-doors and sports. When they went camping, the boys and their dad went fishing, while she and her mother went hiking looking for birds and flowers. Although she had brothers, it was Carol who enjoyed doing the mowing, pruning, and weeding of the family's yards.
She went away to college to receive a Bachelor's Degree in Botany from University of Colorado, and a Master's Degree in Plant Ecology from University of Hawaii at Honolulu. She hiked all over California, Colorado, Hawaii, Arizona, and Utah. She is a perpetual learner, always taking a class in something. Carol spent many years saving information about gardening and health, without realizing why she was doing it. She collected articles from magazines, newspapers, college class notes, and books.
When she finally had a chance to plant a garden at Lake Almanor, California, she was challenged to find out what plants would thrive there. She had conversations with many local people about their successes and failures with plants, talked to nursery owners, joined the Chester Gardening Club, read books, in addition to her own experience with gardening at Lake Almanor for thirty years.
In looking back on her life, Carol said she could see two basic dreams. She wanted to have her own home with a big garden, where she could put up her own fruits and vegetables in the freezer for her family to eat all year round. She could bake her own bread, and enjoy the cozy warmth of a wood stove on cold winter nights. The second dream was to be an at-home-mom for her children, and "be there" enjoying them through their daily joys and sorrows as they grew up.
Gradually, as the children grew older and need less attention, her focus became more on helping others to garden and to be healthier. She wrote the gardening book, ran a nursery out of her large garden and greenhouse, and sold vitamin supplements and herbs. As she learned more about gardening, she regularly revised the book. The book is in its' fifth edition, and she still loves helping people to garden and to be healthier.
Today, her hobbies are hiking, photography, dancing, daily aerobics, walking, reading, racquetball, kiyaking, art (pen & ink, watercolor, and pencil), and music (playing banjo, piano, & guitar). She has three grown children, and is living near her grandchildren in Coos Bay, Oregon.
She enjoyed writing this book! She said this book was not fame or fortune, but to introduce people to a way of gardening that can be fun, easy and oh, so rewarding --- in joy, peace of mind, and good health.