A homesteader, author, and master naturalist, Susan M. Brackney has written for Boy Scouts, stoners, radiologists, gardeners, the one percent, and many other walks of life. She’s researched, written, and illustrated four nonfiction books, including Plan Bee: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Hardest-Working Creatures on the Planet. She’s also ghostwritten a fifth book about traumatic brain injury repair.
Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Boys’ Life Magazine, Organic Gardening, Hobby Farms, Indianapolis Monthly, and the PBS “NatureNow” blog, among others.
Brackney can provide the following content/editorial materials:
FULL-LENGTH, SERVICE-ORIENTED FEATURES
NONFICTION BOOKS
MULTIMEDIA CONTENT
SubjectsGARDENING/HOMESTEADING
• Seed starting and plant propagation—scarification, cold stratification, and other seed-starting techniques
• Growing veggies, herbs, and fruits—organic methods; integrated pest management; heirloom varieties
• Marketing and selling homegrown goods
• Greenhouse management and operation
• Composting—setting up a pile from scratch; common composting mistakes; remediating problem piles
• Beekeeping—integrated pest management; Langstroth and other hive configurations
• Keeping chickens
SPECIALTY GARDENING
• Climate change gardening—xeriscaping; rain gardens; native plantings
• Wildlife attraction—gardening for native species; migratory birds; establishing biohedges and other specialized habitats
• Invertebrate pollinator conservation—plantings for honey bees, native pollinators, and other beneficial and/or threatened insects
Skills
Writing CreditsClients have included: Perigee Books, The New York Times, Boys’ Life, Pizza Today, Country Living Gardener, Organic Gardening, Bloom Magazine, Hobby Farms Magazine, Discover, The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis Monthly Magazine, and more.
Book Credits
Awards, Honors, Appointments2017 recipient of the American Society of Journalists and Authors Honorable Mention in the Business/Technology/Science category for her article “Are We Loving Monarchs to Death?” appearing in Discover Magazine online.
As author, unless indicated otherwise.
Until recently, monarchs have mostly been at Mother Nature’s mercy—contending with disease, weather fluctuations, and heavy predation in the wild.
Lately, however, the efforts of a well-meaning public to bring monarch eggs and larvae indoors to raise to maturity, or to purchase large numbers of farmed monarchs for release into the wild, may be making life even more difficult for the beleaguered butterfly. Experts suggest such activities expose monarchs to disease, interfere with its genetic diversity, and stymie scientists’ efforts to track its migration patterns. Sadly, this isn’t the first time our good intentions toward monarchs have gone bad.
ReadChanges to normal winter weather affect the way we garden, from protecting vulnerable plants to adjusting common crops to planting with pests and pathogens in mind.
Birds colliding with windows is a major source of avian death on the farm. Hawk silhouettes aren't good enough—here's what to do instead.
Do you hear that? Sometimes it’s a soft swish like reeds against a canoe. Other times it’s the lengthier, unfurling darkness of a full-on sea monster. Antlered and amplified, a family of deer had taken to sliding their coarse fur along the aluminum shell of my 1968 Airstream camper.
Perhaps they were just dislodging ticks. I like to think they were welcoming me to the neighborhood. After eight years spent joined in holy acrimony, I’d finally given up. I felt ashamed that my marriage had failed and embarrassed that I had to rely on the kindness of others just to get by. (Is it just me or does gratitude sting at first?)
Indiana’s seasons aren’t quite what they used to be. Wet springs that lead to floods are often followed by summers with dangerously high temperatures. Winters can be strangely warm and dry, or just as easily bring record-breaking blizzards and below-zero temperatures. It’s all due to climate change—and it’s influencing what we eat, how we feel, and even how long some of us will live.
