Chris McLaughlin is a Northern California writer and author who has been gardening for over 35 years in a wide variety of garden situations. Online, she's currently the home agriculture editor for From Scratch Magazine and staff columnist for Vegetable Gardener.com.

Chris is the author of five gardening books and one livestock book. A Garden to Dye For (St. Lynn's Press), Vertical Vegetable Gardening (Alpha Books), The Complete Idiot's Guide to Small-Space Gardening (Alpha Books), The Complete Idiot's Guide to Heirloom Vegetables (Alpha Books), The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting (Alpha Books), and Hobby Farms: Small-Scale Rabbit Keeping (BowTie Press).

Her print work can also be found in Hobby Farm Home Magazine, Urban Farm Magazine, The Heirloom Gardener Magazine, The Herb Companion (Now Mother Earth Living), and Fine Gardening Magazine.

On their small farm in Northern California's Gold Country, you'll find that Chris and her family have gardens devoted to fruit, vegetables, nuts, flowers, wildflowers, and dye plants. You can hunt her down at her personal website Laughing Crow & Company.