About Ellen Sousa

Follow Me Online at:

Turkey Hill Brook Farm

THB Farm's New England Habitat Gardening blog:

Beautiful Wildlife Gardens team blog:

Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens team blog:

I'm a Spencer, MA-based writer, speaker and garden coach specializing in habitat landscaping, earth-friendly gardening and gardening with northeast US native plants. A life-long gardener and nature lover, in 2007 I left a corporate career as a technical writer and business analyst to take a giant leap of faith into a new career in natural habitat and ecological gardening.

Since then, I've written about habitat gardening for national and local magazines, and I also contribute to several popular blogs, including Beautiful Wildlife Garden, Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens, and the National Wildlife Federation.

I lead tours and present natural landscaping classes to garden clubs, the New England Wild Flower Society, Rhode Island Wild Plant Society, Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Grow Native Massachusetts, BayPath Adult Evening School, and at conferences of Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), the Ecological Landscaping Association and New England State Extension Services.

I'm also an Overseer for New England Wild Flower Society, and on the Board of Directors for Common Ground Land Trust of Spencer and Leicester, MA.

Education:
New England Wild Flower Society:
Certificate in Native Plant Horticulture & Design (2008)

Windstar Wildlife Institute:
Certified Wildlife Habitat Naturalist (2004)
& National Master Naturalist (2008)

BA (English): Clark University, 1989

Studied at Sussex University, Brighton, UK

Memberships:

Member of the Massachusetts Butterfly Club, Massachusetts Audubon, New England Wild Flower Society, Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Rhode Island Wild Plant Society, Grow Native Massachusetts, Ecological Landscaping Association,The Xerces Society, Common Ground Land Trust, Garden Writers Association, and

Spencer Disaster Animal Response Team (Spencer DART)