Ashley Erdely – Author of Meet the Wildflowers

Ashley Erdely is a professional educator, writer, devoted mama, and nature enthusiast. She grew up on a 130-acre llama ranch, where she thought it was normal to have llamas as your best friends. She spent family vacations camping and visiting national parks across the country. These early experiences in nature significantly influenced her career decision to be an educator, encompassing her environmental passion and commitment to making nature a part of children’s daily lives.

In addition to a decade of classroom teaching in public schools, she has also co-created a thriving 6th-grade outdoor school program for Hood River County Schools (Oregon), developed a curriculum for a private environmental education school, and co-founded a local branch of a Forest Free School for preschoolers in her community. She currently owns her own business where she tutors students one-on-one, provides consultation and designs curricula for individual students and homeschool families, and leads educational workshops for kids. She is working on publishing her first book, Meet the Wildflowers: A Young Naturalist’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest, featuring 50 of the most common wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest; it is fun to use, educational, and locally relevant.  Ashley has recently joined the White Salmon Wildflower Festival as an advisory board member.

Erdely lives in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area in White Salmon, Washington. She lives with her husband, daughter, and 750 species of wildflowers. She can usually be found outside hiking, digging for worms with her daughter in their garden, leading nature workshops for curious kids, and raft-camping with her family on the many local rivers.