For more than two decades, Cheryl K. Smith has written, edited, researched, and published across a remarkably wide range of subjects — from animals and agriculture to midwifery, health, law, end-of-life issues, cannabis, and fiction.
Her work has appeared in books, magazines, journals, and independent publications, always with the same goal: to make complex subjects clear, thoughtful, and useful to the reader.
Cheryl is the author of practical nonfiction titles including Goat Health Care, Goat Midwifery and Raising Goats for Dummies, as well as the Hidden Creek Farm mystery series. Her publishing work spans both instructional nonfiction and fiction.
For Dummies / Wiley, Karmadillo PressHer magazine and journal writing has covered animal care, birth and maternal health, cannabis, medicine, law, ethical issues, recipes, and other subjects.
Midwifery Today, Cannabis NowEditor of a dairy-goat magazine, managing editor of a midwifery journal, and editor of books from an independent birth-focused press.
Ruminations, Midwifery Today, Motherbaby PressCheryl is the owner of Karmadillo Press, through which she has developed and published work rooted in both experience and independent inquiry.
Karmadillo Press, RuminationsCheryl's work has never fit neatly into a single category. Over the years, she has written across subjects that reflect her professional background, practical experience, research interests, and curiosity.
Goat health, breeding, kidding, animal behavior, small farms and practical animal care.
Pregnancy, childbirth, traditional practices, women's health and issues affecting mothers and birth professionals. Her Midwifery Today work spans subjects from pregnancy and birth to traditional umbilical-cord practices and wound care.
Legal and ethical questions surrounding medicine, end-of-life decisions and individual rights.
Medical cannabis, patient issues, research and public-policy questions. Cannabis Now's author archive lists Cheryl's articles on topics including hepatitis C, kidney transplants, medical cannabis patients and cannabis-related health research.
Recipes, food, farming, practical living and subjects drawn from years of hands-on experience.
Mystery, character, rural life and the fictional world of the Hidden Creek Farm series.
Editing has been part of Cheryl's work for decades — shaping articles, working with writers, organizing information, and helping turn complex material into something readers can understand and use.
She edited and published Ruminations, The Nigerian Dwarf and Mini Dairy Goat Magazine, from 2001–2007, a publication that grew directly out of the questions and experiences of dairy-goat owners.
She has also served as Managing Editor of Midwifery Today, from 2005–2009 and again since 2017, and has edited books published by Motherbaby Press.
Editing is often invisible to the reader — but it is part of what makes a publication coherent, accurate and readable.
Long before every article could be found online, Cheryl was writing about complex questions involving medicine, law, ethics and end-of-life decision-making.
Her earlier work includes writing and collaborative books addressing physician-assisted death, legal safeguards, terminal illness and individual decision-making, alongside later work in health, birth and medical cannabis.
The best writing begins before the first sentence — by understanding what the reader actually needs to know.
Legal, medical and technical subjects don't have to sound complicated simply because the underlying subject is.
Research provides the foundation, but practical experience often reveals the questions that research alone doesn't answer.
Browse Cheryl's articles by topic, publication and year — or explore her nonfiction guides, practical reference books and Hidden Creek Farm mysteries.
