Kelli Merkel

Kelli makes her home in rural Montana with her husband, two youngest sons, three dogs and a passel of chickens on their expanding little hobby farm. With a 20 year age gap between the youngest and oldest children, she also boasts an adult daughter, a son, and daughter-in-law. Author and Illustrator are new found lines on Kelli’s resume. They seem a bit surreal when looking at the accolades of her literary peers and her only being self taught. She had a vision that was brought to life in the summer of 2020 with 12 bottles of washable paint and a 5 pack of children’s paintbrushes . From there, her first book was created. Her other professions and hobbies include chef, cake decorator, restauranteur, a garden nerd and soil geek, beekeeper, outdoor enthusiast, and dyslexia advocate. Not keen on idle time, Kelli always has something more in the works.