Dasha M. Horton
Botanist, Farmer, Gardener
Understanding the world around us brings us closer to creating a sustainable future.
See some of the work I've been a part of and feel free to reach out with inquiries.
Growing food, Citizen Science, and Education for All
For the past several years I have worked at Wakeman Town Farm, a small educational homestead in Westport Connecticut, as the Gardens Manager/ Farmer. Through experimental and traditional growing technique, we have provided hundreds of pounds of food to the community. All excess is donated, but the core goal is to get people involved with the process of growing food. Wakeman Town Farm runs programs for teaching and training people on how to grow their own produce and flowers.
Community members can join in learning about plant identification, soil science, sustainable agriculture, and horticulture at all different levels. I have lead species assessments on the native and invasive plants on the property, removing invasive plants through organic practices and teaching homeowners about their own impact on their local ecosystem.
There are annual opportunities for highschoolers to take up an internship focused on gardening and farming basics. Additionally, I've mentored several college students as they get in-depth experience in regenerative farming practice, gardens maintanance and building their knowledge about the inter-connected nature of our food systems.
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Exploring Plant Archives
Herbaria and other archives hold millions of clues to help solve big problems! I love utilizing specimen collections for research and providing the resources for others, too. At Utah Valley University, I worked on helping maintain the collections as a student. This role helped connect researchers, artists, and students with the right resources to complete complex inquiries into the plant world.
I was also fortunate to learn about archives management and the work that goes collecting plants and preserving them, creating the vouchers, digitizing collections, and writing SOPs.
Part of my work at UVU included research on archival adhesives and how their use and application affect dried plants over time. It was amazing working with volunteers and conducting surveys to better understand how the processes of archive creation are just as important as the plants' utilization in a project. Proper preservation is key to being able to use collections for hundreds of years.
