Astrodime was founded in July of 2020 in the crux of the pandemic. During that time, Sam Smiley attended the Green School at Umass, Amherst, and took Permaculture Design classes at University of Oregon. This began a journey which currently includes arborist work, meadow development and permaculture design. and eventually turned into knotweed consultation on Cape Cod.

Founder and Owner sam smiley (they/them/theirs) has a background in invasive ecology, permaculture design, videography and photography. They also have over 20 of years experience as an educator in STEM and STEAM. sam presents their research and documentary work on Japanese Knotweed and Invasive Species at academic conferences around the world . The idea of starting a company working with invasive species came out of an arts based research project on Japanese Knotweed in Provincetown, Massachusetts. https://catalystjournal.org/index.php/catalyst/article/view/28851.

Artist and Horticulturalist John Trainor (he/him) has years of experience growing plants from seed, and working with roses and hydrangeas, and loves to help people make their own little Eden. Astrodime is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.

sam smiley’s credentials are the following:

LICENSES

Rhode Island Arborist Lic. #1194

Rhode Island Certified Coastal Invasive Manager #386

ISA Certified Arborist NE-7960A

CERTIFICATIONS & EDUCATION

Permaculture Design Certificate, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

Green School (Arboriculture Track), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Master of Fine Arts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Master of Fine Arts, Troy, NY

Bachelors of Fine Arts,  Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA

PUBLICATIONS:

“A Knotty Problem: Arts Based Action Research in and out of a Community Garden”. Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience, 3(2).

“Field Recording or Field Observation?: Audio Meets Method in Qualitative Research. “The Qualitative Report, 20(11), 1812-1822. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol20/iss11/8 .

MEMBERSHIPS:

Rhode Island Nursery & Landscape Association (RINLA)

International Society of Arboriculture (ISA)

Society for History of Technology (SHOT)

Society for Social Studies of Science