Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - [permaculture] The Giant Sleeps -Simon Henderson passes on

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "L.SantoyoDesigns" <santoyo@earthflow.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] The Giant Sleeps -Simon Henderson passes on
  • Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2004 21:26:41 -0800

...
Friends of Permaculture,

Surrounded by adoring fans and close friends, Simon Henderson died yesterday, in Seattle, waiting for a liver transplant. He was alert, oriented, beautiful and calm...

Simon Henderson is a Permaculture Giant and a Cultural Creative archetype. He was a romantic native american spiritualist, who became a story teller extraordinaire -making us believe in the promises of tolerance and in the beauty of a "Green Grass World."

Simon was my friend... In 1988, Simon and I co- founded Great Northwest Permaculture Institute. Through the early 90's I taught eight permaculture design courses with Simon in Washington State and in California. Hundreds of his students know his humor and know his passion for a sustainable world. He admired and was a friend of Bill Mollison. Simon was Bill's production assistant in the filming of the "Global Gardener" series -see him buying strawberries in the "cold climates" segment. Simon also contributed to the world-wide research of bamboo and willow use in traditional agroforestry systems and consulted on development projects on, at least, three continents.

Before I met Simon, he was a 1960's Haight/Ashbury artist and theatre performer -a quintessential flower child... He traveled the globe with rock star and artist royalty of the day -even Salvador Dali gives Simon a mention in his writings. While living as an artist in Tahiti, Simon developed a new connection to the Earth and later cultivated his path toward permaculture.
The Permaculture Movement was enriched by Simon's spirals...


Larry Santoyo, Director
EarthFlow Design Works &
The Center of Natural Design

Special Thanks & Love to Brent, Cathy, Kirk and Ellen


Keith Johnson wrote:

Simon Henderson has more than twenty years of experience in documenting traditional agriculture systems throughout the world. He traveled fairly extensively in tropical regions studying bamboo'ss botanical characteristics and uses by many cultures. In 1995 he established a bamboo agroforestry research farm where his friends continue to conduct varietal trials on more than 30 species of bamboo. Simon has consulted for bamboo projects throughout Asia, Central America and the US. He carries, with his fellows of Bamboo Nation and Bamboo People, Daphne Lewis and Stuart Brune (Bamboo Research Station at Coyote Ranch near Stanwood, WA, USA), a vision of bamboo as an element woven into Permaculture agroforestry and human cultural life. Simon will be remembered as an inspired Permaculture designer/educator and for his extensive writing on bamboo in the agricultural landscape.Read his Raising the Dragon: Bamboo Agroforestry in Southeast Asia or an article by him at http://www.permaearth.org/bamboo.html

Simon, his colleagues, and fellow bambuseros have focused on urban gardening with bamboo introducing bamboo as a plant of world significance. They maintain nurseries and offer instruction in installation, maintenance and harvesting of shoots and poles.

Rick Valley and the gang in the NW USA knew him far better than I, though I would have enjoyed spending more time with him and on his projects. He's worked with Toby Hemenway, Michael Pilarski, the Bullocks, Larry Santoyo, Jude Hobbs, John Schinnerer, Doug Abberly, the folks at Lost Valley, Jonathan Scherch, and many others. He helped awaken a lot of people to wonderful plants and to Permaculture. He also appears briefly in the Global Gardener video delivering strawberries to Cascadian Farms. May we all join him, his students and friends in keeping all his good works alive and thriving.

You can see a picture of Simon at http://fertileground.org/community/bamboo/
More at : http://www.wildthymefarm.com/agrobamboo.html


--
Keith Johnson
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 1209
Black Mountain, NC 28711
(828)669-6336

also Patterns for Abundance Design & Consulting
Culture's Edge at Earthaven Ecovillage
http://www.permacultureactivist.net
http://www.earthaven.org
http://www.bioregionalcongress.org




All...

Simon is the bamboo guru of Puget Sound.
He's a Permaculture teacher of the first order.
He was the master gardener of the Sun Bear Tribe for many years.
He has Maori tattoos on his face.
He's my best friend in the Permaculture community.
I will miss him terribly.

Will


-- Will Carey, Director
Center for Urban & Rural Ecology
32861 Lake Creek Drive
Halsey, OR 97348
cure@rtinet.com
541.369.2936




Keith:

Could you tell us a little about Simon, who he is and what he has done
in the world of plants, permaculture and eco ag?

Thanks,

LL




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page