I am deeply interested in the learning and application of T.E.K. aka (Indiginous) Traditional Ecological Knowlege based life way skills.
From cold burning for forest regeneration and carbon sequestering, social forestry camps, native plant propagation and study, and water way restoration, I am obsessed with all things life giving. Food forests and soil health are a Brillient Avenue of study. I am gleefully interested in the many indigenous people’s life ways of land tending of the world. I travel the west coast of the so called USA and Mexico learning, attending skill share gatherings, and volunteering for several non profit when I can. Otherwise find me napping and stretching. This way of life is a wonderful excuse for me to constantly camp out. For $ i do massage and am a consent and intimacy coach for gay men. I love sleeping out in nature and studying and being with the ecology of a place. I network with other LBQTG queer people sharing information and skills and forging more community connections. I travel a lot.

By “Traditional, Ecological Knowledge” I am speaking of T.E.K. (i.e. Social Forestry practices) like managed cold burning to sequester carbon in the soil, also Wildtending learning, tending and planting wild native food species, fire making, tanning leather, etc.

Right now I am not based anywhere. I am nomadic, and share my time in several area during the year. Most of my time is up and down the west coast of the so called occupied lands known as the “usa”. I range through the high deserts of the Klamath Basin, and from the Great Basin and Colombia Basin on a quest to learn wild life ways of local plant knowledge, healthy community practices, etc.). I am interested in intentional living spaces, social reconstruction outside this capitalist and individualistic empire paradigm most of us find ourselves trapped in. I'd love to meet folks interested in llama and goat packing, ecologically regenerative botany, ancestral and contempt permaculture...and sustainability of any kind actually. From building with earth to zero waste live. Any way to align back into our ancestral symbiotic life ways that have been devastated and erased by colonial war, and take culture. I’ve helped build several Earthen homes; Cobb, Earth Bag, Adobe, and Waddle and Dab so far. I love learning these traditional ways of building. I’ve helped build a few wood based structures as well. I am always up for sharing information and helping out. I am often in an area because of a class I am attending.

ABOUT ME

Hello and aloha!
My name is Simon. I am queer, non-binary, and gay. I’m an artist. I working in many mediums (favorites, wood and Ceramics). I have lived much of my adult life on the Hawaiian Islands of Maui and the Big Island, and the west coast of the mainland USA. I grew up in the islands of Washington, and also on the Oregon Coast. I love hiking, swimming, exploring, relaxing, cooking, dancing, art, and music. I’ve lived on beaches all over the world learning from the wild populations of dolphins, fish, and Sea Turtles. I have had the opportunity and fortune to travel to India, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico, and Western and Southern Europe. I’ve lived with people from all these places and learned quite a lot of wonderful ways and ideas from these people and cultures. The tastes, smells, sights, and adventures I’ve experienced have influenced me greatly. I am grateful for the blessings I receive very and the generosity of other. I wish to return the favor.
I’ve lived in many various sorts of communities, intentional and otherwise, and group housing, student co-operatives. From palaces to squats. Radical sanctuaries to tightly run ships. I mostly like to camp out and be free of noise and city life.

PHILOSOPHY

Do as you wish, and do no harm. Being helpful, listening deeply, and being present to support other humans in our transition to this future culture we are all creating together will be.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

For the most part I need a place to sleep a night when I do not have access to friends or national forest resources. This is usually while I am traveling between volunteer positions or in a city or town I am unfamiliar with. I usually have all the gear I need to comfortably, and easily, stay on a concrete floor or in a back yard.
Any safe space will do, and will be much appreciated.

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am a skilled community houseguest. I am able to take full responsibility for my actions and interactions in a home. I am able to clean up, be helpful, and accountable for my actions. I try to come in a good way. I bring food for my self and share with others. I will be only needing a place to stay when I am traveling through a place I do not know well. This seems like a good way to network with other people who are learning skills sets I value. Permaculturists, llama, goat, and horse people, people who love life and ecology, not philosophically, but practically and with action oriented toward their environment and the living earth they dwell with.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

It has been very good so far. I have now met many new friends who are kind, considerate, gentle, and fun. Friends whom I have kept in touch with. Also connecting with radical queer and intentional communities all over the west coast of the so called occupied “usa”. Looking forward to Europe, Mexico, and South East Asia.

Interests

The Arts. Dance, Music, Song, Expression of Beauty, Magical Arts expressly those devoted to Aphrodite and Pan. Direct communication. Kind realness. Proactive Response to the Environmental Situation we have helped create on this earth. Peacefull Radical Consensual Altruistic Community Activation.

• wildlife
• arts
• culture
• singing
• performing arts
• beauty
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• crafts
• gardening
• traveling
• magic
• music
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• martial arts
• swimming
• forestry
• beaches
• cooperative living
• permaculture
• intentional communities
• dance
• creativity
• queer
• sewing
• ceramics
• foraging
• fermentation
• herbalism
• ecstatic dance
• tanning
• earth
• chinese medicine
• earthships
• felting
• funny people
• goddess
• cobb houses
• ferrocement
• wildtending

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: "The God of Ecstasy: Sex Roles and the Madness of Dionysus" & “Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture” by Arthur Evans, “T.A.Z. the Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism" by Hakim Bey,
"Another Mother Tongue" by Judy Grahn, “Your Blueprints for Pleasure” by Jaiya, "Deerskins into Buckskins: How to Tan with Brains, Soap or Eggs" by Matt Richards, “Tending the Wild” by M. Cat Anderson, “The Art of Giving and Receiving” by Dr. Betty Martin, the art and books Brian Froud, “Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Lore" by Randy P. Conner, David Hatfield Sparks and Randy P. Connor, "Daughters of Copper Woman" by Anne Cameron, so many folk tails, poets like Alan Ginsberg, ummm so many...

Films: Jim Henson's “The Dark Crystal”, Fellini's “Satyricon”, ShortBus, Stardust, Brazil, Bliss, Where the World Mine…

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Learning about the sophisticated and ancient wild native permaculture gardening practices of the Indigenous People of the area’s I am in. These involving the entire ecology of land based tending.

Being a witness to and a part of a whole group of people opening up to transparency, love, and support of each other through facilitated, cooperative group communication.

Orca whales swimming through phosphorescence under me as I kayaked through the Puget Sound in so called occupied “Washington”.

Teach, Learn, Share

Wild Native Plant Knowledge (the actuality of the Whole Earth Being a Wild Garden of Native Wild Foods every one of our Ancestors knew intimately, and built their personal and tribal community culture around tending, and sharing with each other. This was the way of all peoples...every one of us until the enslavement of empire and ideas of ownership got ahold of our entire being and identity through force. Peacefull and Cathartic Community Forums of Sharing for Personal Transformation through Radical Transparency, Empathy, & Compassionate Relating. I am excited about and learning this.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories, Food, Cooking Skills, The Wherl of Consent practical orientations and games, Massage/Physical Therapy Skills, Design Perspectives, Ecological Knowlage, friendship.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Denmark, India, Mexico, Spain, Thailand, United States