Green Funerals

[Annpan]

What about burial at sea?

[johnhcrf]

If you did that for my mother in law it would end up a poison ivy.....[/quote]

Thanks for that, Big Al. This raises a problem for under tree burials in general. Namely, keeping up (or down) with the Joneses's. There should be no negative connotation with a person's last placement. Respect should remain. A new location, where relatives could pay respects, would be essential. As society changes to a new hopefully sustainable lifestyle, a new sustainable process may emerge. It is not going to happen overnight but I am convinced it will be a complete change from what we know.

[Big Al]

If you did that for my mother in law it would end up a poison ivy.....

Thanks for that, Big Al. This raises a problem for under tree burials in general. Namely, keeping up (or down) with the Joneses's. There should be no negative connotation with a person's last placement. Respect should remain. A new location, where relatives could pay respects, would be essential. As society changes to a new hopefully sustainable lifestyle, a new sustainable process may emerge. It is not going to happen overnight but I am convinced it will be a complete change from what we know.[/quote]


WHAT ????

[ina]

What about burial at sea?

I'm not sure about that - probably OK if a few people choose it - but what if everybody wants to go that way? Wouldn't it get a bit crowded? Or are there areas where you could be sure that bodies don't return in an unwanted way...

[MrFalafel]

I've just had to arrange a green funeral and a natural burial for my wife who sadly passed away earlier this month. Its actually very interesting process.

You need to be on-the-ball and ready to pounce with detailed instructions to give to the hospice and undertaker immediately upon death. If you don't then embalming can take place right away. Undertakers around my area were totally baffled when I talked them about natural burial but they soon caught on when I got help from a proper naturaly burial sanctuary an hours drive away. They gave me instructions to give to the undertakers and explained the whole process to me (and the undertakers). The gravesite was selected by walking around the sanctuary to find a natural clearing and some brush was cleared away and the sanctuary people dug a professional grave.

We had to use a recycled cardboard casket, which the undertaker sourced, the body had to be dressed in natural fibre clothing with minimal jewelry and no embalming. This meant a closed casket funeral was the only option. The undertakers did all of this for us.

The undertakers followed instructions to the letter and drove the casket out to the natural burial sanctuary where the family met them. They put the sturdy casket on a cart and rolled it down the 1/4 nature trail to the open grave. We all said a few words and read a poem and then lowered the casket while birds were singing and the sun was shining. It was actually a very lovely situation.

The family now has an excuse to visit a lovely part of the world and go on a nature walk with incredible views and have a picnic with our loved one who is part of the local natural experience.

Next task is to find a local natural stone that we can have engraved as a simple marker.

If anyone wants more information about this feel free to PM me for the name of the sanctuary or the experience itself.

[MKG]

Huge sympathies, Mr. Falafel - but also congratulations on carrying through something you and your wife believed to be right. And I'm sure you're also right in your belief that a lovely corner of the world is the best way to be remembered.

[MrFalafel]

I was dreading making the funeral arrangements when she became ill but when I saw that she had specified a natural burial it became a little project to take my mind off of things while she was in hospice. I had no idea natural burials existed and learned all about them.

And I'm sure you can imagine that being out in the sunshine with an ocean breeze while being sernaded by birdsong is a lot better than a dire funeral home or crematorium. I would recommend this to anyone.

One word of advice, do a bit of research on cardboard caskets and haggle a bit with the undertaker about them. They charged me £400 for a cardboard box! Mind you, it was a very nice one...

[eztiger]

Cant you be buried in your own garden? I would much rather that. I have a special place in my garden, I'd like to go there and then have a tree planted on me.

be a bit hard to explain to guests when the dog brings in your tibia/rib/skull
I would like to be cremated then sit on the mantle and haunt everyone.
muhuhaha

[Annpan]

My thoughts are with you and your family MrFalafel.

Thank you for sharing your experience with us, very interesting and it does sound so much nicer than a regular funeral.

[red]

sorry to hear you news MrF

It does sound like you managed to arrange the funeral you wanted, and yes it does sound like a lovely service.

[the.fee.fairy]

Sorry to hear about your wife's passing MrF

The service does sound like it was beautiful, and that future memories will be enhanced by the choice of funeral.

[eztiger]

sorry to hear about your wife
sounds like you found a beautful spot, i`m sorry for your loss.

[Wombat]

sorry to hear about your wife
sounds like you found a beautful spot, i`m sorry for your loss.

Me too!

Nev

[gusmac]

Cant you be buried in your own garden? I would much rather that. I have a special place in my garden, I'd like to go there and then have a tree planted on me.

be a bit hard to explain to guests when the dog brings in your tibia/rib/skull
I would like to be cremated then sit on the mantle and haunt everyone.
muhuhaha

Eztiger, Why do you think a backyard burial will be any less deep than a graveyard/woods burial?
Even if a cardboard casket or bokashied body was buried at (say) 3 feet the 'dog digging up bones' response seems improbable - when have you seen a dog dig a hole deeper than 2 feet?

side note: this is my first post, I'm in Australia and we use metric measurements but I figured this forum is frequently mostly by ishers from the UK, hence the feet. also, i found this forum by googling 'bokashi burial'