CONVERTING CHRISTIANS TO GARDEN COMPOST?

When my husband died, I bought the cemetery plot next to his. But I've moved since then, so, just before my cancer surgery, two years ago, I checked with a local funeral home about transporting my body across the state. I'm good with being buried.

As for a religious service...nope, not for me. I have a collection of souvenir shot glasses from vacations and outings. I told my daughter to fill them up, have a toast to me, and let the mourners keep the glass, to remember me by.

Would you be happy to be turned into garden compost after your death? - Yes.

And would you be happy to use human compost in your garden? - Ehh, I'm a bit less comfortable with that. MAYBE if it was not made super clear and I just didn't know all the ingredients in the compost. (Kinda like today.)

What plans, if any, have you made for your funeral? - NONE. I've long said I don't care - I'll be dead! See me out to the curb in a trash bag (or make me into compost).

I do feel that we "modern" western humans approach to burial is horrible. We fill the cadaver full of poisons to prevent swift decay, seal them in a box or poison the land they are buried in. I think cremation is much better but it has its drawbacks too. One is the Christian stand or maybe former stand against cremating a possibly saved body. The theological argument over that much have been a twisted one. No doubt the twisting will get tighter not looser trying to not admit the error while reversing the position.

I would prefer to be just buried wrapped in biodegradable cloth and let nature return my flesh to the soil and enriching it. As for the bones, eventually dig them up, grind them up and use them for fertilizer.

I don't want to think about it and I don't want to make the decision. I don't want to be embalmed or cut up. The thought of it, any of it, is macabre and too much to think about. Composting burials are still illegal in many states. A greener burial is just being placed in the ground in a shroud or a wooden casket.

There are abuses even in composting burials, (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/24/colorado-funeral-home-owners-plead-guilty)

(https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/06/colorado-green-funeral-home-bodies-police-investigation)

I've read about exploding coffin syndrome, it happens when decomposing bodies are placed in sealed caskets and aren't given enough space and air to decompose naturally, embalming only delays it but doesn't prevent it.

I've had a burial plot in Grandview Cemetery on Walbert Avenue in Allentown since I was a year old. Daddy was killed while replacing a transformer in Bethlehem, PA and fell 45 feet from the top of the pole. He was only 38 years old. My mother bought six plots, one for all of us. Every religious and national holiday, as well as Daddy's birthday, we'd visit his grave. Since I was born to them later in life, most of my relatives died when I was very young and I had to attend the funerals. I won't go to funerals now and avoid them whenever I can.

When you grow up having a dead parent and grandparents and your only memory of them is a photograph of them in life or memento mori, death and dying take on a larger role in life than it does for others. My father's mother died in 1925, he was just 3 years old and was placed in an orphanage along with his brother and sisters. All cultures keep momento mori, it's common among Orthodox Christians, Russians, Ukrainians, Eastern Europeans.

I was very young when I found my father's autopsy report in a drawer along with a packet of photos of him in his casket. My sister threw them away after my mother died, recently I found I have the negatives, I threw them away too. I have a photo album with a couple of photos of the dead among the living - - my mother's mother died the same week as Daddy and my Aunt Stella drown at age 12 in the Ironton mine hole now known as Lake Todd. When my mother died, my uncle brought a camera to the funeral home. We stopped him from photographing her. She never liked having her picture taken and would refuse, we weren't going to allow it when she was helpless to refuse for herself.

I lost both of my parents early. I have no memory of my father and not one photo of us together. I was still a teenager when I lost my mother. I've been obsessed and traumatized by thoughts of death and dying my entire life and I had nightmares about it when I was very young.

Like you, I would be happy to just be buried. Let me become one with the earth. However some idiot decided dead bodies were a hazard. So we pickle preserve them. Tuck them into a coffin which is then tucked into a vault. A hundred years from now, dig them up and they look the same. Gross.

At this time, my family knows I want to be cremated. Unless they can send me off on a raft and shoot flaming arrows at me. Or just bury me in the yard. No coffin or vault.

It doesn't sound to appealing and I'm sure it would me very smelly.

"The circle of life as I come back as an AI-generated blogging worm!"

Live on! 😂

As for me, I was thinking about getting cremated and have my ashes scattered in the ocean. My funeral will be a BBQ party on the beach (I just hope I don't die in the dead of winter 😂 ).

In some states here in the US, it legal to compost someone. I would not mind being turn into compost. In fact my brother and I talk about it since one of those state is close by.

That's kind of morbid my friend, I can't even imagine human compost. But at least the UK is looking at ways to control Climate Change.

I hope your enjoying a relaxing weekend my friend..

This is insane in my opinion…

Funny that you posted about this - just last night I was watching an episode of Ted Lasso where one of the characters said she wanted to be buried in a cloth bag with a fruit tree planted on top, and then her friends could enjoy the fruit from the tree eventually. Her boyfriend’s response - eeeewwww. 😂

I haven’t put any wishes into my will. I’ve always assumed cremation, but the “organic burial†makes a lot of sense to me.

You must be joking, right? This can't be serious! Religions have always been a bit crazy, but in my opinion, this crosses all limits of absurdity. That said, everyone should do whatever they want with their remains—long live the freedom to even do ridiculous things. How about throwing the bodies into the Thames like they do in India with the Ganges? I think is a valid idea too, and the fishes would have food to recover from overfishing...

I know wayyyyy too much about this topic. I began reading the works by Caitlin Doughty for quite some time to get familiar with the process to help me through a rough patch in an impending loss. Just having the knowledge of the various customs and processes made it manageable to me.

The shallow grave cemeteries seem very interesting and the right way to go for me.

Once in New York I visited the Smithsonian Museum of Design and there was an interesting casket there made of paper. Low in the middle; higher on the ends so the person could be properly displayed on top as it were, with a domed lid. Really it reminding me of a presentation roasting dish. That one and wicker caskets would be broken down quickly and we return to the earth. Seems much more dignified than the chemical embalmings and reconstruction, makeup etc etc etc. To me it's acceptance. The modern processes are about fighting it.

There are so many discussions about finding the "Good Death" these days. We'll all be there some day.

There was a fantastic song I once heard with the line "We'll all be six feet in the ground" I think by Lou Reed but I've never been able to find it, I'm a terrible researcher.

There are also ways to donate your body to science and forensics. Not far from here There is a place that they'll lay you out to help people learn about people discovered outdoors and timelines etc.

Sorry if I'm oversharing on the subject, but for me it's helped immensely with the process and to be able to help those around me in those times of decisions.

Myself, I'd like to go the natural route, nourish the trees and creepy crawlies.

I wish they would compost me. I’d be thrilled to become a part of nature, are you kidding?

I would use human compost in my garden, absolutely.

I have a cremation plan, though if it becomes possible here…I will change that to compost.