“On Friday, a family took charge of their mother’s funeral. They were gathered around for her final breath, and soon thereafter shrouded her body prior to it being moved to the hospital’s morgue. They filled out the death certificate and burial/transport permit and obtained signatures of the necessary officials. They transported her remains on a body board in their station wagon, delivering it to a grave that was hand-dug by her grandson and friends. Family and friends gathered, smudged with sage, said personal remembrances and sacred things, and lowered her body slowly themselves, adding a feather (she loved birds), photos, and flower petals. They covered the grave, planted a winged elm at her head, and placed a picturesque tree burl at her foot. The grave was further marked by a brass surveyor’s disk with her name and dates. Family and friends retired to the Lodge for a meal together, and for further remembrances. The only thing remarkable about all of this is that such a loving, participatory, and natural ending should be remarkable at all.”
-from Green Burial Council certified Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery