Eden
Where does my dead body belong?
Animals die in the forest all the time but maybe we can do better. My burial is the final event in which I can exercise agency over my body, the final event in my biography. I propose that my last human act will be to dispose of my remains in as responsible a way as possible. A ‘green burial’ – designed to allow the body to decompose in a way that is beneficial to the environment. Or should that be ‘least harmful’?
For a green burial to take place the body must not be embalmed and must be in a biodegradable container or covering.
In June 2022 we visited the Eden Valley Woodland Burial Ground near Edenbridge in Kent. Run by Amy and Martin House, I was told by the Natural Death Centre that the 14 acre site is at the ‘wild end’ of green burial sites.
https://www.edenvalleyburials.org.uk
On entering the burial ground we quickly leave the main path, being drawn instead down the tracks into the long grass. After some time of wandering we realise that we do not know where we are and we do not know where the graves are. We are surrounded by flowering grasses, butterflies, brambles, small trees, a pond. Are we already walking over the graves without knowing because they are already overgrown? Is that small patch of grass growing taller than the others because of the human fertiliser feeding it?
The grave plots are clustered around the edge of the wood. Over time they will become absorbed into the woodland and become indistinguishable from it. But not yet…
Memorials such as gravestones, wind chimes, toys, and other keepsakes are not generally allowed at a green burial site because the priority is to avoid anything which is not part of the natural ecology. Even flowers may be removed if they are not native to the area.
You could have a small tree planted at the graveside or native flowers. Amy and Martin plant about 100 new trees a year in their plan for to reforest the area. Bodies are not buried in the wood itself as this would disrupt the existing ‘wood wide web’. Instead, bodies are buried on the periphery amongst newly planted trees so that over time they can attach themselves and become part of the expanding edge of the wood.
At some sites the grown trees may be coppiced and the sites may become self supporting through their production of wood.
I can choose a burial plot for myself and book it in advance. I will know that this is the place where my bodily remains will be transformed into a vast, organic, yet anonymous woodland network
The Posthumous World 