Is it creepy to want your ashes spread in your garden?

[Stevetoad]

I told my wife that when i die i want my ashes mulched back into my garden. She called me a freak and walked away. to be honest i really dont care what happens to me after im dead (how would i ever find out) but i think my palms could at least make use of whats left of me. also maybe then my family could still feel like im there when they look my garden. im not planning on becoming palm food for a very long time btw.

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

To answer your question.... Yes!

But it's not as bad as what I told my wife to do with my ashes!

[Stevetoad]

i think you'll have to fill me in now Jeff.

[Dypsisdean]

Not if you need to raise the pH of your soil.

[_Keith]

Not at all. I have already left those instructions, right down to the specific tree.

[Gbarce]

My initial reaction is that it's odd but now that I think about it -- I don't think it's a bad idea. Your material remains would be reabsorbed into the biosphere by the plants and trees that you nurtured and loved and gave you enjoyment while you were alive. Technically your physical existence at a molecular level would continue through your garden and you remain connected to you little patch of the Earth. Kind of poetic in a way.

[Pando]

While this thought is interesting, I'd like to leave the decision what to do with me to those who survive me so that it gives them the most comfort. They will have to deal with it while they are still living, not me.

Spreading my ashes around the garden doesn't really appeal to me. I don't think my survivors would want the current property be my grave. They may sell the property, and then the new owners may rip out the trees or have a couple of rottweilers peeing on my remains every day. I wouldn't really care, but those who survive me probably will.

[DoomsDave]

Hmm.

Reasonable question. As the custodian of a couple of sets of ashes, there's something to be said for scattering.

But, on the other hand. . . . .

[Darold Petty]

It's most likely that my heirs will sell my home and garden. Definitely cremation for me, but cremains dispersed in a beautiful, open setting, like the Pacific ocean just west of the Golden Gate bridge, or above 12,000 feet elevation in the southern High Sierra.

This is mandatory in my will.

[DoomsDave]

Hmm.

Maybe scatter my ashes in the palm garden of the Huntington.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Are you really looking for validation for your plan from PalmTalk? To each his own, it's a matter of personal taste, there is no wrong way provided you don't violate some sort of health code. You're a surfer, I am surprised you wouldn't want your ashes scattered out there in the Pacific. For me personally, Darold's plan sounds more appealing than ashes in the garden, not to mention that only a select few palms would care for the increase in pH. And Pando has a point, the thought of a future owner's rottweiler peeing on your ashes is probably not going to appeal to your next of kin that outlive you - well, at least not the ones that care about you.

[Stevetoad]

  On 5/30/2014 at 12:16 AM, Brahea Axel said:

Are you really looking for validation for your plan from PalmTalk? To each his own, it's a matter of personal taste, there is no wrong way provided you don't violate some sort of health code. You're a surfer, I am surprised you wouldn't want your ashes scattered out there in the Pacific. For me personally, Darold's plan sounds more appealing than ashes in the garden, not to mention that only a select few palms would care for the increase in pH. And Pando has a point, the thought of a future owner's rottweiler peeing on your ashes is probably not going to appeal to your next of kin that outlive you - well, at least not the ones that care about you.

Not looking for validation at all. Even though I feel that there are some of the brightest mines I've spoken with on here. The ocean would be an option but it seems a bit too vast. My bits would be out there mixed in with countless other being nibbled on by all sorts of sea critters. Now if I get mixed into the soil and my atoms get absorbed into a bunch of palms (mine or like Dave said a public garden) then I will become a part of something that you can see, not just a enormous body of water that the world treats like a massive toilet bowl. I guess it doesn't matter what you choose. Eventually all of our atoms that we call ourselves will be scattered around the universe once again and for some reason I take comfort in that.

[LJG]

Well if you are cremated you can't add yourself to a database I am creating that will have a legally signed document telling the people of 300 years from now you wish to be recreated and can therefore live again to enjoy palms should you choose.

[Tropicgardener]

I know it is not garden related but many years ago during my Australian Navy days we were out somewhere in the South China Sea and our squadron flight had just washed down our Seaking Helicopter and coated it with protective oil...........Sitting out on the flight deck I noticed that our efforts had been spoiled by this grey and black ash that had stuck to the oil.............I then found out that the ship's Chaplain had just completed a 'burial at sea' for a former veteran sailor (possibly a WW2 vet who served in that theatre of war) and some of his ashes had blown up from the quarterdeck and covered the side of our helicopter...........Well this former sailor eventually was buried at sea but spent a few days flying around stuck to the side of our Seaking before his wish was fully realised !!!

[Dypsisdean]

Did you think it is that easy? Don't forget that the government has a say in all this. After all, they have a say in everything cradle to grave, and then some these days.

If you wish to be a good citizen and follow the law, regulations regarding ashes in inland waters are coverd by the Clean Water Act. In the ocean it is the EPA - with restrictions on distance from shore and water depth. Public lands are handled by other bureaucracies - and be sure you don't bury the container. And even your own property is not necessarily yours to receive your ashes. Many local laws are also in place.

http://www.cremationsolutions.com/Scattering-Ashes-Laws-Regulations-c108.html

[Stevetoad]

Once I'm dead then am I technically still a citizen? If my wife consults big brother about spreading my ashes I'll haunt her forever if I can figure out how to.

[_Keith]

  On 5/30/2014 at 3:34 AM, Dypsisdean said:

Did you think it is that easy? Don't forget that the government has a say in all this. After all, they have a say in everything cradle to grave, and then some these days.

If you wish to be a good citizen and follow the law, regulations regarding ashes in inland waters are coverd by the Clean Water Act. In the ocean it is the EPA - with restrictions on distance from shore and water depth. Public lands are handled by other bureaucracies - and be sure you don't bury the container. And even your own property is not necessarily yours to receive your ashes. Many local laws are also in place.

http://www.cremationsolutions.com/Scattering-Ashes-Laws-Regulations-c108.html

This is why you entrust your ashes and your last wishes to the right person. Once they leave the mortuary no one is coming to inspect them.

[doranakandawatta]

ashes and snow : http://codex.ashesandsnow.org/

maybe you'll find the palms… behind the elephants.

[doranakandawatta]

Nothing to do with this topic or only in a oniric view:

Ashesandsnow is Gregory Colbert's work I discovered 10 years ago in Venice biennale:

[Kumar]

And I used to think something was wrong with my head for having morbid thoughts like this....

[Gonzer]

I'm donating mine to Keith Richards.

[paulgila]

its not as creepy as wanting to spread someone elses ashes in your garden.

[Funkthulhu]

I plan to be vacuum-desiccated, powdered and sold in 52 laminated disks as per the Ferengi funeral tradition...

[Pando]

Wow, funk, that's a lot of Latinum!

[LJG]

And a lot of dork.

[Stevetoad]

[DoomsDave]

  On 5/30/2014 at 3:34 AM, Dypsisdean said:

Did you think it is that easy? Don't forget that the government has a say in all this. After all, they have a say in everything cradle to grave, and then some these days.

If you wish to be a good citizen and follow the law, regulations regarding ashes in inland waters are coverd by the Clean Water Act. In the ocean it is the EPA - with restrictions on distance from shore and water depth. Public lands are handled by other bureaucracies - and be sure you don't bury the container. And even your own property is not necessarily yours to receive your ashes. Many local laws are also in place.

http://www.cremationsolutions.com/Scattering-Ashes-Laws-Regulations-c108.html

Well, I wouldn't expect my ashes to scattered in the town's drinking water . . .

Or in the mayor's house.

[Gonzer]

Why is an old dead dope-smokin' hippy best buried in your garden?

'Cuz he's nuthin' but POT-ASH!

Get it?..........No?

[_Keith]

  On 5/30/2014 at 11:07 PM, Gonzer said:

Why is an old dead dope-smokin' hippy best buried in your garden?

'Cuz he's nuthin' but POT-ASH!

Get it?..........No?

[Peter Pacific]

OK, put me down for creepy. Where else would I want my ashes scattered than in my garden? If the Rottweiler (or the German Shepherd, in my case) pees on my ashes, it won't be any different than what she does now and I don't know who was scattered around my property before I bought it! The actual ashes won't last very long. It's not creepy at all. Asking your wife to spread you around is!

Peter

[Kim]

Someone I once knew had requested the ashes be spread on a property in the woods around a "cabin" -- actually a fully outfitted 4-bedroom house -- which was done according to the deceased's wishes. The surviving spouse then promptly sold the property. I always wondered if that worked out as imagined, or if it might have been a disappointment had the deceased known the result. Later it seemed this was a good outcome; the deceased spread on the desired land among the peaceful woods, the surviving spouse moving on, and no one else the wiser... although there could be a WalMart there by now, for all I know...

...which is why my thoughts trend along the lines of Pando's and Darold Petty's.

I can't help but think of that ash-scattering scene in The Big Lebowski, similar to Andrew's navy experience.

[KennyRE317]

i told my wife to put my urn within a sealed plexi case and in a specific corner of my yard.