Back to Ground Natural Burial Cemetery
Mission Statement: Providing a natural cemetery that utilizes sustainable burial practices and stewards the natural environment while nurturing healing, reflection, and sanctuary with nature.
Back to Ground Natural Burial Cemetery is committed to returning to the traditional natural burial practices of our forebears and to conserving that land as a natural preserve in Johnson County, Iowa. This means that the remains of our bodies after death will return our physical resources to the earth directly, benefitting soil health, and feeding trees, plants and animals. Using only a natural fabric shroud (cotton, wool, linen, etc.) or simple biodegradable coffin (cardboard, raffia, plain wood, wicker, etc.) to interrupt the natural decay processes-- no vaults, grave liners, metal parts or varnishes-- and a burial depth of approximately 3.5 feet where the natural top strata is home to mycelium, microbes and other natural recyclers, your body after death is an offering to the natural world that fed, clothed and housed you throughout life. Aligned with at least thirteen other conservation burial cemeteries currently in the United States, and countless others in development, Back to Ground would be the first such cemetery in Iowa.
Developing a natural cemetery takes time, effort, resources and funding. Please join our mailing list to receive periodic newsletters about our progress, to offer ways that you can help out whether to volunteer, to learn more for yourself and your family and loved ones, or to help us build a funding base. Do you have land that you'd like to donate to this project that will be protected from development as a preserve forever?
Let's talk! To be added to our mailing list, please send us an email at:
Credit: Tom Garritty