A Path Home

Today, Sarah has a conversation with Leslie Stager about the after-death care she and a small circle of friends provided to her mom at her home in Maine. Leslie's mom died unexpectedly which made keeping her home a little challenging.

Today, Sarah speaks with Krista Marshall in upstate NY who shares  the story of the after-death care provided to an elder in the community she lived in for a time in Vermont. Grandfather Hank was beloved in the area for his presence and helpful spirit from his work with teens to his active pursuit of making life better for the people in his ever-widening circles.
https://www.nancyjewelpoer.com/product-page/living-into-dying
https://malidoma.com/main/

For today's bonus Winter Solstice episode, Sarah has a conversation about grief with Colorado-based Deathwives, Lauren Carroll and Erin Merelli. 
To listen to Erin's Tedx Talk click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryIS6RdU5KI  And to peruse all the amazing courses and content the Deathwives have to offer check out their website here: https://deathwives.org/

On today's episode Sarah has a conversation with three members of the Ottawa Death Care Collective in Ottawa, Canada. Kelly Butler, Heather Martel and Deb Charbonneau share with us the personal paths that led each of them to engage in the important work of community death care. You'll find their website here:
https://communitydeathcareottawa.com/
And read about the wind phone here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_phone

Glenda Villegas is the funeral director at Thresholds, Home and Family-Directed Funerals, LLC.  based in San Diego, California. Glenda represents a growing group of progressive funeral professionals who recognize the value of supporting families who choose to do most of the after-death care themselves.
https://thresholdsfamilydirectedfunerals.com/

Sarah has a conversation with Anne Archbold and Paul Sommers about the plan Paul's mom, Sally made to donate her body to the medical school at the University of Minnesota after she died. Sally also requested a natural burial. Everything aligned in order for Sally to accomplish both.

On this first episode of Season 5, Sarah sits down with three brothers, Zach, Kevin and Sky Weaver, who share the story of preparing their dad, Phil for a natural burial.
To check out the music of The Gravy Ladles here is the link to their YouTube page. 
https://www.youtube.com/@thegravyladlesmusic
You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram

On today's episode Sarah has a conversation with David Schinsing about his wife Sue's experience with ovarian cancer and the home funeral they planned together. Sue was a nurse, a birth doula and home-schooled their children.  

Today I have a conversation with Lauren Sample about the home funeral and natural burial her family held for her daughter Nora, nicknamed "Bird," and the many final acts of love provided to Bird in her last hours of living and following her death.

On today's episode I have a conversation with Dr. Annetta Mallon, founder of Gentle Death Education and Planning, in Tasmania. We talk about her work in the community and the state of green burial in Australia. For more information on Annetta's work, click here:  https://www.gdep.com.au/

On this episode I talk with Margaret Henderson and Robin Cottrell in Ukiah, California. The two serve as death midwives and home funeral guides in their community.  They are also singers and members of a Threshold Choir who bring songs to the bedside of terminally ill people.
For more information on Threshold Choir see here: https://thresholdchoir.org/
Margy mentions Redwing Keyssar's book called Last Acts of Kindness. Find it here:
https://redwingkeyssar.com/book/

A call to listeners to reach out and share their stories, followed by Sarah's original song, Precious Bird, in honor of her friend Puja.
Precious Bird is Sarah Crews on guitar and vocals.
Tim Crews on mandolin.

On this episode, Sarah has a conversation with sisters, Lucinda, Maud and Cecily in Ashland, Oregon. The three of them share the story of creating a home funeral for their mother, former Civil Rights attorney turned Oracle, Ann Macrory.
Watch the video of Ann's home funeral here: https://vimeo.com/399209253
Forest Conservation Burial Ground: https://theforestconservationburial.org/

Today I have a conversation with Donna Vidam about a home funeral she created for her mom, Janet. In 2020, Janet was hospitalized when it became clear that she wouldn't recover, so Donna made the choice to bring her home to die there. Following Janet's death, Donna with the help of Janet's best friends, cared for her body at home and invited friends and neighbors over to pay their respects.

Today I have a conversation about grief with Sarah Hines. Based in Canada, Sarah has founded The Lodge Project where she and her team, coach the leadership of organizations and corporations to respond to grief compassionately and include grief support and awareness in the culture of their companies. Sarah acknowledges that a well lived life must include grief. 
https://www.thelodgeproject.com/

On this episode Sarah has a conversation with Walt Patrick, the steward of Herland Forest in Washington State, a natural burial ground and licensed human composting facility, (also called natural organic reduction) and Elizabeth Fournier, a progressive funeral director and author of the The Green Burial Guidebook, who often works with Walt. Today they share with us what a “laying in” ceremony for a natural organic reduction entails at Herland Forest. “Laying in” is the first part of the process, literally placing the body in the composting cradle.
https://www.herlandforest.org/

Today I have a conversation with Karry Sawatsky. She shares with us the story of her grandfather’s death and how she supported her grandmother throughout the process. Karry is a full-time death doula and founder of Modern Deathcare. She works with adult-children and spouses supporting a dear one with a life limiting illness and is launching The Life and Death Academy death doula training program in January.  Karry’s own challenging experiences with the death of several loved ones called her to this vocation.  Here is the link to Karry's website:  http://moderndeathcare.com 
and follow her on Instagram @moderndeathcare 

Today I have a conversation with Karen van Vuuren, founder of the educational non-profit, Natural Transitions, a founding member of the NHFA, and co-founder of The Natural Funeral in Lafayette, Colorado. Karen has been an integral part of the natural death care movement for more than 20 years. She is also an award-winning documentary film maker of two movies, Dying Wish and Go In Peace (links below).
In this episode we discuss the unexpected way that she got started on this path.
https://www.thenaturalfuneral.com/
https://www.dyingwishmedia.com/
https://goinpeacefilm.org/

Today I have a conversation with Darshan Stevens on Cortes Island in British Columbia. Darshan and her mother, Jennifer, lived on the same property when Jen was diagnosed with cancer. For two years they navigated her cancer treatments. In the end, Jen chose MAID, Medical Assistance In Dying. Darshan shares the story of her mum's dying, death, the after-death care and the natural burial that they and the family co-created along with the help of the community-led death care collective on the island.
https://cortescurrents.ca/darshan-stevens-her-mothers-life-death-and-afterward/

In early December, 2021, Adrienne Parker discovered that her oldest child, Brandyn, had died in his car.  Brandyn's life had been caught in a cycle of mental illness and incarceration, resulting in his being homeless and living in his car.  His body needed to be examined by the coroner before Adrienne, with the help of her friend, Rebecca, had him brought back home to be cared for there by his loving family.