Irene Bensinger

Oops! That Quote got away from me!

Thank you, Nancy. Please know that sharing my experience is an important part of the decision to choose Recompose. My husband and I shared a passion for a quiet retirement in the woods where we could build a farmstead, rescue barnyard animals, continue our long commitment to organic gardening, and to create a green and peaceful retreat for visiting friends and family. And we thought often ‘about what comes after’.

We have been blessed with 30 healthy years of living our dream. My husband eventually showed signs of dementia so together we planned how the next few years might play out, including the last chapter.

Our diet (vegan) and lifestyle (medieval peasant) kept us strong and physically strong and healthy. I was able to care for my husband by myself (sleep deprivation was the toughest part as he was never ill, no meds) until the very end.

I was in close email contact with Recompose and all our conversations were like talking with a close, caring friend. You can read about the services offered on Recompose’s website; we chose small and quiet.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Death is the second bookend in the lives of every composite entity, our universal experience. Thinking and talking about it is healthy and empowering. It takes away the scary and helps you understand how deeply we are all connected. We’re all of us Star Stuff, after all.
💕
~ irene

Nancy Reading wrote:I'm sorry for your loss Irene. Thank you for offering to share your experiences of what must have been a difficult time for you. I guess most of us put off thinking about end-of-life issues but if you do make plans it must be easier for those left behind.
I understand the recompose process composts the body with other organic materials and results in a soil you can use in your garden. Did it all go as you expected?

I live in WA, where the first human composting laws and enterprises came into being. The previous postings on this topic were all from six years ago, so I'm wondering if there is currently any interest in revisiting the subject.

My husband and I, in our 80s and after some years of interest, investigating, and signing petitions were among the first to join Recompose's pre-paid Precompose in 2020. We wanted to support what we considered to be the environmentally gentlest End of Life option available in our area. There were no Green Burial sites near us at that time, and a home burial on our 20 acres of forest wasn't/still isn't legal.

If anyone is interested in hearing my experience with Recompose when my husband died in May of 2024 I'll be happy to share more in detail. For now I'll just say that it was the perfect choice for us.

~ irene

I save orange peels year round, air dry them in summer, in a small cast iron pan set on top of the stove in winter. When they<re dry enough to snap inro smaller chunks I store them in an old sauerkraut crock. They make the house smell good as they dry, and retain enough orange oil to help the kindling burn quick and hot.

I have one! Yes, it came from Lee Valley several years ago. I would be happy to mail it to you, but don't want to share my address with the Whole World!

My go-to lubricant for all  baking pans, including my Bundt pan, is liquid lecithin. I source mine from Azure Standard < https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/search/liquid%20lecithin>; It's oily-sticky, and a little goes a long way, especially if you mix it 50-50 with olive or avocado oil. And instead of lightly sprinkling plain flour over the it, I mix the flour with something from the ingredients list e,g., cacao, some spices, powdered sugar…. That way you don't have an alien chalky bloom on the cake. I let my Christmas Chocolate Fruit and Nut Cake, our traditional Christmas cake for over 50 years (I'm old!), sit for about 8 minutes before turning it out of the Bundt pan onto a wire cooling rack (wire rack over the pan, quick flip wearing oven gloves) to let it rest undisturbed til it's cool. Hope that helps. Merry Everything!

I have lots of clean softish wool that I would be happy to send to you. When we started out as retirees determined to live far from the madding crowds, I threw myself into All Things Wool. I had rescued fiber animals, learned to wash, pick, card, comb, dye, blend and knit. And then realized I really was more in love with the garden than with the fiber. It was great fun to learn all the wooly stuff, but for me digging in the garden is more fun. So I have plenty of wool to share for just the postage to get it to you.

Before you spend money on vegan cookbooks try getting a few from your local library. If you're too far from a library, cyberspace overrunneth with vegan recipes, hints, tips, etc. Many of them are free.l like Cookieandkate.com Kate does have a cookbook, Love Real Food, but she shares lots of freebie recipes. Her recipes are geared to fresh and seasonal. Not always vegan, but adds Notes at the end of each recipe on howcto make it vegan. And don't forget spices!
Hth.
~ Irene

Catnip!

D. Logan wrote:I've been wracking my brain all week trying to think of something I am curious to know about vegan permaculture that I can't readily find by two minutes on Google.
I am curious about vegan systems, especially permaculture ones, where domesticated animals are actively employed.

This is a year late, but this is what we've done. We love animals and wanted a petting zoo. So when undertook our retirement homesteading adventure we collected rescued animals: two donkeys, a pony, a bummer lamb, a kid also rejected by her mother, and three llamas. We purchased chicks (no rooster) and goldfish (mosquito control agents and things of beauty). We set up a Warré hive in a sheltered corner of a near pasture and eventually a swarm took up residence in it. Various rescued dogs/puppies and kittens/cats have joined slong the way.

We never have thought of the animals as belonging to us, but rather as adopted wards whose care and safety are our responsibility. They have shared our lives and brought us invaluable cross-species lessons in establishing trust and communication; the furry ones have given us warm friendships. The hens, free to run in a large 'yard,' safe from predators, have laid hundreds of organic eggs over the years. These we take to the nearest food bank, rationalizing that if hungry people would like to eat eggs then fresh organic ones from happy hens are better for them than eggs from enslaved and miserable hens.

The bees look after themselves, keeping their stores of honey for their over-winter food supply. They swarm from time to time, but that's strictly thrir own bee business. We've planted plenty of herbs and flowers to add to their wild foraging (we live in the woods) and rejoice when we see them around us in the garden.

The manure from the large animals, composted, feeds the plants in the garden and produces large, healthy 'weeds' which get handed back over the fence to the critters.

So all this means we're not purists of any sort, just doing our part in a peaceful cooperative cycle in the woods.