Podcast Episode Transcript: I'd Rather Be Compost

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Welcome to the Remembering Life podcast. I'm your host, Gail Marquardt. Every month we gather to talk about life, death, and how we want to be remembered. Today I'm talking with Katey Houston, director of Family Care for Return Home, a funeral home in Auburn, Washington, that specializes in terramation, also known as natural organic reduction or human composting. Terramation is a process that transforms human remains into soil as an alternative to casket or natural burial or cremation. Welcome, Katey. I'm so happy you could join me today.

KATEY HOUSTON:
Thanks so much for having me.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Yeah, this is going to be a great conversation. Let's start with the basics. What is terramation or human composting or natural organic reduction? How does it work? How long does it take?

KATEY HOUSTON:
Yeah, absolutely. So at Return Home, it's a 60 to 70 day process. It happens in our facility indoors that entire time. The person is placed in what we call a vessel, which is a rectangle box that is eight foot long by three and a half foot wide by three and a half foot. They go in that vessel with straw, alfalfa, and sawdust. The straw insulates the vessel. The alfalfa is nitrogen rich, so it feeds the microbes that exist in our body and the sawdust absorbs our moisture. And then it's just the microbes that already exist in us that normally would transform our food into energy. Now they're transforming us into soil over that 60 to 70 days, and then it goes home to the family.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
So what is the family left with and how does that, because do the bones also transform or is that more of a post-process?

KATEY HOUSTON:
Oh, about halfway through the transformation, we remove everything from the vessel, so that includes bones and anything inorganic that the person has in their body. The inorganics are removed and recycled just like after cremation, and then the compost and the bones go through a machine that breaks it down into a uniform size. And then over the second 30 days of the process, the bones are completely consumed by the microbes. So at the end of the process, the family is getting back compost or soil that they can choose to do whatever they want with. It's about 250 pounds or a cubic yard of soil. So it is a lot, but yeah, it's soil.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
So what do people do with it when that process is over? What are the options?

KATEY HOUSTON:
It's limited only by their imagination really. So we have an eight-acre woodland property where if they can't take the full amount the can go to at no additional charge to them. We've had families do things like place it a traditional cemetery, the full amount or a portion amount. Families create memorial gardens. They will put the compost at a local arboretum more park and have a tree planted. We had one family that gave out a hundred little small bags at the memorial service with pollinator seeds to have people grow wild flowers so that she could live on in those flowers. It's like I said, limited by your imagination only.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Oh, I love that idea of handing it out at the service with seeds. That's really lovely. So can people still have a viewing and a service before this process begins?

KATEY HOUSTON:
Yeah, and that's something that's really important to me and something that I'm really proud of what Return Home has done. So I'm in Washington State, our cremation rate is around 80% plus, and direct cremation is very high. Viewing rate is very low. Return home about 60 to 70% of our families somewhere roughly in between there used to see their person and have at least one service. And we've kind of encouraged that by reframing what it is. We don't call it a viewing, we call it a laying in. So they're seeing their person laying in their vessel, and I'll have families that tell me, I don't want a viewing, but I do want a laying in. There's something just completely different that we've reframed in their mind about what that is and that's what they want. We partner with local funeral homes and funeral homes around the country so that if families want to have more traditional service at their church or such, we have partners that can help provide that for them. So essentially the composting itself is just a disposition option that comes with all the regular things that a burial cremation can have, but we do offer that laying in service at Return Home.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
So how does that look if they don't do the laying in the vessel, but they choose for a viewing at a church, for example, what does that look like? Is the person placed in some kind of casket or are they laid out on a decorative table? How does that look?

KATEY HOUSTON:
For the most part, it would be a rental casket for the church. I've had some families purchased biodegradable caskets, had one family with just a shroud and a wicker carrier. So it's really kind of whatever they choose and what that partner funeral home can help them choose.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
So I understand that loved ones can visit their loved one's vessel as often as they want throughout the process. Is that correct?

KATEY HOUSTON:
That is true, yes.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
I love that. I think to me, that's one of the most valuable parts of choosing this option because that time after a death can be so incredibly difficult, and to be able to go and visit that place where their loved one is during that process just sounds really meaningful. How do families react to that?

KATEY HOUSTON:
It's my entirely favorite thing about the process. It's so beautiful to watch. So essentially our facility, it's indoors, it's a warehouse space, but we've created a community space where people can come and visit whenever they like for their first time visiting. We like to be there to show them where their person is, but after that, they can be buzzed into the facility at any time. They can touch their person's vessel, they can decorate the outside. They can sit and have their lunch there or have a coffee there. They can sit and chat with us. We can work through things that they need to take care of after a death whilst being there with their person. It's, I guess slower separation for them from their person. So it allows them to work through their process with their person there. And one of the coolest things is the vessels get warm just from the microbial activity. So sometimes you'll come out and you'll see a family with their back just up against the vessel or hugging their vessel. They can feel their person's energy transforming inside of that vessel. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Oh my goodness, I didn't know about that. That is really amazing and wonderful. What you're talking about is that it really helps families and friends and other loved ones as they begin that grief journey. Right?

KATEY HOUSTON:
Exactly. We're slowing down that beginning period so that they can feel what they're feeling and be okay feeling it and be interactive with the process. I feel like doing something is always helpful, so being able to do it there with your person, it's beautiful.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
How many families do you serve with this process during a year?

KATEY HOUSTON:
So we're at about 30 a month right now. That fluctuates and changes. When I first started at Return Home in September of 21, I served one family that month. So it's a constantly growing steadily process. So we're about 30 a month.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
And do you know how many states offer this now? I believe it's roughly 10.

KATEY HOUSTON:
All states have legalized the process so far. Washington and Colorado are the only facilities are the only states with facilities in them. Germany also has a facility, and then there's 11 more states with it on their docket this year. With Texas and Georgia being the most recent.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
And if someone lives in a state where this isn't possible, where there isn't a facility yet, they're able to ship that body to a state that does do this. Correct?

KATEY HOUSTON:
That is absolutely correct, and we've worked really hard to build up a network of partner funeral homes so that families can access this through a funeral home that they are familiar with locally and ship their person to us.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
So tell me about the environmental impact and the benefits of doing this as opposed to maybe natural burial where the person is simply wrapped in a shroud.

KATEY HOUSTON:
So for us, a natural burial is the gold standard. It's the most eco-friendly death care option, but for a lot of people, it's not obtainable. There's three cemeteries in our state that are at least three hours away from where I currently live. We are kind of the urban version and for the family that wants something back like cremated remains at the end to do something with at home. So whilst green burial is the gold standard for us, we are more eco-friendly than cremation and a traditional burial and more accessible for more people. But for the most part, that's not the reason that people are picking our process. Honestly. I thought it would be too, but for the most part, it's people that just want something different. They just don't see themselves wanting cremation or burial, and this is an option where they get to go back to their land or they get to grow a tree or any number of different end options for them. But for the most part, it's just people that just don't want cremation or burial.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
I understand you also do advocacy work to encourage passage of organic reduction legislation in other states. In fact, you started the “I'd Rather Be Compost” movement. How is that going?

KATEY HOUSTON:
Yeah, it's very exciting. So it kind of started off as just a place for us to have resources for folks that wanted to download a letter to send to their legislators or something like that. And it did become this movement over social media, and it's been such a grassroots campaign where in most of the states that it's passed or even that legislation is coming up. It's been consumer-driven. We've been there to support, but it's been the consumer that is putting that forward, and that's really exciting to me. We have merch that we sell on the I'd Rather Be Compost website, and I have been out in my, I'd Rather Be Compost shirt and I'll have people yell across the store, “I want to be compost too!” So it's very exciting to see people excited about something in death care.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Yeah, that's awesome. Do families ever push back if someone selects this as the option that they would like after they die? Do you ever have families say, “I don't know, I'm not really comfortable with this,” and how do you encourage them to think more about it and to be more accepting of what their loved one has chosen?

KATEY HOUSTON:
Absolutely. Our imaginations are our best friend and our worst enemy, I think. And for the most part, when someone has, it's because they don't understand. They're thinking that there's a compost pile that we're putting multiple people on or some awful version of that. And if you could walk them through the process, and that's something we pride ourselves in is we're completely transparent and open so they can literally see the entire process if they want to. And once their imagination calms down and truly understands what the process is, I have never had someone be truly against it after. Maybe they're not going to choose it for themselves, but they're comfortable with what it is and can understand why other people are choosing it specifically. I remember one time we had a family where a lady had died fairly young and her mom was elderly and she came in with a family to kind of make arrangements, and she had a pre-need for traditional cremation at another funeral home.

And when she came in, she said, you people are scammers. And I knew right from the start, she was my kind of person. And we sat down and we had probably a two-hour conversation about all of the different death care options and then exactly what we were doing at Return Home and what was going to happen to her daughter. And we talked about what she could do with the compost at the end. And then a couple of days later, the funeral home where she had her prearrangement for cremation with called us and said, “Hey, this lady came in and she wants to change her prearrangement with us to terramation.” And that was the moment I knew that we had something here and we just had to spend time to educate people and have a conversation with them, and then things are okay.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Oh, that's awesome. Well, don't you find that that overall just having conversations about death can be difficult?

KATEY HOUSTON:
Absolutely.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
So what you're also really doing is encouraging people to think about their options, talk about death with their loved ones, and have a conversation.

KATEY HOUSTON:
That's exactly what we're trying to do. And yes, we are Return Home and we offer terramation, and we would love for you to choose that, but in reality, we want you to make an educated decision on what it is that you want, whether that's us or not, or something else.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
So how did you get involved? What's your background? How did you get involved in funeral service and how did you come to Return Home and being a big fan of composting?

KATEY HOUSTON:
Yeah, born and raised in England. I went to my grandfather's funeral and I watched the funeral directors do their thing, and I decided I would kind of like to do that. And then I also felt like his service didn't really fit him and maybe I could do something different for other people. So I went to mortuary school for the first time at 16 in England. I moved to the US when I was 19. I went to mortuary school again. So I've been a funeral director since I was 16 years old in England and then moved here. I've been in traditional funeral service that entire time. 2020 came around, COVID hit. We went through the restrictions that Washington put on us that were very intense here. There was no one allowed to come to services. It was direct burial, cremation only. And I had gotten to a point where I was disillusioned a little bit. I didn't feel like I was doing what I got into funeral service for, which was to create experiences for people.

And so I thought maybe death care wasn't for me anymore, and I would try something else. And then Micah called me from Return Home and said, “I want you to come see what we're doing. I'd really like for you to come work for us.” And it kind of seemed a little bit like an oasis in the desert. It was a place where I got to come to and create ritual. It was a new space where I got to create from the ground up, and that was really enticing to me and felt like what I'd gotten into funeral service for. So I didn't join Return Home originally because of the disposition choice. I joined because I got the opportunity to build something from the ground up and create ritual with families where they wasn't ritual yet. And then I just became a convert to the process itself once I got there.

But I will say I went through a decent chunk of time when this first became legal in Washington, not believing in it. I first met Micah at a Washington State Funeral Directors Association conference, and I believe I told him, “I will never offer your service to my families” because I'd been fed this narrative that didn't make sense to me. That bones magically disappear and we are here to intermediate the funeral home, and this is something that's going to shut down traditional funeral service. And then Return Home came about and showed me that it could be different, that we're part of the death care space. We're not here to completely disrupt it. We're here to add another option. Now I'm a full convert and I'm here at Return Home doing my thing, but I feel like I'm back in a space in funeral service where I'm making a difference.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Well, it definitely comes through that this is your passion, and I love the whole concept of creating a ritual. Can you go into that a little more and maybe give us an example of a family you served and what does that process look like? What was meaningful to them? How did you help facilitate ritual for that family?

KATEY HOUSTON:
Yeah. One of my first families that returned home always sticks out to me. Sweet Tehani was a younger Pacific Islander who passed away, and her family wanted to have a service that returned home, and I did not know what to do. So I set up chairs like I would in a traditional chapel, and I had the music playing like I normally would, and the family came in and dismantled it all. They taught me what their ritual needed to be, which was, we need space to dance. We need the music as loud as possible. We want to be able to put all these things in with our person. So that is all of these beautiful flowers, this food that we're sharing in together. We want to put a plate in with her letters, artwork that we've drawn or created. All of it went in the vessel with her, and it was kind of this experience that it's as old as time.

We've been given offerings to our people forever, yet bought into this new space where family could be interactive with a process. That is the biggest ritual I think we have created at Return Home is that you can participate, whether that is bathing your person before the process starts, whether that is driving your person to me from California if you want to, whether that's at the laying in when you're placing these offerings in the vessel with them or decorating the outside of the vessel, whatever you need, as long as it's legal, we will figure out how to do it. And I think our process just lends to that more interactive aspect.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
That didn't even occur to me that you'd be able to put things in the vessel with the person. I knew that you could decorate the outside, but that's really beautiful and wonderful so that all of those objects that are able to be composted become part of that process.

KATEY HOUSTON:
Exactly.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
So tell me a little bit about what people put on the outside of the vessel. How do they decorate it?

KATEY HOUSTON:
It's anything from photos to trinkets left on top to artwork that they've created, the flag drape just like you would a casket. It's pretty much anything that they can attach to the vessel. Somehow string lights, whatever floats their boat. It's kind of beautiful to walk in and see this collage of vessels that people have decorated.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Yeah, that's really lovely. Is there a ceremony when the process is over or is that done kind of behind the scenes and then the family comes to pick up the compost like you would cremated remains?

KATEY HOUSTON:
It's a little of both. So families can choose to just come pick up their compost or have it shipped to them, and we help them load it into their vehicle and off they go just like they would with cremated remains. Sometimes families choose to have what we've kind of called a laying out ceremony, which is when their compost is laid out for them to look at and to touch and to decide what they want to do with. And we can help them understand that this is nutrient dense compost and we have to mix it with regular soil, and maybe we can help them plant some things up so that they can give it out. It's entirely what the family is comfortable with. Some families need more to visualize what they're going to create with their compost. We've partnered with some local companies that will help them create container gardens or local nurseries that will help them with the correct plants for their area. So it's entirely up to the family on what they need at that time of release for what we do for them.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Really specialized. That's wonderful and unique to each family. Is there anything that we haven't covered that you really want to tell us about composting?

KATEY HOUSTON:
I think some of the fun things that people put inside the vessel that's been fun to watch. We've had one gentleman brought in the top portion of his wedding cake that they had had in their freezer for 20 years, and he put that in with his wife. I had a family who the decedent really loved Noodle Soup, so they put in broth with her. I've seen people just completely covered in heads of sunflowers just so you could just see their little face poking out. And the rest of them was just beautiful sunflowers, letters. We had a family last week that put in a Cards Against Humanity card because their dad played it in the most epic way, so they'd never wanted that card to be played in the pack again. So it went in the vessel with him.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Oh my goodness.

KATEY HOUSTON:
Yeah. It's really fun to watch people be creative and create beautiful things in a space that otherwise would be sad.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Right. Wow. Oh, thank you for sharing so much wonderful information about this process. Absolutely. I definitely learned a lot.

KATEY HOUSTON:
Good.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
I have one final question for you. Who are you remembering today?

KATEY HOUSTON:
I am remembering my granddad Sterile, who pushed me to be a better person and somehow led me into this crazy world of funeral service.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
That's lovely. He was your inspiration. I love that.

KATEY HOUSTON:
Yeah. Yeah.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
Thank you so much, Katie, for joining me today and explaining more about this fascinating process that is such a great option for anyone seeking a natural form of disposition.

KATEY HOUSTON:
Thank you for having me.

GAIL MARQUARDT:
For more information about terramation, visit returnhome.com. And for more information about remembering loved ones in meaningful ways, visit rememberingalife.org.