b"Full Circle continued from page 17 Right: Matt Melugin, Director ofLEARN MORE ABOUT Nevada County Cemetery District.NATURAL GREEN BURIAL Below: Friends tend the grave of aCARING FOR LOVEDALLOWS DUST TO DUST loved one at Cherokee Cemetery on the San Juan Ridge, in the section forONES BEFORE, DURING At the Cherokee Cemetery on the Sannatural green burial.JuanRidge,peoplecanburytheirdeadAND AFTER DEATHrightintheground,layflowers,fillthe grave and plant their own commemorativeFull Circle Living and Dyingmarkers. A portion of the cemetery was setGuidance and education for careaside in 2015 for natural green burials,FullCircleLivingDyingCollective.comthanks to the advocacy of Nevada County(530) 270-9839CemeteryDistrictboardmembersandEducational presentations are listed under Events/NewsManager Matt Melugin. The green sections allownosteel-and-cementgraveliners,CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR Nevada Cemetery Districtnometalcaskets,noembalmedbodies,ALL STEPS IN THE GOING-OUT NevadaCemeteryDistrict.comand no lawn above that requires chemical(530) 265-3461fertilizers and pesticides.Murphy and Full Circle volunteers Justcasketsthatdecomposenaturallyoffer information about and help withInternational End-of-Life Doula Associationalongwiththeremainsofthedeceased,a wide range of options for care before,INELDA.orggivingrenewedpowertothebiblicalduring and after death. Doulas with Full directive, for you are dust, and to dustCircle can provide care to those who areCuddleCot you shall return. dying, plus support and guidance throughCuddleCot.comNatural, green burial is morethe dying process. They can also help a environmentally friendly, Murphy says. family or dying person collect importantCaring Cradle documents and plan a funeral and otherCaringCradle.comCherokee is one of 27 public facilitiesrituals. People can learn how to shroud a in the Nevada Cemetery District, and anybody, create an altar and donate organs.county resident may be buried in thoseIn California and some other states, cemeteries that still are active. In additionmedically assisted death is legal inSymbolism ofto Cherokee, cemeteries in Rough andnarrowly defined circumstances. Full Ready and Red Dog have sections forCircle volunteers can answer questionsFull Circle Livingnatural green burial, Melugin said. about the states End-of-Life Option Act. and Dying's logoIt was a very community-driven thing,We just try to empower people, Melugin says of the two-year process toMurphy says. I just want people to startM any cultures and investigate and approve natural greentalking about death. faith traditions burial. We were the first public cemeteryFreelance writer Kylene Yumul contributed toembrace the to do this in California. this report. science of the four earth elements. The earth elements Natural Green Burial represent the basic properties of nature and the life force There are only a handful of cemeteries in Californiaenergies in our world. All matter is that offer green or natural burial. The Green Burialmade up of a combination of Earth, CounciloutlinesguidelinesforvariouslevelsofWater, Fire and Air including our green burial. The new option, a Natural Green Burialhuman bodies. These four elements program adopted by the Nevada Cemetery Districtsupport the life force energy of our for Cherokee Cemetery in North San Juan is of thebodies, and when the body moves into highestlevelofcompliance.Anentiresectionofthe dying process, these energies begin Cherokee(plusRoughandReadyandRedDogto dissolve in a common pattern. The cemeteries) will be reserved for green burial only.dissolution of elements has been studied Shrouds,cardboardandpinecasketswithout metalsortoxicgluesareallowed.Naturalstoneand documented by traditions such as grave markers, family participation, and gravesideBuddhism, and our logo is patterned ceremonies are allowed. Embalming and grave linersafter these teachings.While FCLD is are not allowed. There are no lawns to be maintainednot a Buddhist-based organization, we andwatered,nopesticidesuse,andtheburialborrow from the Buddhist perspective, groundsatCherokeeconsistofnaturalgrasses,which describes the dissolution process shrubs and tall oaks and pines. Very affordable fees. at the end of life. NevadaCemeteryDistrict.com/green-burial/FullCircleLivingDyingCollective.com2022-2023 Western Nevada County Edition SENIOR DIRECTORY 19"