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It may sound macabre, but there is a lot of business to tend to when someone dies. Logistics and planning and bureaucracy, not exactly the kind of things you want to be stressing over in the midst of loss and grief. But if anyone were to have a master plan rigorously laid out for their post-mortem arrangements, it would be Martha Stewart. And so she does! She just told Shawn Killinger on the 50+ & Unfiltered podcast that she intends to be composted, a process formally called terramation. I think that choice is a good thing. It’s where she wants her composted remains to be deposited that really gave the plan that certain Martha flair:
Martha Stewart just revealed her end-of-life wishes — and they don’t include burial or cremation.
During the Sunday, Nov. 30 episode of the 50+ & Unfiltered podcast hosted by Shawn Killinger, Stewart shared her unconventional plan for after she dies.
“Oh, I’m going to be composted,” she said after being asked by Killinger if she would prefer to be buried or cremated.
“When one of my horses dies, we dig a giant hole really deep in one of my fields. We have a pet cemetery. And the horse is wrapped in a clean, white linen sheet and very carefully dropped down into this giant lovely grave. I want to go there,” Stewart explained.
After Killinger asked if her plan was “allowed” and “legal”, Stewart replied, “It’s not going to hurt anybody, it’s my property.”
“But these coffin things and all that stuff, no way,” she added.
After Stewart’s comments were posted on Reddit, fans praised the entrepreneur for her commitment to sustainability — even after death.
“Martha really said, make me mulch. Iconic to the End,” wrote one fan. “Cool. I like this idea. It’s better for the environment too.” commented another.
“In the end we’re all biomass so it’s a solid move to help give back to the ecosystem,” added a third. “This is exactly what I want, just to decompose back into nature. I personally find it the most beautiful way to do it, maybe not visually or aromatically but as a concept anyway.” said a fourth.
The process Stewart referred to in the podcast clip is called terramation. According to Return Home, this is “the process of transforming human remains into nutrient-rich soil through controlled natural decomposition, offering an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional burial and cremation.”
As of November 2024, terramation is legal in several U.S. states, including New York where Stewart lives.
I was gone at “When one of my horses dies…” Tell me you’re rich without telling me you’re rich. And then the whole description of the horse burials — she might as well throw wads of cash into those holes as well! No, I absolutely know the deep and abiding love we have for our pets, and I don’t mean to knock Martha’s affection for her steeds. But there is something a little snooty in the way Martha casually mentions owning horses and fields, right? I really do love the terramation concept, though, and ultimately what’s important is finding something that’s meaningful for you and your family (and legal where you live).
When my father passed away two years ago, my mother and I already knew he wanted to be cremated, but it took a long time for us to decide what to do next. (Sidenote: as we were providing the crematorium with necessary info, at one point the man helping us said, “Ok, now we’re cooking with gas.” To be fair to him, he was immediately mortified. My mother and I assured him that we were the best possible customers to make such a faux pas to.) So now years later, and after much searching and ruminating, we have our keepsakes. My mother found a company that makes memory stones that are 100% condensed ashes; she liked the idea of being able to hold a part of him in her hand and of being able to share them as well. It’s been equally touching and delightful to see how many friends and family have asked to have their own little piece of him. Thank goodness he yielded a lot of stones!
Photos credit: Melanie Miller/Backgrid, Jennifer Graylock-Graylock.com/Avalon and Getty
I did not read it as snooty at all, I actually read it as someone caring for their loved animal to the end and wanting to buried close to them. I want a living reef burial – you are cremated, the ashes in a bio degradable urn and divers take it down to a coral reef and leave it there….you become one with the reef and feed the fish for eternity…..the ocean is my happy place…if I had the resources, Martha’s way would be a close second choice for me.
I mean – this is her normal. It’s not remotely everyone’s normal but it’s hers. And she seems to want to be buried with her pets as well. Which is lovely.
I can’t deal with the idea of being buried and being away from the air and the sky. So I guess it’s cremation for me.
Green burial makes so much sense to me, but maybe it’s because I’m not religious. It’s literally the most natural thing. I was going to be cremated until I heard about human composting. I hope it becomes legal in more states, but the funeral industry is trying to prevent it.
Honestly, this resembles a Muslim burial. You get wrapped in linen and put into ground with only a few 4×4 positioned over you to prevent you from being crushed by the soil immediately. I’m not sure if in the US there are limitations on this as well, but my guess is that the method is likely protected by constitution because it goes to freedom of religion. In other words, I think there would be a way around any restriction on the composting. I think the biggest difference would be how long it takes body to decompose. I think terramation involves putting hay and whatnot around to allow for a much quicker decomposition. I just realized how dark this whole post is lol but death is a reality we will all face.
I think the issue is the facilities that do terramation have to have certain legislation pass in order to operate. This is what the big funeral homes and cemeteries are trying to prevent. Caitlin Doughty is how I found out about all of this. If there’s money to be made by a large corporation, they’ll do whatever they can to get in the way of your freedoms.
@Mina, yes, my father was Muslim, and this is exactly how he was buried a year ago in Illinois. It is legal to do this in the U.S.
See I didn’t know this was legal anywhere in the states. Since I was a child I’ve found our whole system absolutely disgusting. Dress you up like a doll with make up and fill you full of poison and just ugh ugh ugh. My goal as a child was to be buried naked and unembalmed in the 10 square feet of rainforest I insisted we “adopt.” I didn’t really understand what the Arbor Day Foundation meant by that lol. I found out about mushroom bags a couple years ago though. Essentially what Martha is doing but your shroud is seeded with spores and they do the work. The meat sack doesn’t need to be preserved and kept!
@GoodMorning-it’s definitely something to look into. local laws may vary, but also, there are several funeral homes and cemeteries that offer green burials, where certain areas of the cemetery are set aside for no chemical decomposition. you get an environmentally friendly casket (like bamboo or wicker). years ago i read stiff by mary roach that delves into what happens to your body when you die. it’s a great read and super funny (all her books are). it talked about a process where the human body is freeze dried and then pulverized into a powder, which you can then scatter anywhere (there are no chemicals, it’s not harmful to ecosystems at all). the company she talked to about it (it was in europe) actually had land set aside, and they would plant a tree or bush in your honor and scatter your dust there. it sounded so peaceful and serene compared to a standard burial.
No hate on her burying a family horse, I’d have chosen to do so with my pets if I was given the chance. As macabre as this sounds I have the cremated remains of my pets waiting to be planted in the garden of the home I deem my forever home.
I would choose to do it as Martha wants to. We have a fairly large garden and in a spot of nosiness looked up if I’d be able to, I think our garden was just on the verge of being acceptable but I don’t want to stay in this house long term. Imagine, someone digging to plant something and finding yer bones, now that would be a shocker!
When the time comes when me and my partner passes away, we want to be cremated and our ashes planted underneath two new trees in a public park with a bench right in the middle between them.
In The Netherlands we have nature burial sites. If you want to be buried there your casket needs to be made from something like wicker. I definitely want to do something like that, it feels like something your body is supposed to do instead of whatever happens in those caskets where no worm will ever breech the inner sanctum.
I want my ashes to be mixed with those of all my beloved pets before returning to the earth.
There’s starting to be more natural minded, I guess you’d say, burial options. I know one I’ve seen is constellation of living memorials, I can’t remember what you search to find the local ones.
I want to be cremated and then turned into lab grown diamonds, one per kid. Huge ones. I think it costs about the same as getting a fancy casket. Dump the rest of the ashes out somewhere. My extremely Catholic mother in law was completely horrified I want this, but her grave and grave stone are already in place, at the edge of her yard/property. Horror is as horror does, I guess.