Vermont Natural Burial will respond to community advocacy for environmentally beneficial and sustainable burial by creating a non-profit natural burial cemetery. This connects the mourning process to a natural cycle of renewal and a meaningful sense of place going beyond honoring the dead while offering an outdoor space to the community. Studies show natural burial facilitates healthy mourning. The body has an active role of being returned to the earth, and families have become more than passive observers by participating in lowering the body into the grave and filling the grave.Our cemetery will also be a place for outdoor recreation and contemplation. We will manage the land as wild, natural place- both recreating natural habitats and protecting existing habitats. Open spaces will be cultivated as pollinator meadows of native plants and grasses, woods will be kept as woods. The conservation of this space will create a “full circle" community place for gatherings and events beyond funeral and memorial services including ceremonies for all of life’s triumphs and transitions. We will partner with local conservation groups to create an outdoor classroom and guided nature walks, inviting the community to become curious about the land around them. Our cemetery will be sacred community space that serves the purposes of environmental responsible burial, while connecting people more deeply to the land.