Dear <<First Name>>,

We started out to establish a green cemetery in Pittsburgh so we and other Pittsburghers would have this option locally instead of needing to travel to green cemeteries hours away in other states. We’ve expanded our mission to become a model for sustainable living too by adding hiking trails, bees, forest restoration, meadow restoration, and both educational and community-building events.
 
Soon we will be getting goats for clearing brush instead of using gas-powered equipment or herbicides. Additional plans include gardens and local food production and aquaculture. Our new Returning Home Farm site will also include chickens for eggs and an education shed where we can offer sustainable living classes, starting with blacksmithing.
 
You may be asking, “What does Returning Home Farm have to do with running a natural burial park?” We now have thirty-five acres of land, and we only use a little over two acres for burial, so we want to make the rest of the land available for community enjoyment and learning. In other words, we want Penn Forest to be a place for the dead and a place for the living. I hope this idea resonates with you as it does with us. Please enjoy this issue of ‘Life at Penn Forest’ and send us your ideas for other things we might do to encourage sustainable living, and dying, here and elsewhere.               

-Pete