March 2025
- Bailey McLaughlin
- Mar 10
- 4 min read
With the brief respite from all the snow and a few days of unseasonably warm weather, we have had wishful thoughts of spring. However, we all know that there is more snow — and then mud season — between us and those happy spring days!
Looking Towards Spring
Those of you who saw our email from February will know that the snow had reached a height where we could no longer plow the main trails in the cemetery. We have been able to keep Cemetery Lane cleared and we will continue to remain open for burials. The break in the weather has reduced the depth of snow on the ground at the cemetery, and the trails have reached a point where they are suitable for experienced winter hikers and snowshoe enthusiasts. However, our main trails remain closed for casual visits until further notice. If you’d like to know more about our winter guidelines, please click here.
Read on for a teaser of spring projects, how to book a documentary screening, our call for woodworkers, a new film we’re screening, and how to plan your natural burial experience.
Prompted by the dreams of spring, we have begun to generate and plan some truly exciting events! Vermont Forest Cemetery will be partnering with several different organizations this year to provide data as citizen scientists! Here is a small teaser of what you can look forward to this spring!
We will be participating in the 2nd Vermont Butterfly Atlas with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies! If you'd like to learn more about how you can support this exciting endeavor, click here to check out the 2nd Vermont Butterfly Atlas.
In addition to butterflies, we will be supporting research and monitoring for the New England Flying Squirrel Network! If you'd like to learn more about NEFSN, click here!
February was a busy month for screenings of the award-winning documentary From Earth to Earth: The Lost Art of Dying in America! The documentary was recently premiered at the international film festival “Feel the Reel” to great success. They review Michelle as someone who makes the audience “realize that we’re in the safe hands of someone who has thought of everything.” The filmmakers… “seem to deeply understand what it truly means to say goodbye” and the cinematography as “stunning in the juxtaposition of endless landscapes against intimate interiors.”
We will have one showing this month on Thursday March 13th at the Charlotte Senior Center. We are also hosting our Zoom Natural Burial FAQ on Wednesday, March 12th.
If you would like to schedule a showing of the documentary or a private group tour of the cemetery after mud season - please contact Jim Hogle at info@cemetery.eco
As always, be sure to keep an eye out for new event announcements on our website, Facebook and Instagram page as well as future newsletters!
If you haven’t already - follow us today on Facebook and Instagram!
Legacies of Our Residents
In our last newsletter we introduced a new initiative recording video histories from people who wish to share the stories of loved ones they have buried at Vermont Forest Cemetery. Our goal is to share these histories as either stand alone events or follow up events to the
natural burial documentary, From Earth to Earth. We are excited to share with you these incredible stories of love, grief, resiliency and legacy.
The first of our “Stories the Forest Holds” is a compelling story told by a woman who became the caregiver for her mother. Her story weaves together how her experience with Michelle’s guidance through Green Mountain Funeral Alternatives, leading to her mother’s burial at Vermont Forest Cemetery, changing what had been a fraught relationship between mother and daughter into a loving memory.
We hope to begin scheduling public showings of this story led by Michelle in April. If you would be interested in having a showing in your area please contact Jim Hogle at info@cemetery.eco.
If you have seen the documentary, participated in our Q&As or Natural Burial Zoom sessions, you know that one of the key take-home lessons is the importance of planning. Our sister organization, Green Mountain Funeral Alternatives, is run by our Founder Michelle Hogle Acciavatti. She offers end-of-life planning as well as services at the time of death. At Green Mountain Funeral Alternatives families get support with the practice of natural deathcare including preparing a body for natural burial. They receive encouragement to care for their dead with their own hands, in their own home, and receive the education and hands-on support to be able to do so. Michelle will be returning in April from family leave, and will be taking on new clients.
Your donations are tax deductible!
Please consider making a donation today. Even small gifts will help us continue to keep the cemetery open for visitors 12 months a year.
Thank you so much for helping us build the cemetery into a fully accessible, sustainable place that serves all the needs of our community. We are so grateful for your support.
Those of us who work at the Vermont Forest Cemetery are committed to providing the best possible service to our community, and encourage you to contact us at any time with questions, concerns or ideas at info@cemetery.eco.
We value your continued support and are deeply indebted to those of you who have volunteered to help build trails, participate in burials, or just bear witness for those experiencing loss; for those who chose to make tax deductible donations, and to those who have chosen to support us through advanced purchases of burial rights. Thank you for your continued support!
Once spring arrives we hope to see many of you at the cemetery. It is a beautiful place in all seasons, made all the more beautiful by the stories it holds.
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