Postings from Germany

Recycling

Recycling is in the genes here, and perhaps even deeper than we first realized.

Behind us is a cemetery.  Cemeteries are really nice here in Germany - usually there are grass paths as well as paved paths.  Most graves have flowers of the season planted on them as well as some more permanent shrubs, and gardeners have a steady business from those who can't get to the graves on a regular basis to properly care for them.  Twice a year there are holidays to honor the dead and small woodwind and brass ensembles come and play in the cemetery - even if no one is there to listen. (I do - it is sad and sweet and lovely.)  

There are civic and religious cemeteries.  There are burial sites of all sorts - for urns, caskets, and there are areas set aside where you can be buried "anonymously" - that is, in a group area so that an individual grave site need not be rented.

Yes, I said rented.  The plot has a contract for 20 or 30 years and then the contract must be renewed by someone living who is willing to pay for it.  Sometimes, families die out or get scattered or no one wants to shell out the money for a grave holding the remains of some unknown relative.  What happens then?  What??

Well, the grave gets recycled.

Germany is a small country and there isn't unlimited space for inhabitants of cemeteries and if you think Americans invented capitalism, you haven't met many Germans.

 What happens exactly?  The gravestone is taken away and the broken granite and stone and markers and remembrances of those past are hauled off to the dump.  The plants are dug up and put in the container to be hauled off to the dump.  The plot is offered to the next generation of ..... inhabitants. (Don't ask about the remains.)

But hey, the plants are not dead!!  We discovered that some really nice specimens get tossed willy-nilly into the trash container.  What a waste.  RecyclePerson to the rescue.

Last week, we found a lovely azalea, two ornamental cedars and a yew.  The azalea now adorns the front entrance, the yew and the cedars are in pots, waiting to find a final resting place.  So to speak.