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Food Forest Podcast

as guest

Food Forest Cemetery and Pawpaws

Michael Judd

In this episode of the Food Forest Podcast, host Louis De Jaeger speaks with Michael Judd, ecological designer and author of For the Love of Pawpaws, about reimagining death as a regenerative act. Michael shares the deeply personal story that led him to create a natural burial ground within a food forest beginning with the burial of his own father.

The conversation explores green burial as an ecological and emotional alternative to conventional end-of-life practices, highlighting how thoughtful design can restore landscapes while offering healing for the living. Michael discusses the practical realities of creating a natural burial site, including navigating regulations, working with funeral homes, and designing landscapes that support both remembrance and regeneration.

Beyond burial, the episode dives into Michael’s passion for nut trees and pawpaws, examining their role in food security, ecological resilience, and perennial diets. Woven throughout is a powerful reminder of our interconnectedness with plants, soil, and cycles of life and death and an invitation to design our lives, and our endings, in harmony with nature.

Points clés à retenir

    - End-of-life planning can be regenerative.
    - Natural burial supports ecological restoration.
    - Food forests can be integrated into burial landscapes.
    - Green burials offer emotional and environmental benefits.
    - Nut trees play a key role in long-term food security.
    - Pawpaws are highly nutritious and underappreciated.
    - Perennial crops reduce pressure on ecosystems.
    - Plants often outperform human-made inputs.
    - Thoughtful design strengthens natural cycles.
    - Annual-based diets degrade landscapes over time.

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