Cooling with turf
You may have heard of it before, the possibility of cooling a deceased person using turf. How does it work and what do you need?
Alternative ways of laying out the deceased
In the Netherlands, more and more new alternative ways of laying out the body are appearing. There are also many developments in the cooling of a body. Where a deceased person could previously only be cooled by means of cooling elements, there are now various sustainable methods. Nowadays, it is possible to cool with turf, ordinary patches of grass and earth.
Cooling with Turf, how does it work?
Turf is a beautiful and ecological way of cooling that usually cools sufficiently for 5 to 6 days. How does it work? In two ways: firstly, grass extracts heat from the environment by growing. The second effect is that the water that is sprayed on the grass evaporates, which cools the air. This spraying is done two to three times a day, so that both processes take place optimally. In this way, the body is also cooled together with the air.
Cooling without heatsink
No special material is needed to cool with grass, you can simply get the grass from your own garden. You place this grass in a bowl with raised edges, after which you place it under the elevation of the stretcher. After the funeral, the grass sods can also be placed back in the garden, where the grass will continue to grow. The best material to spray the sods with is water, mixed with liquid silicon and a rosemary scent extract. Liquid silicon can be purchased from shops that sell sustainable health products. Usually, an essential oil or bath milk is used for the scent. The best ratio is to use about 10 drops of liquid silicon per litre of water, and half a cap of oil or bath milk.
A beautiful revelation
The great thing about cooling with turf is that it enriches the appearance of the wake with a small garden. You can also dress up the grass with moss and flowers, for example. There is also less noise nuisance, since a cooling plate, besides the fact that it costs energy, also makes a lot of noise. Together with a bier and a shroud , this makes the wake a peaceful whole, which offers a beautiful ground to say goodbye to a loved one.
What should I take into account?
In some cases, cooling with turf is not sufficient to preserve a body. This has to do with the amount of moisture in the body, which is higher after an operation, for example. In that case, separate cooling elements can be used, or a cooling plate can still be used. It is also important to ventilate the room well and ensure that flies cannot reach the body. Flies can lay eggs in the body, which you can prevent with a mosquito net, for example. Sometimes, because turf cools less intensively than a cooling plate, odours can still be released. However, this will not be much, the odour can then be remedied with incense.
