I understand that the cost of labor can rise and get prohibitively high.  It is for that reason that creative managers look for ways to lower their costs of doing business.  Funeral Director Daily did an article last year about the Laura Grove North Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, that was doing a pilot program for lawn maintenance using what was termed as “Goatscaping”.  This pilot program consisted of renting 53 goats that were allowed to roam the cemetery to maintain the lawn.  You can read that story here.

Now comes a story from the Sun Journal about Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC which held their first ever “Goat Yoga” event in the cemetery last Saturday.  You can see a news video and article, with many photos, about the event here.

Okay. . . Goat Yoga is something that I had never heard of but from the photos accompanying the article, it looks like it may be popular.  The article points out that this was Washington’s “first foray into goat yoga”.  Again, according to the article, fifteen baby goats were brought into the cemetery to participate in an activity that pairs, “meditative poses with what amounts to an all-ages petting zoo.”

Congressional Cemetery Director Paul Williams is quoted, “I tried everything I could for a year to get goat yoga.”

So, I am a runner and golfer. . . I don’t do yoga.  However, I do understand that “green spaces” are becoming less and less in our major metropolitan areas of the country.  And, people want to be in green spaces more and more as a respite from the concrete jungles of the major cities.  I’m all for major cemeteries sharing their green space with activities such as movie nights, walking paths, and now, goat yoga.  As we get creative on how we do this, we just have to remember there is also a solemnity to our cemeteries and cemetery directors have to walk that path between use of the cemetery and respect for our honored dead.  But, that path can co-exist for the benefit of all.

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