CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS — A family card game got John and Amy Bridger talking about the cremated remains they had in storage, waiting to be scattered — and that conversation became a business.

“When you have a family farm, you have a responsibility,” Amy Bridger said. “You have all these different requests and you try to make sure everyone is taken care of.”

In 2024, the Bridgers — whose family has been farming for four generations — launched Farmstead Scattering Garden LLC on their 185-acre farm, where they raise beef cattle, horses and dogs and are raising two teenagers.

The venture is still in its early stages, but it is gaining traction: so far, the Bridgers have spread the cremated remains of people and pets for customers from 19 states.

Customers pay $200 for the basic service and ship the ashes to the farm, where they are spread in a location of their choice — wooded areas, ferns, cattle or horse pastures and hayfields. Ashes are typically scattered within seven days of receipt.

Families cannot be on hand while the ashes are spread. It is a hard-and-fast rule on a working farm.

“We are a working farm,” Amy Bridger said. “From a safety perspective, my husband’s worst nightmare is to come around the corner on a tractor and see someone randomly standing there. If someone got in with the cattle, it could go wrong.”

The process relies on a certain amount of trust. “We would know,” Amy Bridger said. “It matters to us and I think people can sense that through the phone.”

The moment is documented with photos, and customers receive a map marking the spot where the remains were spread. Families can add their own touches — the Bridgers say they are open to readings from different religions and can play music.

“We tend to talk about the person or the animal we are scattering,” Amy Bridger said. “I will say they loved to fish or really liked to read books. I will tell a little bit about the person. It becomes our own tradition of welcoming them to the farm.”

John Bridger said he takes the process seriously. “I wouldn’t want a family or friend being sent somewhere and people just tossed them out.”

The business arrives as cremation keeps rising: more than 63 percent of all bodies are now cremated, according to the National Funeral Directors Association, and Amy Bridger said statistics show 21 million people have ashes in their homes.

“A lot of people don’t know what to do with them,” she said. “There’s a pretty solid need.”

The Bridgers say they are aware of only one other private landowner offering a service like theirs. They hope the farm gives clients a sense of permanence, letting them track online photos of the changing seasons at their loved one’s resting place.

Amy Bridger is the assistant dean for innovation and corporate strategy at Penn State Behrend. She sees the two ventures as a natural fit: “On a farm, you are very much in the cycle of life,” she said. “If you have 60 cows and four horses and however many dogs and cats, something is always being born and something is always dying. It makes for a nice dovetail that people might not always see.”

“There are a whole bunch of ways to diversify farming,” she said. “This just happened to be our way.”

By the Conneaut Valley Post