Slowly, but most definitely surely, the natural organic reduction (NOR) movement is making its way into every corner of this country. Since this revolutionary disposition method debuted on the West Coast in 2019, fourteen states have legalized NOR. Despite the growing popularity of NOR, however, only a handful of providers are currently in operation, leaving thousands of individuals and families seeking options beyond their own states’ borders.
Tricia Jamiol founded Wend & Root to help address that gap. Her Maine-based next-generation NOR technology aims to make the process more accessible to New Englanders, embrace more environmentally responsible principles, and create groundbreaking partnership opportunities for deathcare professionals.
Paths, roads, and cemetery strolls
People who are drawn to deathcare work usually possess traits like compassion, empathy, dedication, and a keen interest in helping others navigate through their darkest days. Jamiol definitely fits this description, although her journey didn’t follow the typical channels of mortuary school and apprenticeship.
“My background is definitely not in death care at all…,” she shares. “However, now that I’m sort of looking back into the path that I’ve taken, all roads lead to here for sure.”
Jamiol is a former licensed clinical social worker who spent nearly 15 years volunteering with bereaved families at Maine’s Center for Grieving Children.
“My background really comes from the human side of things,” she said. “Grief and bereavement is a hard thing to get through for many of us, if not all of us.”
The idea for Wend & Root began during the COVID pandemic. As Jamiol walked her dogs through a local cemetery, she realized that traditional disposition methods just didn’t seem to fit her personal aspirations.
“I thought to myself, that’s not what I want,” she explains. “I didn’t want to be buried, and I didn’t want cremation. I wanted my body to give nutrients to new life. I wanted to be a part of that cycle.”
When natural organic reduction (NOR) became legal in Maine in 2024 — the 12th state to authorize it — she saw an opening.
“I kind of started it in a semi selfish way,” she admits. “This is what I want to have happen with my body once I’m done here… and it didn’t exist here yet. So when it became legal, I thought, well, why not me?”
A new model for NOR
Jamiol’s forward-thinking inclination didn’t stop with that question, however. She started thinking about how to refine and reinvent different aspects of the way NOR currently works. For starters, Jamiol’s Wend & Root will offer a novel, yet quite familiar, approach to partnerships with deathcare providers.
“I don’t want to compete with funeral homes. I want to partner with them,” she says. “My whole goal is making NOR more accessible by building the infrastructure needed so that funeral homes have a place to send bodies instead of needing to create whole systems within their already existing funeral homes.”
Wend & Root’s NOR business model will mirror the practice of outsourced crematory services. Her vision is to create regional “hubs” where funeral homes can outsource the NOR process, then receive the finished soil back for families.
“Funeral homes don’t necessarily have crematoriums on site… they send bodies to the crematorium and then they get them back,” she says. “What my plan is, is to create these hubs, but for natural organic reduction.”
Minimal materials for maximum efficiency
She’s also working to refine the science itself. Through partnerships with Maine universities, engineers, and scientists, Jamiol is developing a closed-loop system that aims to reduce material input and minimize emissions.
“The output of NOR using today’s processes can be anywhere from 500 to 1,000 pounds. That’s a lot,” she says, explaining that Wend & Root is exploring ways to improve the efficiency of the process and the resulting materials. “I also want to minimize any emissions that are coming out. We’re thinking about the outputs from the start.”
Education, she believes, is the biggest hurdle.
“When I talk about NOR for the first time… very few people have heard about it. So I’m like, okay, education is a big piece here.”
And culturally, she believes the timing is right.
“I feel like Gen X, older millennials — we are now starting to talk about death and dying,” she says, adding that death-positive trends like death cafés and death doulas are gaining traction. “The more you talk about something, the less scary it becomes.”
A name with purpose
Jamiol carefully crafted the name “Wend & Root” for her venture to reflect that philosophy.
“Wend means to walk with purpose, to walk with intention,” she said. “We are all on this path… and I feel like we can walk it in an intentional way. We can root it back into life if we want to.”
Her goal is to launch the first hub in Maine, then scale across New England as laws and regulations evolve. Funding is in progress, and she is eager to discuss partnerships; all it takes to start the conversation is a quick contact form.
“We’re not competition,” she says. “We’re a green alternative you can offer through the funeral homes families already trust.”
