Frequently Asked Questions

Two things. Stream A turns cremains (pet or human) into hand-painted memorial pearls through the Pearl Method. Stream B composts pet remains through Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) and returns the finished soil to the family in a hand-built cedar planter. Both run from a single workshop in the North Georgia mountains.

North Georgia mountains. Specific location is provided to customers at intake.

Yes, in both directions. Stream B operates under Georgia mortality composting law (O.C.G.A. 4-5), which permits composting of dead animals when temperatures of 130-160 °F are maintained per USDA NRCS technical guidance and the method is Commissioner-approved. The Georgia EPD explicitly exempts compliant dead-animal composting from its solid-waste permit system. Stream A processes already-cremated remains into memorial objects — a category that companies like Parting Stone and Eterneva operate in nationally without funeral-licensure requirements.

Whole-body human NOR was legalized in Georgia by Senate Bill 241 in 2025. Legacy Soil & Stone has no plans to enter that market.

25-40 mm in diameter — between marble-sized and small golf-ball-sized. Each pearl is hand-rolled, so size and shape vary slightly within a tier.

Yield scales with cremains weight. Smallest orders (XS, <0.5 lb, partial keepsake portion) produce 2-10 pearls. Mid-range orders (S-M) produce 20-45 pearls. Larger orders (L-XL, 2-9 lb) produce 70-90 pearls.

Pearls are sealed with a clear UV-stable coating and are durable for indoor display, glass-vessel arrangements, or covered outdoor settings. They are not designed for permanent unprotected outdoor placement in freeze-thaw conditions.

Natural mineral oxides (warm earth tones — bone, dove gray, moss green, ochre, slate), mica for subtle shimmer, and pearlescent additives. No two pearls match exactly. The painting incorporates a slurry of the cremains themselves, so the cremains are physically embedded in the painted surface, not just applied as a coating.

Yes. The Pearl Method works the same on pet and human cremains; pricing is set by weight. A 300-lb adult human cremation typically yields about 9 lb of remains, which fits the XL tier.

Approximately 6-8 weeks from intake to delivery, depending on tier (XS finishes faster; XL with 80+ hand-painted pearls takes longer). Specific timeline quoted at intake.

Cremains can be shipped via USPS Priority Mail Express with a Cremated Remains label, or hand-delivered. Specific shipping instructions and a chain-of-custody intake form are provided after the initial inquiry.

Companion animals up to 40 lbs. The 40-lb cap is the operational limit of the Jora vessel fleet.

A 40-lb dog yields 2.5-3 cu ft of finished soil — enough to push shipping into freight territory and create wildly variable customer cost. Standardizing the return at 1.5 cu ft (a large bag of premium garden soil, ~45-55 lbs in a standard FedEx box) keeps shipping predictable for every customer, simplifies the workshop's packaging line, and makes the product visually consistent regardless of pet size.

Two destinations, never discarded. Surplus from larger pets feeds the Mother Pile — the active hot inoculant pile at the workshop that seeds new vessel cycles. Finished memorial soil also plants the Unconditional Forest, the memorial grove on the property. Every Stream B customer is notified at intake about surplus disposition. Both the Mother Pile (operations) and the Unconditional Forest (planted grove) are on-site and photographable.

Included. Every tier returns the cured soil in the same hand-built Western red cedar planter that served as its 45-day curing chamber. The planter is the vessel — it's not packaging.

Approximately 8 weeks from intake to delivery — anchored to the 45-day cedar-vessel cure plus active composting and intake/return logistics.

Yes. The soil is finished, biologically stable, and safe for any garden, planter, or outdoor placement. Many families plant a tree or wildflower in the cedar planter directly. The soil is also suitable for transfer into a larger garden bed.

A two-part program. Rural shelter partners send their mortality intake to Legacy at no cost; the shelter animals are composted in bulk. Pet owners can also opt into a $150 community-participation tier and have their pet composted in the same communal batch with shelter animals. Participants receive a labeled bag of finished soil.

Line 3 is communal composting (the customer's pet shares a vessel with shelter animals); Stream B is private (one pet per vessel). Line 3 returns a labeled bag of finished soil; Stream B returns 1.5 cu ft in a hand-built cedar planter. Line 3 supports the shelter partnership network — net proceeds go to participating shelters; Stream B is a private retail product.

$30 covers direct program costs (intake handling, batch labeling, soil bag, packaging, shipping). The remaining $120 is donated to the participating shelter partner at year-end.

No. The customer is paying for a service (the communal composting and the soil return). The donation flows from Legacy to the shelter, not from the customer to the shelter.

Every Stream A and private Stream B order is tracked with a physical chain-of-custody label that stays with the material from intake through delivery. The label travels through every process step. Each order is processed independently — one family, one batch, one chain-of-custody label. No pooling within Stream A. No pooling within private Stream B.

The only place material is intentionally combined is Line 3 community composting, which is opt-in and fully disclosed.

Equipment failure is rare but possible. If a batch is compromised, Legacy works with the family to determine the right path forward — replacement order at no cost, refund, or a separately-arranged solution depending on what the family wants.

Yes. Every Stream A and Stream B order is photographed at the chain-of-custody checkpoints. The photographs travel with the order and are delivered alongside the finished work.

No. The site is informational. The launch capital described in the Master Proposal (~$185K, self-funded) is funded by the operator. No outside capital is being solicited.

The largest single line in the launch capital is the land — roughly $100K of the ~$185K total goes to 10 acres in the North Georgia foothills (target counties Pickens / Gilmer / Fannin / Bartow). The land is both the workshop site and the long-term safety asset. If the business underperforms — slower customer acquisition, regulatory changes, operator capacity constraints — the property retains value as an improved agricultural tract with utilities, infrastructure, and a Georgia EPD permit. The specialized composting equipment represents less than 5% of total investment. Full research: Land — the foundation.

By design. Legacy Soil & Stone is built around a workshop pace, not a growth pace. After Year 2 reaches maturity volume, the business intentionally holds at that level. The constraint is operator capacity and artisan quality, not market size.