I think that init_method is more semantic that send.

README.md

@@ -149,8 +149,8 @@ you can define some casting rules.
 
     property :casted_attribute, :cast_as => 'WithCastedModelMixin'
     property :keywords,         :cast_as => ["String"]
-    property :occurs_at,        :cast_as => 'Time', :send => 'parse
-    property :end_date,         :cast_as => 'Date', :send => 'parse
+    property :occurs_at,        :cast_as => 'Time', :init_method => 'parse
+    property :end_date,         :cast_as => 'Date', :init_method => 'parse
 
 If you want to cast an array of instances from a specific Class, use the trick shown above ["ClassName"]
 

lib/couchrest/more/property.rb

@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ module CouchRest
         @alias              = options.delete(:alias)      if options[:alias]
         @default            = options.delete(:default)    unless options[:default].nil?
         @casted             = options[:casted] ? true : false
-        @init_method        = options[:send] ? options.delete(:send) : 'new'
+        @init_method        = options[:init_method] ? options.delete(:init_method) : 'new'
         @options            = options
       end
     

spec/fixtures/more/event.rb

@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@ class Event < CouchRest::ExtendedDocument
   use_database DB
   
   property :subject
-  property :occurs_at, :cast_as => 'Time', :send => 'parse'
-  property :end_date,  :cast_as => 'Date', :send => 'parse'
+  property :occurs_at, :cast_as => 'Time', :init_method => 'parse'
+  property :end_date,  :cast_as => 'Date', :init_method => 'parse'
   
   
 end