5706 4th Ave, Ferndale, WA 98248
PO Box 35, Ferndale, WA 98248
GREEN BURIAL
Earth Friendly Return To Nature
Green Burial is how we have cared for our loved ones most of our history. It is burial without toxic embalming and it takes place in a biodegradable container. The container could be a solid wood casket, a woven wicker casket, a cloth burial shroud, even something a family makes themselves. Cement grave liners and metal burial vaults are prohibited in a green burial. In some cases, green burial is used to further ecological restoration and conservation goals.
Ecologically Sound
When used as a vehicle for ecological restoration and land conservation, green burial can have real environmental benefits – creating and protecting native habits. It can also sequester more carbon than it produces. And, most green burial cemeteries use little to no chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
Meaningful Opportunities
Green burials can offer unique opportunities for family and friends to meaningfully participate in the process. Hand lowering a loved one in their casket or shroud into the embrace of the earth can be an emotionally intimate and healing moment. Closing a grave by hand with shovels is a beautiful ritual that a family and a community can come together to complete.
Supports New Life
Some green burial cemeteries allow and encourage planting native plants at the gravesite. It can be healing to put new life in the ground knowing those native plants will be nourished as they grow by the person we love.
Compatible with Religious and Cultural Beliefs
Serving families for green burials our team has supported Jewish and Islamic burial rites, Catholic and Protestant services, Buddhist practices, Baha’i beliefs, Wiccan rituals, Indigenous traditions, spiritual non-religious, and secular ceremonies, to name a few.
Green Burial: A Commitment and Return to the Earth that Carried Us As We Walked Through Our Life.
Wildflower Funeral Concepts is honored to serve families, our community, and our planet with green burial in Whatcom County and throughout Western Washington
Frequently Asked Questions
Without a grave liner or burial vault, won’t the graves settle and collapse over time?
When the grave is closed after a green burial the common practice is to mound earth above the burial site. Burial mounds are usually about 2 feet tall. This mound enusures there is enough soil to accommodate any settling that occurs.
I have heard that green burial graves are shallow. Is that true?
A traditional grave is usually 5 to 6 feet deep. Green burial graves are typically 3½ to 4½ feet deep. This shallower depth places remains into a layer of soil where there are microbes, oxygen, and moisture to facilitate a rapid return to soil with no impact on groundwater.
Does the shallower depth of a green burial mean that there might be smells?
No. The smell barrier is eighteen inches of soil. Anything covered by eighteen inches of earth has no detectable odor. If burial is in a casket, which has more depth than a shroud, then the grave is dug on the deeper end of the 3½ to 4½ range to ensure proper coverage. And the 2 foot tall burial mound further ensures adequate soil coverage.
Can green burial graves be reused at some point in the future?
This can be done, though it is not typical. Excavating for the second burial can be challenging. Once soft tissue has returned to soil, that soil can be considered human remains and should be respected as such. Also, without a vault lid, it is hard to know when to stop excavating before reaching bones, which can remain intact for many years.
How long does it take to return to soil in a green burial?
This can vary widely depending on soil type, temperature, humidity, soil PH, and cause of death. Soft tissue may return to soil in as little as a few weeks, and may take up to a year. Bone can take from two to twenty years, or more, to completely return to the earth.