What is natural burial? An Interview with Kathy Curry

Natural Burial at Fernwood Cemetary

Fernwood, a beautiful historic cemetery located in Mill Valley, CA, is the second cemetery in the United States to offer green burial.  SevenPonds caught up with Kathy Curry, the manager of Fernwood, for a Q & A on their services.

Aurora: What is the history of Fernwood, and where does natural burial come in?

Kathy: Fernwood is an old cemetery, dating back to our first burial in 1891.  So it’s 120 years old, and in last seven, we’ve had a focus on natural burial.  For natural burial, sometimes called green burial, the requirements are that there be no embalming treatments, grave liners or vaults; and we only allow biodegradable burial containers — so simple wooden coffins, whicker caskets, or fabric shrouds.

Aurora: Can you tell us a little more about the history of natural burial?

Kathy: The way we do natural burial is really what has been happening for thousands of years.  The practice of embalming came out of the Civil War, when people started filling bodies with formaldehyde to preserve them while they were transported home for burial.  In the last 150 years, it has become common, but before that for thousands of years, people simply wrapped their loved one or put them in a pine box and buried them in the ground.  Natural burial has become very popular in the UK (what they call woodland burial) but the U.S. has been slow to take on the green burial trend.

Aurora: What are the differences in cost associated with conventional burial, natural burial, and the cremation services offered at Fernwood?

Kathy: If you look at natural burial versus traditional burial in the Bay Area, the cost for an actual plot of land is relatively similar — but you are not paying for a grave lining or vault (which runs $1500 or more), or an expensive casket, so the overall savings are significant.  Cremation is the least expensive option.

Aurora: I see. What are people choosing today, and what do you see as the future of disposition?

Kathy: Well in the Bay Area, the cremation rate is very high.  I think in Marin, about 90 percent of people chose cremation.  We have a smaller percentage that chooses cremation, because people come to us from all over for our green burial services.  But as people learn about green burial as an option, I believe it will continue to grow, as it has been for the last seven years.

A green burial service

Aurora: What is your favorite part about working at Fernwood?

Kathy: Working with the families and helping them define the right choices for them and the right way to remember their loved one.  There have been a few situations where the family of the loved one wanted to lay them into the graves themselves, or make the shroud that they’re wrapped in.  Things like that can be very moving.

Aurora: Are there any legal restrictions to the choices people can make in that regard?

Kathy: Laws for traditional and green burial are the same; though at Fernwood, we have a land restoration plan dictating that anything planted on graves must be native to this area.  We allow a natural rock on the grave, not a cut and polished headstone or traditional bronze marker.  It can have the person’s name and dates engraved, but must be natural in appearance, like the rest of Fernwood’s natural burial landscape.

Aurora: Thank you for chatting with us, Kathy!