Gardeners guide to green burial

A gardener’s guide to planning burial

by Kim Willis   These articles are copyrighted and may not be copied or used without the permission of the author.

Gardeners are probably more tuned into the cycle of life than people that don’t garden.  Gardeners know that every living thing returns to the soil after it ceases to live where it then decomposes and supports new life.  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  So what do you, as a gardener, want to have done with your body when you die?   Do you want to have a modern funeral with embalming, tightly sealed casket and vault or a natural, simple alternative that returns your body quickly to nature’s cycle?   While most people don’t like thinking about their own death it’s important to make some decisions what you want done with your body after the inevitable happens.

Baby boomers and the generations that come after them are more likely to consider how their death and burial will affect the ecology and environment.  As the generations more attuned to considering the environment in relationship to themselves age, more and more people are choosing more natural burials.   The modern method of burying our dead has also become outrageously expensive.  More people would rather spend their money on doing things while they are living or don’t want to burden relatives with the high cost associated with modern traditional burial practices.  The funeral industry has picked up on this trend and it has actually become easier to find places to have “green” burials.  And about 40% of people now choose to be cremated rather than buried.

As a gardener you may be pleased to think that your body decomposing will help continue the cycle of life on earth.  You may want your remains to nourish microbes and feed plants.  Above you a mighty oak may grow or a sweetly scented rose.  The things you took from the land are rightfully returned to it.  You are one with the land again.  Being knowledgeable about burial practices will help you choose a peaceful, nourishing, righteous end to your brief span on earth.

Modern conventional funerals

In a modern, conventional funeral a body is moved to a funeral home soon after death and prepared for burial.  This will include embalming fluids, elaborate make up and posing strategies, a casket, now often made of metal or heavily varnished and treated wood and a vault. Vaults are cement or metal boxes that hold the coffin and that don’t break down over time.  They aren’t required by any state or federal law, but almost all cemeteries now do require them.   It will also require the purchase of a plot of land within a cemetery or in some areas a spot in a mausoleum.   A modestly priced modern funeral easily costs $10,000 today.

Vaults keep the ground from sinking in as a coffin collapses either because of natural decomposition or heavy machinery overhead.  It makes the maintenance of the cemetery grounds easier, although funeral planners will often sell it as “protection” for the remains.  In some places a grave liner is allowed.  This is a vault with no bottom.  This is slightly more environmentally friendly than a vault.   Vaults effectively keep decomposed remains and coffins from being returned to usefulness in the environment as do tightly sealed coffins made of various metals or now even plastics. 

And make no doubt about it, vaults and sealed coffins, even embalming fluid, do not keep the body from decomposing, if that is the goal.   Embalming fluid, which is composed of dangerous, toxic chemicals that pollute the soil when they leach into it, keeps the body preserved only for a short time.  In sealed coffins and vaults the body still decomposes because bacteria are always present, only it does so in a nasty, wet, and fast manner, without any benefit to soil microbes and animal and plant decomposers.  In natural, soil contact decomposition many things benefit from the body and coffin materials as they break down in a slow, natural manner.  Contact with the soil is the natural and desirable way for a body to decompose.

A conventional modern funeral is not environmentally friendly, can cause actual environmental damage, does not allow the natural processes of nature and is very expensive.  There are some things you may be able to negotiate that can reduce costs and may help the environmental impact.  Opt for a grave liner instead of a vault or no vault if you can find a cemetery that will allow that.  Use a decomposable coffin, by law you are allowed to build your own coffin or buy one from any merchant.  Choose coffins without metal handles or decorations.  Choose not to be embalmed; it is not legally required unless the body is to be transported after 48 hours from death.

Cremation

Cremation is the second most environmentally friendly method of dealing with death and probably the least expensive.  About 40% of people in Michigan chose cremation as the final disposition of a body.  The practice is common enough that most funeral homes can handle it and while pre-planning is always a good thing cremation can occur easily without it.  Cremation must take place in a licensed facility.  And Michigan is one of the few states that legally require that a licensed mortician (funeral director) be involved with every death. A hospital or morgue will release a body only to a licensed mortician. Death certificates are not issued without a mortician’s signature. This will cost you; costs vary but expect a minimum of $2,000.

Cremation uses a lot of oil based energy in the many hours at high temperatures required for cremation.  It also releases certain chemicals into the atmosphere, depending on the body that can include mercury and lead plus numerous other substances our bodies accumulate over time.  Cremation destroys most of the value a body has for replenishing soil nutrients.  But it conserves land, and resources needed for coffins and so on.  As far as expenses go, it depends on what services a person wants in addition to the cremation.  There is a fee for cremation.  That usually includes a cardboard or plastic container for the remains.  The cost of an urn or other container, if wanted, can be considerable or simple and inexpensive.  You can hold visitation in a rented coffin if wanted.  However, cremation generally costs about half of what a conventional funeral will cost.

When cremation is finished the remains do not look like ashes.  Instead they are unburned chunks of bone, teeth, tooth fillings and medical implants.  A magnet is used to remove any metal and then the remains are pulverized to a fine powder.  It is legal to scatter ashes on any private property, (with permission if it isn’t yours) and many public areas like parks also allow it.  Some require a permit.  You can dispose of ashes in the Great Lakes, as long as any container is bio-degradable if it’s thrown in with the ashes.  Ashes must be deposited 3 miles off shore on the ocean.  You cannot drop ashes from the air legally.

A new concept in many modern cemeteries is a scattering garden.  For a fee people are allowed to scatter ashes in a beautiful garden and rake them into the soil.   Most also have a monument where name plagues for those whose ashes were scattered can be added.  You may also buy one plot and bury several sets of ashes in it in many cemeteries.

Cremation ashes are not good for plants

You may think that cremation ashes will act as fertilizer and help plants grow, but this is not true.  Carbon, nitrogen, and all the usable nutrients for plant growth are burned away, disappearing into the atmosphere.  Cremation ashes are primarily tri-calcium phosphate with small amounts of other minerals and salts unique to each body. Every set of ashes is different depending on the person’s diet and occupation and exposure to heavy metals and chemicals.  The ashes are sterile and don’t transmit disease.  But they could harm plants if too much is applied in one spot.  That is why you should never dump cremation ashes in a hole and plant a tree on top of them.  But scattered around a garden and lightly raked into the soil the ashes will not harm anything.

There are companies out there that will take cremation ashes and mix them with other things into the proper ratio for plant growth and adjust the pH.  This requires some analysis of the ashes.  They then combine the mixed ashes with a tree, rose or other plant for you to plant as a package.  You will probably not have good results if you try and mix ashes with potting soil so the best way to return “dust to dust” is to widely scatter cremation ashes.

Green funerals

A “green” burial is the most environmentally responsible way of burial.  It is less expensive than a conventional funeral and can be less expensive than cremation if carefully planned.   In a green funeral bodies are not embalmed, except in some cases with natural herbal products.  Embalming is not a legal requirement unless bodies are moved on public transportation such as a plane or train.  Some places also have laws on how long a body can be stored before burial without embalming or refrigeration. If you are thinking about a green funeral and a body must be transported some distance for burial you must carefully research what the requirements will be, what permits are needed and how you will accomplish the transportation well before the need arises.

In a green funeral the body is buried in a decomposable shroud (cloth wrappings) or simple, untreated wood box, or a coffin made of other materials like wicker that readily decompose.  You can build your own coffin, or buy one from a place other than a funeral home.  Beautiful handcrafted shrouds are also available.

The green burial is done in a cemetery designated for green burials and no vaults or grave liners are used. Most of these cemeteries are kept as natural areas, no formal plantings and no headstones are allowed. (Some places allow a small marker.)   Some are mowed, most are not.  There the body will be naturally and peacefully returned to the earth and benefit many living things.  There are several of these cemeteries now in Michigan and across the United States.  Some are adjacent to conventional cemeteries.

Burying someone on private land is allowed in many places but there are regulations on how much property one must have and the distance the grave must be from other homes.  You won’t be able to bury someone in a suburban backyard.  In Michigan you must establish a family burial plot, which must be less than one acre in size.  It must be surveyed and recorded at the register of deeds as a family burial plot.  While this will cost you, the good news is that piece of land will not be taxed.  If you want to have a green burial on your own property you must research the regulations, and get any necessary permits and survey work done well before the need arises.

A green funeral is less expensive than conventional funerals but it does have costs.  Once again in Michigan you will need to hire the services of a licensed mortician.  A burial plot must be purchased or a survey paid for.  Coffins or shrouds are needed.  You may need to pay for transport from a morgue or hospital.  You can transport the body in your own vehicle if certain conditions are followed but many people will not be able to do that.  

You are free to clean and dress the body at home and to hold visitation at a place of your choosing.  But you may be required to use herbal embalming or refrigeration of the body if it will be held more than 48 hours before burial or if it will be transported somewhere for burial. The use of dry ice or refrigeration can temporarily preserve a body. Some funeral homes have refrigeration units for bodies because some religions forbid embalming also.  You may be able to store a body there for a short time or even hold visitation sessions there.  But you will pay for the services.

A green funeral must be planned in advance.  Not all morticians will handle green funerals; you must find someone who is sympathetic to your needs.  In green funerals time is of the essence, you must know where the burial will take place, have the coffin or shroud ready and every detail worked out in advance.  It cannot be stressed enough that pre-planning is needed if you intend to have a green burial.

If you are a person who considers yourself a humble part of a greater web of life you will want to consider green burial.  Imagine yourself being washed and anointed with sweet smelling herbs, then wrapped in a beautiful piece of cloth you have chosen.  Then you are lovingly lowered into the earth and a mound of flowers heaped on your grave by your loved ones.  There you will nourish the grass that waves above you and become one with the roots of the tree that shades you. Gone, but still part of life. 

A note about herbal embalming

The herbal or natural embalming that was referred to in the Gardeners Guide to Burial refers to products on the market that are proprietary and the ingredients, while guaranteed to be environmentally safe, are not totally disclosed.  They need to be used by professionals and flushed through the veins like regular formaldehyde based embalming fluids.

When one cares for the body at home it is usually washed well with soap and water and a mild bleach solution to kill most surface bacteria should be used on all body surfaces.  Herbs like oil of myrrh, aloe, cinnamon and cassia may be rubbed on the body to help prevent decay.  These herbs were also used in the Egyptian mummification process.  That process involved removing internal organs and the brain and took about 4 months.  Herbs and washing will only preserve the body for a few days at the most and green burials should be carried out quickly.

More about family cemeteries

As a child I remember playing in the backyard of my great grandmother’s small urban yard under the lilacs along the back fence.  I found a small stone marker with a baby’s name, birth and death dates on it.  I ran inside to excitedly tell my great grandmother about my find.  She explained to me that it was a baby that my grandmother had which died at 3 months of age. The baby died of natural causes; it had spinal bifida I believe.  My grandmother was living in a rented home at the time, it was during the depression and they had no money and so the baby was buried in her mother-in- laws back yard.  My grandfather etched the stone on the grave himself.  I am sure that the authorities didn’t know about this burial but I am sure that similar burials took place in many places at many times.

I had a strong desire to dig the little grave up- yes I was a curious child.  But I think my great grandmother may have anticipated this and warned me sternly about staying away from the grave.  Later as an adult I went to the home of a lady who requested my assistance for a horticultural issue and there I saw only a few feet from the back door a large, tall tombstone that looked quite old nestled in a garden.  At first I thought it was some sort of odd garden decoration but the lady of the house explained to me that it was an actual tombstone and the woman whose name was inscribed on it was buried there in the late 1800’s.

The current owner had purchased the old farmhouse as a fixer upper many years earlier.  When cleaning up the property they found the tombstone laying on the ground buried in weeds.  They did some research and found that indeed, the person had lived in the home at one point and was buried there.   It had once been a bit farther from the house, but the house had a large addition put on that brought it closer to the old grave.  The current owner thoughtfully and respectfully cleaned up the tombstone and kept a garden around it.  They believed other family members were buried nearby, but the graves couldn’t be located.

Family burial grounds are not uncommon and even today some people still develop family burial grounds.  In a family burial ground you have control over what is done to and around the graves and who is buried there.  Many family cemeteries are located close to living relatives who visit and care for the graves.  It can save you money on a burial plot in a public cemetery but there are many things to consider before developing your own cemetery.

While Michigan law allows private family cemeteries of less than 1 acre, it also allows each municipality to develop ordinances concerning them.   In rural areas it is the township that sets the zoning and regulations involving family burial grounds.  No cities or incorporated villages allow family cemeteries.   If you are considering a family cemetery you must first inquire with your township as to what the zoning and regulations are for cemeteries.  Some townships will have zoning restrictions against family cemeteries.

If you meet the zoning regulations and can comply with other restrictions such as the distance from a well or dwellings that are required by your township you can proceed with planning a family cemetery.  You will need to hire a surveyor who will measure and map the planned cemetery.  You will then have a deed drawn up and recorded at the county register of deeds.  Once the deed is recorded that piece of land cannot be used for any other purpose and it will become tax exempt.  It cannot be forfeited for a tax sale on the rest of the property nor can it be seized to pay debts.

You need to think carefully about establishing a family cemetery.  Is it likely that the property adjacent to the cemetery will remain in family hands for a long period of time?  If you are considering selling the property when you retire or believe your heirs will sell it after you die there is little sense in establishing the cemetery.  It’s horrifying to think that a cemetery that’s sold with other property may be used as a dirt bike track in the future.

The property will not be allowed to be farmed, have a wind turbine on it, or have a house or barn on it or used for anything other than burial.  It may affect your ability to sell the property connected to it.   The cemetery can be sold, but few buyers will probably be found.  It can be sold with adjacent property or separately.  If the rest of the property adjacent to the cemetery is abandoned, or lost to tax sale and the cemetery is not maintained and seems abandoned, the township, after notifying any interested parties of their intention, may claim the cemetery and do with it what it wills.  If no burials have taken place on the property the cemetery designation may be removed by another survey and filing a revised deed.

Things like who will maintain the cemetery after the founder’s death need to be planned for.   Who will inherit the cemetery if the other land is split among heirs?   When considering the site for a cemetery make sure it has road access or that an access road is constructed and included in the cemetery deed.  A land locked cemetery has little value if the surrounding property is owned by someone else, who could restrict access to it.  The cemetery should be constructed on high, dry land that doesn’t flood.  Heavily wooded sites may be pretty, but they will restrict burials.  The cemetery should be fenced and posted against trespassing to limit malicious destruction or damage from livestock.

If you have a suitable site and zoning allows it a family cemetery could be a lovely option for your family.  It saves money and allows people much flexibility as to how they want to be buried and the grounds maintained.    Some regulations on burial must still be followed and in Michigan a licensed mortician will need to be present at burial to record the final disposition of the body.

An alternative to a family cemetery would be a family scattering garden, where ashes from cremation or cremation urns could be buried.   This can be done on any private property, without worrying about zoning. You could use the garden on your city lot, but read about the effect of ashes on plants in an article above.  You will not get a tax break though unless the land also meets the requirements for a family cemetery and is recorded as such.   Ashes or urns do not need to have a mortician present when scattered or buried.

For some people a family cemetery is about keeping their loved ones final resting place close and lovingly cared for.  For others it’s about frugality and independence or a desire to be at one with the land you love.  Whatever the reason, a family cemetery can be a wonderful option to a public one.

Searching cemeteries for heirloom plants

Hundreds of small, old cemeteries, some private, some public, dot Michigan’s rural areas. Some are abandoned, some still well cared for.   Larger, older cemeteries exist in many cities.  Many cemeteries, both modern and ancient, have beautiful grounds and plantings that any gardener would enjoy strolling through.  But people who hunt for old, heirloom varieties of plants often explore cemeteries looking for that centuries old plant variety that has faded away in commerce but deserves to be preserved.  When groups come in to restore old cemeteries they are advised to hire a horticulture expert to find and catalog rare, heritage plants so they aren’t destroyed in the clean-up.  And original landscaping is often preserved when historic cemeteries are restored.

In modern cemeteries one is seldom allowed to plant directly on a grave because it interferes with maintenance done with modern machinery.  But in earlier times it was common for people to plant things at gravesites, a piece of rose that mother loved, a clump of blue iris for father, delicate baby’s breath on a child’s grave, poppies on a veterans grave.  There was generally a caretaker at small public cemeteries who weeded, pruned and watered these grave plantings as well as mowing the lawn.  Families came to visit gravesites frequently, making an outing, even a picnic out of it and they also cared for the plants on the graves.  Some of these plants have managed to survive for a century or more, even if the caretaker is gone and the families no longer visit.

Even if the cemetery is being managed with a quick pass of a mower every week or so, rare plants can be found tucked along fences and between tombstones where the mower can’t reach them.   In every season new things wait to be discovered.  If you enjoy botanical history, or history in general, and heirloom plants your stroll through a cemetery will take on new meaning.

Common plants found in cemeteries include weeping willows and cedar trees, which have symbolic meaning as well as old roses, iris, lilacs, poppies, daylilies, other types of lilies, daffodils, tulips, and peonies.  But all kinds of plants have been discovered tucked away in cemeteries.  Botanical historians can even track the ancestral origins of people buried in the cemetery by noting the plants adorning their grave. 

 If you think you have discovered some botanical treasure in a cemetery don’t pull out the shovel.  Document it with pictures, and carefully note its location. You may want to research the plant and its varieties with people who specialize in antique, heirloom plants.   Then if you want to get a piece of the plant or start from it you need to find out who owns the cemetery and ask permission.  Removing it is not fair to those who planted it so lovingly long ago.  You are disturbing both history and memories.

To find out who owns a local cemetery, if it’s not obvious, you can check with the county register of deeds.  Even family cemeteries are required to be registered.  Abandoned family or private cemeteries become the property of the township or city/village they are located in. There are situations when a whole cemetery is being moved, the graves relocated, and if that is the case you may ask those in charge whether plants are also being transferred and if they are not, if you may have them.  There are also new owners of cemeteries who want to remove all vegetation so that markers and graves are more easily found or maintenance is easier.  They will generally agree to your removing the plants and while it is sad to part them from the graves, it will save the plant.

Once you have rescued an old variety of plant make sure to record where you found it, the name of the person on the headstone if it was near one and other pertinent information.   The date of death on a tombstone will help place the age of the plant and the era the variety came from.   Some plants are, of course, descendants of the original plants placed on the gravesite, not the original plant.  Plants along fences and common areas will probably date to soon after the cemetery was established.   That date will be found in the deed information.

For more information on restoring old cemeteries, along with their landscapes you may be interested in this guidebook, available on line: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/hal_mhc_shpo_Cemetery_Guide_105082_7.pdf