Caskets, Shrouds & Markers
Green burial means natural biodegradable materials only, please—no concrete vault, no varnished wood or metals. We can offer you a number of suggestions for sustainable caskets and shrouds.
Shrouds
We recommend shrouds - handmade, natural and biodegradable, they can be made at home by a friend, out of a favorite quilt perhaps, or you can find them online and through funeral homes.
White Eagle Memorial Preserve Founding Steward Chris Woodcock makes handmade custom shrouds. Her base price is $390. She works with reclaimed and heirloom materials to create beautiful sturdy shrouds with a back board and straps. She can make yours from material which is meaningful to you. You can contact her at chris@ekone.org
Simple untreated and unvarnished caskets are a meaningful way to bury too.
Founding WEMP steward Bob Jeffers makes handmade pinewood caskets from local sustainably harvested wood using a glue and wood doweling technique. They can be simple or fancy...your choice. He also does woodburning of words and images - see some examples in the photo gallery below. Base price is $650; you can contact him at goldengraphics@gorge.net.
Other sources for caskets include:
Reese Woodwork makes caskets starting at $1000 and will deliver throughout the PNW.
Woven Thresholds willow caskets from Maureen Walrath range from $900-2600.
Natural Burial Company has online options, look for Green Burial Council certified products – no finishes, no hardwoods. Please see our Guidelines for further details.
Bob Jeffers also carves custom stone grave markers from local Ekone stone. Engraving is outdoor, seasonal/weather- dependent work, and there may be a limit on word count, depending on the size of the stone. Bob's stones start at $200. Reach out to Bob at goldengraphics@gorge.net
You may also work with a stone and engraver of your choice, but we ask that they use "rock-shaped rocks" without polish, that rest naturally and are in scale with the forest landscape, so that visitors notice the forest, and not a forest of stones.