California’s landscapes are as diverse as its people—and so are its green burial options. From coastal bluffs to redwood forests to desert valleys, families across the state can find meaningful, ecological resting places. Here are some of California’s key green and hybrid burial grounds:


🌿 Fernwood Cemetery (Mill Valley)
Nestled beside the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Fernwood is one of the nation’s pioneering green cemeteries. Its 32 acres are both burial ground and certified wildlife habitat, where graves are hand-dug, embalming is prohibited, and markers are modest or replaced with GPS coordinates. Families here become part of a living landscape of trees, grasses, and wildlife.


🌿 Morgan Oaks Eternal Preserve (Lincoln)
Set in the Sierra Foothills, Morgan Oaks blends burial with land conservation. Burials are limited to a few hundred per acre, ensuring soil health and habitat preservation. Families may choose natural burial for both people and pets, or tree memorials that restore the land while honoring loved ones.


🌿 Joshua Tree Memorial Park (Joshua Tree)
In the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree offers one of Southern California’s few natural burial grounds. Graves are hand-dug and capped with native soil and rocks, while families may choose biodegradable shrouds or wicker caskets. Over time, each site blends back into the desert, reflecting the stark beauty of the landscape.


🌿 Creston Cemetery (San Luis Obispo County)
This historic pioneer cemetery now offers natural burials amid oak groves and rolling hills. Options include full-body burial, cremains interment, or the “Tree of Life” memorial, where ashes nourish a native tree. Simple fieldstone markers connect memory with place.


🌿 Purissima Cemetery (Half Moon Bay)
First opened in the 1860s, this cemetery was lovingly restored and now offers natural burial along coastal bluffs. Families can choose from sites overlooking farmland, forest, or ocean views, with graves hand-dug and marked only by native stones or plantings.


🌿 Tulocay Cemetery (Napa – Hybrid)
Founded in 1859, Tulocay is a historic cemetery that includes the Cayetano Natural Burial Ground, a hybrid section certified for green burial. This offers Napa families the choice of natural interment within a traditional cemetery setting.


Together, these cemeteries show how California is leading the way in green and conservation burial—each site reflecting the unique spirit of its region.

New Paragraph

October 17, 2025
The Last Thing Petra and Michael Wanted
green burial arkansas
September 8, 2025
Where to find green/natural burial in Arkansas
arizna green burial
By Modern Mortician Admin September 8, 2025
Where to find green/natural burial in Arizona.
alaska green burial alaska
September 8, 2025
Where to find green/natural burial in Alaska
By Modern Mortician Admin September 8, 2025
Where to find green/natural burial in Alabama
By Kendra Holliday September 1, 2025
A Unique Display- guest post by Kendra Holliday
By Modern Mortician Admin September 1, 2025
💰 Money-Saving Secrets for Funeral Planning A helpful guide curated by the online community of💚 The Modern Mortician I asked my facebook community for their money-saving secrets they'd pass along to a friend planning a funeral, and after over 100 comments and one month, here's what they said: 🏆 Most Popular Tips 1️⃣ Pre-plan, but think carefully before pre-paying. Use a trust, insurance, or POD account instead of paying a single funeral home directly. 2️⃣ Shop around & compare General Price Lists. If a funeral home does not have their prices online, request it emailed. Ask what’s legally required vs. what’s just policy. 3️⃣ Bring your own casket or urn. It’s your right under the FTC Funeral Rule . 🪦 Titan , Costco, Walmart, eBay, Amazon, or local makers can save thousands. 4️⃣ Skip embalming when not required. Refrigeration or quick timelines can do the trick. 5️⃣ Choose simple disposition. 💧Direct cremation or 🌱green burial both save money and the planet. 6️⃣ Avoid fancy vaults or gasketed caskets. Nothing is waterproof, and a basic liner works fine.  7️⃣ Remember: Price ≠ Love. A meaningful goodbye doesn’t require overspending. ❤️ 💡 Mid-Level Tips ✨ DIY where you can: write the obituary, use a blanket instead of flowers, host at home or in a church. ✨ Consider body donation: many programs cover transport & cremation entirely. ✨ Ask: “Show me where this is required by law.” ✨ Use direct cremation providers or cremation societies. ✨ Home or backyard burials may be legal, check your state codes. 📋 Pro Tips & Lesser-Known Savings 💎 Buy headstones from the vendor directly and skip the commission; programs & guest books can be found at Craft Stores, or on Etsy or Canva. 💎 Avoid Saturday Services (some homes charge $500+ more). 💎 Don’t order an abundance of death certificates, discuss immediate need, you can request more later. 💎 Religious or community burial groups often help families for free or low-cost. 💎 If prepaying, make it irrevocable to protect it from Medicaid or lawsuits. 😄 Humor & Perspective 🪦 “Don’t die.” — Still the cheapest funeral plan known to man. ⚰️ “Live forever, your family might not appreciate the inconvenience.” 💀 “If you’re planning your own funeral, you’re already ahead of the game, literally.” 🌿 “He wanted a burial at sea… so we flushed his ashes in the guest bathroom.” 🕯️ “Nothing says ‘I loved you’ like a $12,000 mahogany box you’ll never see again.” 🪺 “Skip the casket, throw me in a ditch. At least I’ll finally be organic.” 🛠️ “DIY funeral? Just don’t use duct tape. That’s not what they meant by ‘closure.’” 👻 “Remember, the dead don’t care, but your wallet does.” 💸 “You can’t take it with you, but you can make sure your family keeps theirs.” 🌸 “Love isn’t measured in lilies and lace; it’s measured in the laughter left behind.” 🌎 “Green burial: because even in death, you can still go green before you go gray.” 😇 “Write your wishes down now, because haunting your relatives later is such bad manners.” 🧾 “Ask to see the price list, not the priest list.” 🪦 “Don’t let guilt write the check. Grief’s expensive enough already.” 🐕 “And if all else fails, just have the dog scatter your ashes at the park. He’ll know what to do.”
By Modern Mortician Admin August 30, 2025
Why Water Cremains and Flame Cremains React Differently on Grass and Soil (image of a vial of water cremains on the left, and flame cremains on the right)
water cremation, wave urn
By Modern Mortician Admin August 29, 2025
Melissa Meadow explains where to get water cremation in the US
August 19, 2025
🌿 I Get Asked This All the Time: What’s the Greenest Way to Die?