St. Paul Green Burials

Making Green Burial Arrangements

Though many people seeking green burial choose to hold their services at a local St Paul cemetery or suburban Minneapolis or St Paul burial site, our building is the place we will likely meet to make arrangements. Our facility is also available to host a memorial reception or service if that is an option that interests your family.

The best way to start planning for a green burial in our Minneapolis St Paul area is to give us a call at 651-774-9797 and we will be here to answer all your questions. If a death has occurred or your need is urgent, we always have a funeral director on call by phone, 24 hours a day, who will respond to you.

If you’re just starting to research green burial or are looking to plan ahead, our staff and funeral directors are not here to pressure you, but instead get you the answers you need to make a plan. So if you’re anywhere in the Twin Cities and are wondering, how do I start planning a green burial near me, please contact our kind and professional team and they will set you on the right path.

The planning often begins with us helping you find a grave. For someone looking for natural burial, MN has many cemeteries that can meet your needs but sometimes require you to conform with their policies. There are a few cemeteries that allow fully natural burial.

If the person being buried is a veteran, veteran’s spouse, or veteran’s legal dependent they often want to look in to the benefits offered by National Cemeteries. We regularly work with Ft Snelling National Cemetery in St Paul and can help you receive the greenest possible burial while still complying with the Federal regulations for the property.

Complying with a cemetery’s policies or regulations may mean that, for a green burial, a five-sided outer burial container, or grave liner, may be required. This container is generally made of cement and is open on the bottom so natural decomposition can take place, but allows the ground above to stay level.

Some wonder “why is a grave liner required by the cemetery,” and the best way to explain it is to think of a very old cemetery that you may have visited at some time. As caskets and material in graves collapse over time, so does the ground above it. This leads to irregularities in the ground making landscape very maintenance difficult and causes headstones to tilt or fall over. The grave liner holds space for the casket.

If the grave selected is in a cemetery that allows fully green burial, a grave liner or vault will not be required.

Sometimes people of faith wonder if green burial is in line with the practices of Protestantism, the Catholic Church, Judaism, or Islamic traditions, and the answer is yes for all. Though each faith has their own rituals for preparation, place, and timing, natural burial is permitted and in some cases is a requirement of these faiths. If you have questions about your faith’s specific death rituals, and whether green burial fits into them, it is of course best to speak to your spiritual advisor.

For green burials, Minnesota law does not require you to come in for arrangements, so if you don’t want to come into our St Paul location we are also able to make arrangements online through Zoom or you can begin exploring green burial options on your own by clicking “Make Arrangements Online” at the top of our homepage.

If you click “Make Arrangements Online” you can indicate whether you are making plans at the time of need (meaning a death has taken place or is likely to happen very soon) or if you are planning ahead, which we call green burial pre-planning.

As you plan, you can discover which services are right for you as well as search through a selection of green burial caskets, carriers, or shrouds which we would use to carefully transport the person in our care until the time they reach their final resting place. This is also where you can find our green burial prices which would take into account the specific type of service you would like to plan.

Common Questions