New Ferndale funeral home offers ‘alternative deathcare options,’ with unique preservation

A new funeral home has opened in downtown Ferndale, offering “alternative deathcare options,” according to a news release from the center.

Wildflower Funeral Concepts opened on Monday, April 15, and is owned by Brian Flowers, who has worked in Whatcom County funeral care since 2008.

“I am building Wildflower to serve our community with the highest standards of care, integrity, and transparency. The vision is to create a place and offerings that can heal our relationships with death, grief, and the natural world,” Flowers wrote in the news release.

The funeral home offers traditional care such as cremation, funeral services, ceremonies, wakes, anointings and other rituals. Still, it offers alternative ways for the disposition of human remains such as aquamation, terramation and green burial.

Aquamation, also known as alkaline hydrolysis, is only legal in 28 states. The process uses a pressurized and heated chamber filled with water, potassium and sodium hydroxide. The result is a liquid that can be recycled through local wastewater or used as fertilizer along with a small amount of powder similar to cremated remains. Aquamation is a unique process that creates no emissions and uses “significantly less energy than cremation,” according to the website.

Terramation is a new form of disposition that was legalized in Washington in 2020. It’s also known as natural organic reduction or human composting. The process uses a sealed vessel with moving oxygen that results in about 250 pounds of topsoil. Soil that families do not claim can be donated to restoration and conservation projects through the funeral home.

Green burial is very similar to a casket burial but includes the use of a biodegradable container or cloth shroud which is buried at a green cemetery or natural burial ground. Green burial does not use traditional burial liners or vaults, which allows the biodegradable container to touch the soil below. Biomass, soil and topsoil are used to close the grave.

The new funeral home is also transparent with its prices. The website lists the cost of all services along with what they include. Aquamation, burials and cremation cost approximately $3000. Terramation is listed at about $6000.

Wildflower Funeral Concepts can be contacted by phone at 360-526-7829. The center is located at 5706 4th Ave. in Ferndale.