The Forest Conservation Burial Ground of Southern Oregon

02/02/2026

'The Peace of Wild Things' by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

01/29/2026

Thanks for the shout-out, Islands! Nice piece on the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

There's no shortage of beauty to see in the Pacific Northwest. Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument offers trails, lakeside campsites, and scenic byways galore.

01/27/2026

01/26/2026

Hello from The Forest!
We're pleased to announce our new pet burial markers which are being added to all previous and future graves in the pet cemetery. We feel that they provide a dignified memorial for each of our beloved pet-friends.

01/15/2026

Hello friends! We are hiring a new Cemetery Manager (we'll all miss you Mary Ann!) who plans to be moving down to Ashland from Portland towards the end of January. We're reaching out to you all, our Ashland community, looking to help her find housing beginning February 1st.

She is looking for an A.D.U. or something similar; some sort of comfortable, basic, private living space. She is a non-smoker and has no pets. We're excited for her to join the team here at The Forest, and we're sure she'll make a great tenant! If you know or hear of any leads on available housing of this sort please reach out to us. You can send us a message over Facebook, give us a call, or send an email, and we'll help connect you.

Phone: 541-625-9697
Email: info@theforestconservationburial.org

Thanks from your friends up at The Forest Conservation Burial Ground.

01/07/2026

"After a lifetime of trying to put things in the right bin, we eventually arrive at the ultimate recycling dilemma: what to do with our bodies after we die."

A great article featuring our beloved supporter, Lee Webster. Thank you for sharing information we will all be considering sooner or later.

https://www.popsci.com/technology/cremation-burial-most-eco-friendly/"

The greenest choice turns out to be the simplest one.

01/05/2026

A beatiful snowy morning at The Forest Conservation Burial Ground at Willow-Witt Ranch! We are delighted to have a touch of snow.

12/31/2025

Happy New Year from all of us at The Forest! We wish you and yours well.

12/29/2025

Wow! Another beautiful Solstice gathering offered by our friends Penn Forest Natural Burial Park. What a gift to your community - thank you for sharing these beautiful photos.

12/22/2025

Wishing you all a peaceful solstice season.

Snowy Night by Mary Oliver

Last night, an owl
in the blue dark
tossed an indeterminate number
of carefully shaped sounds into
the world, in which,
a quarter of a mile away, I happened
to be standing.
I couldn’t tell
which one it was –
the barred or the great-horned
ship of the air –
it was that distant. But, anyway,
aren’t there moments
that are better than knowing something,
and sweeter? Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness. I suppose
if this were someone else’s story
they would have insisted on knowing
whatever is knowable – would have hurried
over the fields
to name it – the owl, I mean.
But it’s mine, this poem of the night,
and I just stood there, listening and holding out
my hands to the soft glitter
falling through the air. I love this world,
but not for its answers.
And I wish good luck to the owl,
whatever its name –
and I wish great welcome to the snow,
whatever its severe and comfortless
and beautiful meaning.

12/17/2025

Blessing for the Brokenhearted

By Jan Richardson

There is no remedy for love but to love more.
– Henry David Thoreau

Let us agree
for now
that we will not say
the breaking
makes us stronger
or that it is better
to have this pain
than to have done
without this love.

Let us promise
we will not
tell ourselves
time will heal
the wound,
when every day
our waking
opens it anew.

Perhaps for now
it can be enough
to simply marvel
at the mystery
of how a heart
so broken
can go on beating,
as if it were made
for precisely this—

as if it knows
the only cure for love
is more of it,

as if it sees
the heart’s sole remedy
for breaking
is to love still,

as if it trusts
that its own
persistent pulse
is the rhythm
of a blessing
we cannot
begin to fathom
but will save us
nonetheless.

From The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief © Jan Richardson (Wanton Gospeller Press, 2016). janrichardson.com