Tom Crean introduced his son, who is the General Manager at Heritage Gardens, Trevor Crean.
Heritage Gardens is located in the Campbell Valley Region of south Surrey, at 16th Ave & 192nd St. It was a former huckleberry and tree nursery that shut down in 2012. The Crean family bought the old farming operation in 2016. It took until 2018 to complete the clean out of the former operation. Now the farmhouse works as their offices and they have already developed a number of gardens on site.
While there is no shortage of cemeteries in Vancouver, there is a shortage of available and affordable space. The Orthodox community in Vancouver faced these issues when they found a solution in partnering with Heritage Gardens, supporting their rezoning application. The Greater Vancouver Orthodox Cemetery was developed. It provides these communities with a beautiful space to lay their family members to rest and where they can continue to tend the graves as they like to do.
Heritage Gardens is pleased to say that they have been recognized with an award of excellence by the Surrey Board of Trade last November.
The big focus for Heritage Gardens in approaching the planning process for the site was to consider what future needs will be. Sustainability and eco-friendly are front of mind. Theirs is the 1st green burial site registered in Canada. The 5 principals of green burial are:
- No chemical preparation of the remains,
- Casket or shroud is made of locally sourced materials,
- No permanent headstone,
- A natural burial, direct into the earth,
- Optimized land use.
Green burials are as simple as you can get. There are a lot of differing interpretations of what is “green”. Heritage Gardens work with families to find out what is most meaningful for their needs and do their utmost to meet those needs.
What really makes Heritage Gardens different from other burial sites? They want to brighten peoples’ days, support local organizations, and make a positive impact overall. They began to farm some of their unused land, approximately ½ acre. Sometimes visitors are greeted with a gift of in season produce – quite unexpected and delightful. They have donated approximately 500 lbs of fresh, organic produce to local organizations such as the Cloverdale Community Kitchen. They feel very fortunate that the growing conditions are great and lots of good food is produced.
Heritage Gardens is located near the Little Campbell River. There are four species of salmon that use the river while on their spawning journey. Heritage Gardens voluntarily dedicated 2.3 acres by the river to protect it with appropriate zoning.
After they finished some of their gardens, they moved on to responding to cremation requests. Metro Vancouver has one of the highest cremation rates in North America, approximately 90%. Once families have had a cremation, often many did not know what to do with the remains. Heritage Gardens offers meaningful memorialization for families.
They have the Willow Cremation Garden, where a plant of the family’s choosing, sometimes out of their own garden is planted alongside a memorial plaque. The remains can be sifted into the soil to help the garden and then provide a spot that can be visited and enjoyed.
They also have full size tree plantings, e.g., cherry or maple trees. These sites can accommodate 8 people’s remains, so are multi-generational. Again, plaques can be, if wished, placed under the tree for memorialization.
Heritage Gardens also has a Memorial Beehive program. This program helps on a number of levels, helping the pollinators by providing safe homes for them, helps the nearby gardens, and provides an option for families who can subsidize hives in memory of someone. They can enjoy honey from the hive when it’s harvested. Of course anyone is welcome to subsidize a hive, not just in memory of another, but just because they want to.
Another garden is the Katsura Garden, a place where people can safely gather outdoors to celebrate life. One of the negative effects of the pandemic is that families have been denied the ability to come together in grief. This garden, made of flagstones and Katsura trees, helps address this.
Now that we are opening up from the vast lockdown for COVID-19, there are great numbers of families requesting gatherings to remember people who passed during the lockdown. Ceremony is important in helping with the grieving process; coming together as family and friends is important.
They manage to continue developing the site by planning through the fall and winter and then building through the spring and summer. The design of each discreet space is a result of months of planning and dialogue, ensuring that a very meaningful space is developed for each community, honouring their unique traditions. Kudos to Trevor, the planner, his younger brother, Shawn, the lifter, and the landscapers they work with to bring the wonderful ideas to fruition.
Some new and upcoming projects:
- Currently underway is the building of the Ying & Yang Garden, placed to balance the sun and shade through different times of the day.
- Heritage Gardens is currently working with the Filipino community to develop a Sampaguita Garden. It will house a columbarium which customarily houses funeral urns. The design will be such that it will blend with the natural garden landscape of Heritage Gardens while at the same time providing a traditional memorial spot for the Filipino community. They recently got the green light to go ahead with this project.
- Heritage Gardens is collaborating with the Chinese community to build a jade garden. At the heart of it will be a large jade boulder in a centre plaza. They plan to build out from there.
The most special part of the work they are doing is that they have an ability to respond to requests from families and guests. They engage people and collaborate with something so personal and meaningful – it’s truly wonderful. The goal is to provide space where guests feel comfortable enough to keep coming back, long beyond the sad day of the funeral, through the grief, and on into the joy of remembrance.
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