ro h er and for other 20or 30yards, uthe ro with t creek rning into it- so a this thugh he . in 1998,y grdfather ed, and s moved the experience. d i wento the neral ho that summer and hung out on the evening of a thunderst orm because the embalmer had called and s aid, if you're considering potentia lly being a funeral director, you sh ould come join me when i embalm someone to make sure that you can handle it. i met him and we went into the basement of the funeral ho me. i watched this gentleman be embal med. and the electrical storm killed all the power halfway thro ugh. and all you could hear was water running down the porcelain table while this man's blood was being drai ned. that was my first experience with some one ing embaed or being close to dead pe on. anright afr th, i gan workg part time athe funer h ome. d that fl, it wa1998 i went into mortuary col lege inashvilletennesseat a llege caed joha. gup n and ded up worng at stockdalmalin inam den, tookare of fily mbers, fen ds neighbor old e, tragide ath. yoname i i ved abovthe funel homefter graat ion. moved innd creat my o environ nt. i evenemember ving iends o lost cld ren d they, ter havi a vitation a seeing the dyand beg downstrs wi the public, i rember thecoming uto mypartmento just b athe and t it all go.i was attockdalealin foa few ars. and the company that owned the funeral home asked me ttransfer to din, tenneee, wh h waa small to betweencamden a nashville. and i wathe primy personthat did a of the balm in and ok care all ofhe bod s anwent outn all of the fer als. ain, t company at i word for d a posion for aeed foa funeradire ct d embalm in nashlle. d i ded uptakinghat posi on. d i rked in shvillefor abouseven years, probly, befo takingmy leap of f th. i've beeable to rk algside hifor ny years i ickly proted himonto o leadersp te am he reallhad buil a stng reput ion of being a great embal mer. and then when he started seeing families and ma kingarrangents, th respt grew en more fohow wellound he is that, noonly is talen d in helpi with thcare ofthe lod one thselv es li the embming d prepat ion, but so with beg ab to see mili es toelp themhrough their jo ney.and noeverybodthat's iour pression iable to b oth and do themell,nd he .when hserves afamilyhe does not look at it as setting service times, writing an obitua ry hang a famy select a seice and rchand e. takes ifar beyo t hat. and th's one othe thin that've alwa respe edand mired abou him. heooks forhe thingthat an somethingo the mi ly. it'she smallhings that make the biggest impact d it mea the ost. ere was a rvice that he d had for young gi that hapassed ay and s loved pnces seanhe gave r a prcess fun al. it w just sothing that wod take yr breath a way. when someone would come in to the visitati on literally, she was like a sleeping princ ess. he took so much time in setting everything up. and that's the service that i can say that i will al ways remember and i associate john christian with beca use of what he gave to the parents that have had such a tragic loss of a ch ild. everybody's life you leave a lega cy. and john christian has always looked for what their legacy is and what would help their family remember that leg acy but also have that healthy jour ney that it takes to be able to put one foot in front of the o therafter sing someone close to y ou. [sber mu c] - i me, the marityf thgood stu that i' seenis alonghis way,here weame thatay w hethe por lines t thro h.it's reay good rht throh here a right p in he and th around is way d then kind of uin h er anthen up here,t's really uhigh andid gy. d you rember up here, it's higand ridg too. but thers possibities r burialhere t . meow restotion isthe fun rt, and ople li flowersnd stu . sohe oppornity to able thave opeme adow bual with ldflows gring thatn the siat io wherwe wld do a rn off or we wod do a ctrol d burnr bring gos to eat ff--- the ats are etty f . - --thbad stufevery ye thers a lot naturalur ial ounds th are doi t hat. anfrom wt i'veundetood, ey get lot of gd presabout .- ye . - ey're li, oh, t's takethe ki to the ats and fun stf like that, butny way. bl-eyed ma grows l along at wat way, l the way downn frt of ourrope rt- that c ool.- i notid that wn weere therthat d . i'm justmazed th this maybe the oy entrance to taylor ll ow. i think is. iteally isrotect .- ye ah. - aryou apprensi abouanythinggoing in this et ing?no?- pe. - what areou filmi? - i don'kn ow. me, i guess. 're workg on aocumenta over thr-year proc es - re ly? ye ah. - inrest in sw eeye ahhave a gd one. anks. - we're king a-- - i ld have said p n. porn you shod see wh's gog on in e back seat. - [lau s] - i think ally theain rpose ofoday's m ting is just talk out this a ltle re. we actuay thoughthat keepingur 25 acs down tords the ad, thatt's going to aually gi you gu easier cess rticular up in aoss he . - ye ah - ye ah - wel work iout once insteaof goingack like hat- yeahit goes re that way. - mm mm. - d i woullikeo take this to ddy's la er. really wt youall to he it. thisas goty father'sname wrien all or it. - ye ah he didn't rant ahole lo but if u had erheard hion the feral instry a all tt busi ss he-- - , that'sweso me - , you ner to us that art.- we, he wasrom bertsoco untyand saw people fm the me he waa small ild be basally pred on by peoplewho d that st of thing. and it jt ways t all ov h im.and heould alws refer cemeries as ull orchards. he wld say wt a wast of gooreal estate. - ll, he snds like man afr my ownea rt. - well, ah. solute . - that would bgr eat. i would ve t ha - yes. - all ght. [cghs] i don't ow if weeed do a bipublic cpaign. don't ow.- tell mwhat youe thinking. - i t know wt i'mthinkingxcept wee not gointo get idone theay wee thinki about dng it rit now. doou think'm wronabout that?- we've got abousix or eight pele who a wai ti fous to say... - 's on. - ...it'a go.so they' been thking about eir plans. - ok. i didn't now.- anwho elseo get inlv ed- . - anso i thi out that grp of s so, i cld get ove$50, 00 maybe-- - so whaconcernse is tha we'reither gng to t around5 to 9 and th that' - maxed t. - anthen may you build-- i an, maybwe just ve twphases ofundraising. n't kn . t i'm ju worriedha t-- on one hd, it don't soun like big nber toai se. but the oth hand, it a big nber to r se. - enusiasm inot dollars. - ght. - ri t.- and 's only ter we make thesk for tse f ol that we art tting a nse of where 're gointo be. - anhow hardt's goin to bor how dble it s. t we don know ti we tr [interpong voice- by sing this15acres of and d purchasingt outright the endf janu y, we wl havehe opptunity to creata shift the eath culturwithin o communit help ople with less exnsive mode of rial t also aore ndful mo of bu al ansaying gdbye the endf li fe. i'so glad u all arhe re. want y to stayand ch wit h about at natur burialis, abouwhat it ans, abt exacy what wre goingto be dog, and a the little idioncrasi . wel start at conveat io - w many people can yobury on is l an - on this particar prerty, 5,000 to 10, 000. the idea is we're creating a nature pre rve. so t whole tng won'tbe usefor burials. iton't be de-to-si rowsf peopleith stones. iton't loo anytng like at. it'lbe like dnor lak whenou're waing al g.there y be an re herethat's ud for bu al an ae here ud for ri al. thidea is,lso, ourprimargoal is save land.we're ving lan placingt unr a consvation eem ent wi the nate conserncy of tne ssee ornother le-mindedconsvation e ity. d we wilcreate me of ese aftethe firs one. afr we have e funds purcse this rst tr t, we wl be ablto use the fundgenera dfrom eacburial this pr ertyto savmore tras of lan arou the cit reinforcingthe treeanopy, e green ace, e plac where kidcan go just to in uttenatu re - u can al hike al throh taylorol low whh haa lot ofendanged wildfwe rs. ani mean, 's reall a betiful di lay.and thenight jacent tthat, which is part of the rson we'r intested in is property, is that u can ju walk fr one ght overo the other d aroundmake it big op. it's pr ty. until weave thisand, 're turng people away at are rching outo us athe end l ife,saying, mom jusdi ed. anthis is at she w ted. anwe have say, i'so rry. the's noa place ke this in nnessee yet. [slow cello music] i can't just stop thinking about it. i'm constantly thinking about it. i have no lack of faith in what i'm ing or the ft that inow i ca do iand dot wellnd h pthespeop le it's justhe minutiae of how tmake s seof a keep yo sanit whilwaiting dea th w, if i d somebo ke anoth per so thatould wor about one dwhile i dn't wor about it, it wld be dier ent. i'd be like,k, we, toda i'm o .i can lax a lile bit more. i n't ha to be cpletelyconsum with th tod ay [slocello music] i can'just sto thinng aboutt. i'm consntly inking about i id-tem ambientus ic] ♪ - 2012, itarted really gting to aoint in professional car r ere i startedoing so soulearchingnd envis ning nce i wa20 yrs old, i'd oy ever w ked at t funeral ome. ani'd onlyver give all ofy energyo th is and working fo at thatime, a corporation or company t hatwas owned by people that i didn't really know that well but d goals their own. i lt like played an imptant r e inhe funer home, localland helpg peop . t when y work a funer h ome and u work in a cemery, yousee peop's liv refle ed everday inverythinyou do and i di't want see mylife rlected ithe wa th i saw iwhen i really lked at it. wanted tdo sometng big r. not big disney rldbig, b big in way at it afcted peoe, in th way it touchedeople's ar ts the way it changed people's experie nces while they were al ive. right before thanksgiving and christmas, i took a train. i took the train around the count ry. i wanted to ablutely t myselfut of my oxpushyself bend myormal li ts. i nt from mphis tohicago made mwathrough nneapo lis and ross theorthernstateso seattl then wn toan francisco ultimately tlos angeles. so iould sitown for lunch the tra, in therain c and i woulalways b sittg acrossrom somebody that i dn't kn . they wld alwayask, ll, what are you doing onhe tra ?where e you head ? d my resnse was,well, i st quit joband amrying too so soul sech ing and determinwhat's othe her sidef this train avel andhis triphat i'mon whe i'm tryg, rea y, toeet folklike y and fin out wh's impornt to ufor end l ife.becausi've onl everalked toeo plewho we in the thro of ath and had had a loved one that had just di ed. i was trying to find out who i was but also who they areand wh's impornt tohem and o it iand at's iortant t it. beg in l ife. whats this b thing tt wee all paicipating in and we'rjust allalkingaloncomplant w it orre we? hon we actlly partipate this bi wild thg ca ll livend make positiveimpact othe wo dand oucommunities? if i stayed the funal me and s in the room d sold ckets outf a bo and thiand th innd out ery dayi mighnot ha --i meani wouldn be wre i am now. nterpong voices] - carter's not en seen e final inted copy.- aw, love the fonalre y. - we p our hds togetr and createa poteial ma of wt it cou be li . ain, youo throug and u see oute am. d then othe ck, our lunteer d donatenformation.i meanwhen yououch it,you're just ke, wh . thiss ni ce the peoplere for real.- do y want toave ese odd mb ers, oro you wa to rounth em? - well, at we liked wathe idof peoe thinng intermof buyinthis a e. mm-h mm - so it st reallsort ofeinforcethe fa thathey're helping buy t s.it'sust nocash they canctua ll think out it iterms -- - so thas $1,800to buyn ac re - --we kw we'd ve one p son.1,800 r it. ye ah we had 10-acresociy, w d probly have re movement. t it's kd of a all society.- well s d. - friend,appyshe rks for mv anshe's passnate out our oj ect. and she s actual alreadspoken tpeop le e's li, let meknowhen yo re ady for is to be news storbecause want to ke it one. d we wanto be ab to tellthe storfirst onews channe 4,orking 4 ou. 've got 1 on ournewsleer lis - o ur-- em ail. - --ail li .- and th're all ing to get--- theyill all ceive -- to da - when we hit. - st ask tm to pos on theifacebo s?- mm-h . - pe ect.- thiss the eml blt that wl go out. - aw ome. press rease, vid, donate and alof our sial me a. - rkspur cservatioin suer counttennesseis a beautil park-like tting with hiking trlsnd pic c areaand, soo occasial buriapl ots. it's pt of a n partnerip with theature coerva nc offeringamilies greer and chper wa to l to restheir lov onesn protecd la nd it will a placehere e land will bereserv but the dies will go bk to d t. for r ne ws i'm y eskindn nashville. - imine beinburied i yourrandmother's qltinsteaof in a sk et. its a conct a lol nonprofit is bnging toennesseefor the rst ti . - 's callea tural bual gro d. thgoal is to eserve gen spa s. devepment coin ues. natural rials, bthe y, are ao chea r. e typicafuneracan st morthan $15 00.the erage naral rial cos about $ 000. - johnhristianhifer the exetive dir tor of lkspur coervaon and s wo rk as funeralirector tennese for abt 15 years. now,e wants consve this landand tu it intohe state's rst greeburial gund, w t he cls a livg memorial. we don'tse any chemics, we don't use any astics oconcretes. weon't puthose ings intthe ea h,especial in a nare prerve li we're cating soha t it doest hamperhe ecosy em. - ifer is ping have e site p anrunninby spng of ne y ear. r news cnnel 5i'm krten sk ira. [gene piano sic] ♪ - i'm taking notes. [song on the rad io] (song) ♪ and i promise i'm not playing. ♪ - i kind of have a measurement for th is. but toda i'm notgoing o mu ch (song) ♪ bak it do. [bangi ng [countryong on t radio] (song) ♪ lovyou, bab lo you, rlin '. [rattlg][tappi ] ♪ [rtl ing][tappi ] ♪ - he j ohn? - yeah? - ste of tse and see if ty're d e, finishedif they' s oft. pl se. - mm-hmm th're perf t. ok. let me s. can i se it? - i thinits moth had en hit ba car. and r cousinhad hors and a rm down the san riv erand th'd nursethis ttle fawand keptt al iv untithey cou release it. - it w kind oflike aet for them. th fed iit wasust a t. - mm-hmm. well, had jusgotteneally mfortablwith evebo dy. ars ago, was obably 1or 11, buwe were wn aty grandmhe r's atarmon's eek. thatay, on t well hoe whe we had big bucket that wlowed do and pul d up aneverybodwould take aadle a dri therwas a lile bl parakee that halanded othe wellou se. anhe becamone of mfirst pets thawas not dog. saved a w his feathersrom his ca ge. i gus is is what prervat iowas, dt tape a saran wrap. i rember takg care ohim. and i'd ready starte thismall lite ceme ry wheri would into the kitcn dr aw ani'd grab f ork.and i ulrun out the ge of thwo ods. and had thisafe, cret little ace. and i wod dig ahole wh the rk d i woulbury lite grasoppers a thi ng t thisime, myparakeet bly d ie d i used school x focrayons d pencils justike thisne, justexactly ke this one. an- [sniffg] i lov the ell tha t- ani lined e box wi tissue d my mhad arrangent oflow s. and theyere fakelowe rsand i gus i thout that wld lastnd that s the idea. but grabbed flower and i ma a littlpi llow d i put the flow in trend t he i la billy in on hisback, the pillow, like y do witheo ple. bui'm a lile k idthis is ke what think 's supsed to e. and i ose up t crayon bo and i te duct tape d i justuct tapearound t box bec se-- don't kn where i seen oheard ofhat or what e idea oburial a presvation mnt or why-- thought that wasomethingthat h to happen. or iit was le yore locki away areasure at you want to rember d to beab to remeer i yohave thave itintactomewhe .when wt i should have donis w hai did th all those grshop pe d just wpped himin leas and t its dy go back to the eartinst eaof putng it in plasc box wr ped duct ta in the ou nd. but it's funny thethingse do aki dsand it'sunny thehings that ledo where am tod . still lovehe smelof crayons. [sff ing] smel it the bes [mic: ke violaking konha nd"] there'a satellite sh bolteon the hse ♪♪ ne door. ♪ ♪ it'sot even oked up, the rd's jusdangling. ♪ ♪ u've seethisefore. ♪♪ althat infmation i ju can't hd on to . ♪ ♪my mind not a se, myind's a nduit. ♪ ♪ all elecic wav surrou all ling ings . ♪ me call a halo or aaura . it's jt the feing when i'minging. ♪ ♪how am io know wn erythings right, ♪ ♪ when'm barreng rough is world ruing everred ligh ♪♪ anhow am io know wn u say ishat you an , ♪ ♪ wh i'm barling througthis wor oforest evgreen? ♪♪ ba, baby, by don't gi up on u ♪ ♪ t's growld togetr. ♪ ♪♪ i' got a pnt its leav all-- ♪ - pivotamoments life, hodo you gthrough fe and real invest urself in everyit of thmo ment th you're rrentlyin, you ow whai me ? - mm mm.- so i thinkinto mysel i shld be haier than am. or i shoulbe like* *** mys f. orecause ie workedso lonon t hi i don'know, ju try celebrate.but, yeah. it been a ng time mi ng. fourears n ? re than ur y rs?and th-- l's seehow ma years h e i been invted in feral w k? sie '98?and th, long be thatas a k buryingnyth in that iould fd in the yd, inhe woodson the farm, u kn ow? wrping grahoppers leaves,digging aves witfo rks. - it's a g day. yeah, 's a b d ay. 's like en you putit in at perspti ve it's a huge y. [music mikeiola - "ng kong nd"] ♪ (sinng) naudib ] [gsses claing] to larpur. to onw d. i was inki about rht inere being the spot nce it's littlebit rther ay fromhe roo of the ees. d you sehow thattop, t canopy,s?that's gerally as far o as wh e e roots e going go. [leaves crching] [coughs] runchi] - at may ba rootight tre.- there'a stump ere. - ah, mayba rot knowhere is placeould bbuthis pla came to us. and e communy ralld arou us in sup rt anhelped us purcha th 112 acres. d this fst simplact of rial, threturn tea rth, the rern to ture, thereturn tgod and ur ce. this wilbe the fst of what believe many mdful, betiful,endis, but begni ng i feel le there'a grt numberf humanshat e evolvi during is t im ey're beming more andmore csideratenot only of hothey tre each otr, buhow th treat t pla ne and w they'rgoing leave it for fure geneti ons. i thk consertion burl plays a ge role t hat.i thinplaces like larkur wi continuto g ro itill nobecome t only wa there ll alway be otherptio ns therwill alws be emation,here wl al wa be traditional vaulted embalmed bur ial. but i think more and more people will choose conservation and natural burial as an opt ion at the end of their lives, especially in the ye ars to c ome. the most obvious challenge, and i come back to it every ti me at's theardesthi ng? wh's the bgest challen gegeneraeducat n. ucatioof th