Crunchiest places to live in the US? IS your city crunchy?
I am wondering..we may move back to the States. *sniff* Wondering where the crunchiest places to live are? Prefer West of the Mississippi
Is your city Crunchy? Clean? Well adjusted-lol!? Does it have Mountains? Hills?
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"If you only believe what you see, then you are limited to what's on the surface. If you only believe what you see, then why do you pay your electric bill?" Dr. Wayne Dyer
Bummer! I would be totally bummed if I had to leave NZ Oregon is pretty crunchy(see the other post about the country fair,lol). Around Corvallis and Eugene there are a ton of crunchy people, and there are mountains/hills.
When is your expected move?
__________________ Becca, mama to Nate 12yo, Mary 7yo.
Well, it's to the East, but the Ithaca, NY area is just *beautiful* with rolling hills, gorges, lots of green! The city and surrounding area is pretty crunchy as well.
That's probably where we'll end up in the future.
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How Time Flies ~ Luna Blue is Two!
Tree hugging, vegetarian, breastfeeding, cloth-diapering, home schooling, drum playing Step-Mama to my sweet Nico Sage and Mama to my curly Kaya Jade and wee Luna Blue. Lovin my hottie ~ J. Blogging From the Boonies My Etsy Shop
Beautiful mountains, great weather, more alternative practitioners than allopathic physicians, 6 homebirth midwives in the phone book (used to be more listed), lots of bike and walking trails, great public transportation. Head office of Wild Oats, has a vegetarian/organic Co-op, Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottage and currently two Wild Oats stores (a new one being built) and a great farmer's market. I believe over 50% of the population has a university degree. Everyone looks very fit and healthy (for the most part), its where many Olympic athletes train. No bible bashing, home to the Naropa Institute (Buddist University). 40 percent of the children are not vaxed or "undervaxed", so if you don't vax, it is doubtful it would be a issue, also, CO has a philosophical exemption. You will see plenty of BF and slinging mamas around town. Plenty of alternative schools, and even a Waldorf inspired public school (which my youngest two attend).
Sounds too good to be true?! The downside is the cost of living is very high. It is somewhat more reasonable in the towns surrounding Boulder - Longmont, Louisville and Layfayette.
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Deborah
Mama to: Ginny 18, Sasha 11, and Toby 8
Separated at birth? Toby and his soccer coach, CO Rapids goalie, Justin Hughes.
Wonderful Farmer's Market
Health food stores
Incredible diversity
Doulas & Midwives
Actual B&M stores with organic clothes & a variety of diapers & wooden toys & soft soled shoes
Huge city library
Parks everywhere
lots of slingin' & public breastfeeding
Yeah, it's flat, but it's one of my favorite places we've lived!!!
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Angela; fiber obsessed, bellydancing, birth obsessed army wife & sahm to Katia & Luka
I love most West Coast cities. But I also love where I live. I live in downtown Manhattan. NYC is super crunchy. I have no car, I use public transportation. I walk everywhere. I have no A/C, but the air this high is cool enough.
I can buy local veggies at farmer's markets all over the city. Lots of locally made clothing. ALL small businesses. I can shop only at locally owned or mom and pop stores. NO WAL MART! Many street fairs. Tons of babywearers, BFers, CDers.
Smaller spaces are more conducive to less crap collecting, getting by with less. No McMansions (though there are some overly large apartments). Community gardens everywhere.
The recycling program is awesome and well organized. There are cloth diaper services. I washed my own, but I have friends who love the service.
eta: There are many more benefits. Tons of culture. Free events like music at Lincoln Center, concerts in the park, Cuban musicians playing impromptu shows at the park, tons if parks and green spaces. The library (www.nypl.org) is awesome. I love it and the resources offered. There are several zoos, science centers, tons of museums, incredible diversity. Everything I could ever want
If you've got money Madison WI is ok. So are Veroqua & Mt. Horeb both also in WI.
I'm preferable to Beloi though. It's not everyone's definition of "crunchy" and doesn't have a reputation of being so, but I find it very open minded, a very ethnically diverse population, small libral arts college, strong artistic community with an arts incubator, music festivals and free music weekly and an indie film festival, full of family friendly activities, inexpensive to live, good public transportation, close to organic, biodynamic farms, & weekly farmers market. We've got a nature center, bike paths, the river front and a good parks system. It's amazingly clean. Sure not all the houses are magazine quality but I've only seen 1 spot of grafiti and it was gone less then 3 hours later! We have some hills and are very close to Kettle Morain & rock cut state parks if you need more.
Chole
__________________ 18th century Mama to a exciting 8yr old, SO to a graphic novel guy
Location: On my way to a Ziggy Marley show with the family
Posts: 177
Crunchy
At first i didn't think that Honolulu Hawaii would be crunchy, but boy was i wrong. they are all sorts of crunchy things going on except the homebirth scene!! i know that midwifes are here but are totally underground. I know of a women on the Big Island that was a midwife in Eugene, OR and is praticing there. But other wise it is really coming to!!
Location: firmly planted in the postmodern pastoral economy
Posts: 13,008
We fell in love with Vermont...Montpelier to be exact. Tiny capital city, no McDonald's, no sprawl, no big box stores. Lots of room to roam just outside the city. Land and housing still quite cheap compared to Colorado or Washington or Oregon. Still only 5 hrs from NY and 3 hrs from Boston, 3 hrs to Montreal to escape the country when the $hit hits the fan. LOL!
There are some other really cool, crunchy towns in Vermont...Vergennes, Bristol, Burlington if you like bigger city (still tiny compared to most cities). All have co-ops, locally brewed beer, locally roasted coffee, local goat milk and cheese, local free range chicken, eggs, beef - basically we were able to find everything locally, organically raised or made. We saw one small, sedate strip mall the entire time we were in Vermont...and we combed most of the state.
Negatives are housing prices have gone up in the past few years as other New Englanders buy second, third, fourth homes up there, and jobs that pay well aren't easy to find.
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Location: Right where I wanna be- south bay area of sunny CA
Posts: 13,635
Well my city isn't exactly crunchy but I will lie if it would make you live close to me Linda LOL! Santa Cruz is near here and crunchy but way too $$$
All kidding aside.. I am sorry if you have to move! I hope you find the perfect spot!
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KD
newly single mom to three awesome kids
Oregon is pretty crunchy(see the other post about the country fair,lol). Around Corvallis and Eugene there are a ton of crunchy people, and there are mountains/hills. 
Becca, mama to 
Nate 12yo, 
Mary 7yo.
and Sam, 8 
blissfully in love with Cedar born at home on 2/9 weighing 10 lbs. 12 oz. 
LOL! Santa Cruz is near here and crunchy but way too $$$
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