Urban Waldorf

[seawitch]

So.. has anyone done it?

Knock on wood (we haven't gotten the approval yet but probably should be getting approved for the apartment) we will be moving into a very urban apartment within the next week or so.  It's a great apartment, but very modern and in the middle of a big city.  Yes, there's a lot of greenery here (Seattle), and farmer's markets, and opportunities for excursions - but has anyone actually on this forum actually maintained a Waldorf lifestyle on the 6th floor of a huge apartment building?

I'm thinking it might actually be a beneficial transition.  There's a lot more opportunity for walking instead of sitting in the house or car all day, for outings to various parks and festivals, farmer's markets, and I imagine like-minded people to get to know.  Hey, there's more people here so more chance that people will think like us, right?  Unfortunately I can't afford any Waldorf schools or anything; we'll be homeschooling.  And I think it's all the more vital to bring the turn of the seasons into our home, especially seeing that we don't even have a balcony to step out to.

Sorry if that's a random collection of thoughts.  Basically I just wanted to know if anyone had a Waldorfy lifestyle in the city.  <3

[honeybunmom]

We were in a 3rd floor walk up when our daughter started Waldorf Early Childhood.  We're still in the city, but in a house now and hoping to get our backyard in order this spring.  Before that, though, we were lucky to have a play lot behind our building, lots of parks in the neighborhood, lots of greenery, trees and flowers.  We had to drive for wooded areas.  And I found out about the community gardening area the summer before we moved!  Definitely doable. I'm sure there are children in our current school in this situation.  In fact, my daughter mentioned just this week that one of her classmates has a pool on his roof.  Obviously lives in a high rise!

[mommariffic]

We live right outside New York City in a fairly urban place, and this is on my mind all the time! 

We are homeschoolers, and take a Waldorf inspired preschool class once a week which is about a 20 minute drive away. We do have a yard here (decent sized for where we live) and this year I plan on making a children's garden area, and growing most of our own veggies/herbs. We also have a peach tree which is great! I do miss being amongst nature (and eventually want to move back) but I do try to keep a rhythm and spend as much time outdoors as possible..we have some great farmers markets here! And like minded people! So it's not impossible : ) 

[MammaG]

We are in a city, too. We live in a two-family house with a tiny, tiny yard...mostly paved for parking. I made three 5' sq raised beds for veggie gardening last year and went to all the supermarket bakeries collecting those huge 5-gallon buckets that the 'frosting' comes in...we grew tomatoes, peppers and eggplant in those which we placed along the driveway, but a tiny balcony would do just as well. We have a crabapple tree and an itty-bitty piece of earth that we turned into a fairy garden.

We can walk to everything downtown which is great. We have a favourite coffee shop where they know just how my kids like their hot cocoa and which has a bookshelf full of stories to read on a snowy day. There are museums and a huge library. Ours is an old textile mill town and there are so many opportunities to learn about spinning and weaving (real looms to use!) and carding and dyeing right here....perfect Waldorf activities! In the Summer there is a trolley to ride. And a children's concert series of mostly folk music. There are festivals all year round to explore. There's a farmer's market. We even have an urban beach on the river just up the road.

We have a super cemetery in town which was designed as a garden cemetery and is full of wonderful trees (labeled with species info), flowers, wildlife and local history. We do our morning walk there and bring sketchbooks and science journals. There are also urban parks nearby, plus plenty of bigger reserves within easy striking distance...Audubon and DCR and State parks.

We can be out in the countryside in just a few minutes by car. We go to a local beekeeper for honey and a local dairy for milk. One of our Waldorf Coop families homesteads raising goats, chickens and rabbits and is only 40 minutes away.

We're in kind of a rough neighborhood, but I must say that we have made connections with our neighbours because of our habit of celebrating yearly festivals with exuberant decorations....we get a lot of compliments which have lead to other interactions. One neighbour has peach trees and invited us to help ourselves; we gave him jars of homemade jam in return.

I like being an urban Waldorf homeschooling family. All the nature stories and songs and verses remind us to look beyond the cement every day. I don't think you need to be rural or even suburban to get everything you need for a Waldorf lifestyle. Enjoy the city! Sounds wonderful.

[carmel23]

Originally Posted by MagnoliaDragon 

So.. has anyone done it?

Knock on wood (we haven't gotten the approval yet but probably should be getting approved for the apartment) we will be moving into a very urban apartment within the next week or so.  It's a great apartment, but very modern and in the middle of a big city.  Yes, there's a lot of greenery here (Seattle), and farmer's markets, and opportunities for excursions - but has anyone actually on this forum actually maintained a Waldorf lifestyle on the 6th floor of a huge apartment building?

I'm thinking it might actually be a beneficial transition.  There's a lot more opportunity for walking instead of sitting in the house or car all day, for outings to various parks and festivals, farmer's markets, and I imagine like-minded people to get to know.  Hey, there's more people here so more chance that people will think like us, right?  Unfortunately I can't afford any Waldorf schools or anything; we'll be homeschooling.  And I think it's all the more vital to bring the turn of the seasons into our home, especially seeing that we don't even have a balcony to step out to.

Sorry if that's a random collection of thoughts.  Basically I just wanted to know if anyone had a Waldorfy lifestyle in the city.  <3

just the term 'urban waldorf' makes me think of portland. every other preschool is waldorf, as popular as play based it seems!  so many shops, etc.  And urbanism is def part of pdx.  we even have a waldorf charter school and there are motions to form a charter waldorf public high school...

edit to add look up community gardens, they are great to have your own little patch and a community to garden with.