Tell me about Pullman, please

[MommaLura]

My husband is interviewing for a job in Pullman and I was wondering about the area. We are looking for land, organic food, traditional foods, homeschooling atmosphere, whatever you think is important ;) I saw that its a college town, but we're in a college town now. In our case now its easy to find an area away from the college life, but it sounds like our city now is much bigger than Pullman. What can you tell me? Thanks =)

Oh, and yes I'm from Florida and snow sounds scary

[Turquesa]

Oooo!  My DH too!!  I'll bet it's the same company....

I'm in Idaho, and the buzz around here is that Pullman is less "crunchy" than Moscow, ID which is 8 miles away. 

I know from living in ID that this is an extremely homeschooling-friendly state.  From what I'm seeing online, there seem to be more education choices in Moscow...something to keep in mind in the off-chance that you can no longer home school.  It looks like in Pullman, you'd better home school or approve of your public school.

Washington property taxes are astronomically higher because they don't have a state income tax.  Also, if you don't vaccinate or if you do an alternative schedule, Washington just passed a law requiring your doctor's signed permission for an exemption.    Nothing that absurd has happened in Idaho......yet.  And it's probably moot to you if you homeschool.

Moscow and Pullman are both smaller college towns.

If DH gets the job and we decide to move, I'll definitely consider Moscow first...although I hear the commute to Pullman can be a little treacherous in the winter. 

Now that I totally sound like I know what I'm talking about.....I haven't been to either city yet.    So I really hope you get some more responses!

[Calycanth]

I grew up in Eastern Washington and went to college in Pullman.  It's a small town (about 6,000 people if you don't count the students; the Census does) in a rural agricultural area known for wheat and legumes.  I imagine you'll be able to find land in the area if you want it.  Pullman is in the Palouse, which is a beautiful region known for its big, rolling hills.  Since I was a decidedly non-crunchy student when I was there, I can't really speak to your other questions, but I think it would be a nice place to raise a family.

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by MommaLura 

My husband is interviewing for a job in Pullman and I was wondering about the area. We are looking for land, organic food, traditional foods, homeschooling atmosphere, whatever you think is important ;) I saw that its a college town, but we're in a college town now. In our case now its easy to find an area away from the college life, but it sounds like our city now is much bigger than Pullman. What can you tell me? Thanks =)

Oh, and yes I'm from Florida and snow sounds scary

Land may be pricey, depending on what you're looking for and what your budget is.  Check the MLS and craigslist in the area.  I haven't rented anything down there for over a decade, and my mom hasn't had a mortgage in decades, so I'm a little out of touch on that one.  It really has been built up in the last 4-5 years though, holy moly.

Homeschooling, not sure what's available there.  I grew up in the public school system there.  I'm now homeschooling, if that gives you an idea.  There's three elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, and the yearly graduating class seems to waver between 120-175ish (mine was 143) if that gives you an idea of the year-round population. 
 

Organic food... not sure if there's a section at Walmart, but there might be.  Your grocery choices are going to be Winco, Walmart, the Moscow Food Co-op (it's like an expensive, cute Trader Joe's), and Saturday Moscow Farmer's Market.  MaryJane's Farm is outside of Moscow, she has a few options there as well.

There are college kids everywhere.  You're not really going to be able to escape them super easily.  Maybe if you live in certain areas, but there's plenty that stay there during the summer working or taking summer classes.  I was one of them.  ;)  Greek Row may slow down a little, but still.  I have a friend renting in Albion - it's a smaller rural little community outside of Pullman and it's less expensive than in town.  That might be an option to look into.  Some folks live in Uniontown or Colton and commute in, but those highways can also be interesting in the winter.  My mom worked with people who lived in Lewiston or Clarkston who commuted up to Pullman every. single. day. for work.  And once you see the Lewiston grade, you'll know why we shook our heads at them.

Originally Posted by Turquesa 

Oooo!  My DH too!!  I'll bet it's the same company....

I'm in Idaho, and the buzz around here is that Pullman is less "crunchy" than Moscow, ID which is 8 miles away. 

I know from living in ID that this is an extremely homeschooling-friendly state.  From what I'm seeing online, there seem to be more education choices in Moscow...something to keep in mind in the off-chance that you can no longer home school.  It looks like in Pullman, you'd better home school or approve of your public school.

Washington property taxes are astronomically higher because they don't have a state income tax.  Also, if you don't vaccinate or if you do an alternative schedule, Washington just passed a law requiring your doctor's signed permission for an exemption.    Nothing that absurd has happened in Idaho......yet.  And it's probably moot to you if you homeschool.

Moscow and Pullman are both smaller college towns.

If DH gets the job and we decide to move, I'll definitely consider Moscow first...although I hear the commute to Pullman can be a little treacherous in the winter. 

Now that I totally sound like I know what I'm talking about.....I haven't been to either city yet.    So I really hope you get some more responses!

Yup, Moscow's more hippie friendly than Pullman.  Growing up, you knew you could use the crosswalks in Moscow and more often than not make it.  In Pullman... it's not as, ahem, civilized.  If that makes sense.  There's bike paths in Moscow.  They have the farmer's market and food co-op.  ID homeschooling laws are a piece of cake, you just do your own thing and you report to no gov't entity.  WA has some oversight, but not as bad as some other states.  Definitely workable from what I've heard.

WA does have higher property tax - my mom has a lot half the size as me, and pays four times as much in property tax.  Here in ID we have income tax, but if you're under like $100K and have a kid or four, it's not really a biggie.  Whitman County has higher sales tax than Latah County.

The commute between the towns in the snow....  I did it for years.  Years.  At one point I lived in Moscow going to UI [and WSU in the summer] and had a job in Pullman (and another few in Moscow) and later I lived in Pullman and had two jobs in Moscow along with college and one job in Pullman.  You just plan for 15-20 minutes for the commute and call it good.  They widened the highway which I hear helps quite a bit.  If you're smart about it, you'll get the hang of driving in the snow.  It's really not that big a deal, although my first driving lesson was in snow, so I may not be the best person to ask.  I only had to put chains on my car for 3 weeks in 1997 to get up Larry St. to the high school and up to Shopko.  The rest of the years I was fine by just slowing down according to conditions.  Even the night there were three accidents in the snow - one on each road (the old Moscow-Pullman highway, the current one, and the airport road - that was a long night of being stuck in traffic since everything was barely two-lane at the time).  Honestly, the highway between Pullman and Colfax is the scary one - it ices up like there's no tomorrow during the winter, much more so than the Moscow-Pullman highway.
 

If you've got any more questions, just holler.

[SomethingAnonymous]

Hi,

I live in Pullman, but spend a lot of time in Moscow too.  There are more choices than just Walmart, winco, the co-op for organic food.  There's safeway and dissmore's in pullman.  I mostly shop at the co-op and the farmers markets, and do a CSA.  There are 2 CSAs here, and 3 farmers markets. I honestly havent seen any organic food at the walmart.. and I wouldn't want to support them anyway. They are really hurting the local economy. 

I don't think avoiding college kids is an issue.. it's really not as bad you guys are making it sound!  I live right by greek row in pullman, and seriously.. the college kids are not an issue!

Everyone is reluctant to move here, but after awhile they don't want to leave! You will love it here! :)  Both towns have a lot to offer as far as natural living and attachment parenting. 

And really the snow isn't so scary! They plow the roads a lot and its rare when its so blizzard-y that it's a true problem.  Maybe like once a winter.  It's kinda fun really, lol. As long as you have food in the house during the winter, you'll be fine :)  And a decent car for the snow is nice to have.

There are attachment parenting groups here, several of them.  There are several great options for doctors.  Dr. Jaime Bowman is fine with us not vaxing, there is also Dr. Kharbat - both are in pullman. 

The co-op just did a class on how to make sally fallon's kimchi.  Lots of people are into eating traditional foods here.  While a lot of people are associated with the 2 universities here, there are also a lot of families with kids here.

What else would you like to know?

[SwanMom]

Just want to say that I would love to live in Pullman, and there are many people who live there who are not connected to the universities.  The Palouse is beautiful, the schools are good, and it's a wonderful place to raise a family.  (I lived there 3 years in grad school, also did my student teaching in the schools there).

[MommaLura]

Thank you!

Well, he has an interview up there next week!!! Turquesa- have you heard anything?

I think we'll look at Moscow Id and Pullman for places to live. Is there an area to avoid when looking? Dh wants me to look for a temporary apartment, any recommendations?

[SomethingAnonymous]

Hi, I was just looking at this list of local food/farm options and thought you guys might like to see it-

http://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?m&lat=46.765515&lon=-117.191900&scale=10&ty=-1&zip=99163&p=1

It also made me realize, that the co-op has completely relocated to another building sometime in the last couple years. So for some of you who were talking about living here a long time ago, it might have been much smaller then! It's really awesome right now, you can get everything you need there and the food is cheaper there for a lot of things than at winco!  I can get grass fed beef for $2.49 a lb there, and you can't beat that price anywhere in either town for ANY ground beef. It's also by far the cheapest place for organic produce, with the exception of the farmer's markets or the CSA's.