What are the people like in Upstate NY?

[Plarka]

I'm from Ulster County but I've been living in the UK the last 11 years.  I'd like to move back but want to be a bit further from my family for various reasons, so am thinking of Greene County, or up there somewhere?  I want space, privacy, woods, grass, trees, and it would be super nice to have like minded friends, you know, breastfeeding, cloth diaper type people.  I know there are those types near my parents in Ulster County- New Paltz, Woodstock, etc, but how about further up north an hour or 2?

Edited by Plarka - 7/30/12 at 8:42am

[Cynthia Mosher]

Looks like your post was missed. 

Anyone have a recommendation?

[DBassett]

Well, Idk how far north you want to go but in Hoosick Falls, NY (which looks to be about 2 hours northeast-ish from Ulster County) there is at least one woman there that you may enjoy the company of.  She's a postpartum doula, breastfeeding mom (if I'm not mistaken) and she definitely uses cloth.  :)

It's a nice little town but it's in the middle of nowhere.

[coldinaugust]

I live in Utica (which I wouldn't recommend!) but I have friends in Albany who have found a nice, supportive community. When searching for homebirth midwives, Utica and Syracuse come up very short (only 1 legal option, that I know of), but Albany/Troy had quite a few choices.  I'd suggest looking around at smaller communities outside of those cities.  One good thing about Upstate (at least around Utica, and I think it's similar out in Albany) is that you can be "in the country" and still be less than a half an hour drive away from the city limits. 
 

[Laura575]

The Ithaca area is great for cloth diapering/breast feeding crunchy types - 3.5 hrs from New Paltz.

[tiqa]

Rochester is pretty far away from where you're looking, not in upstate NY at all but in WNY.  However, it's a fairly good area so far I've found.  There's an active homebirth community, a lot of doulas and such, a cloth diaper store, lots of farms for locally sourced foods, nice family activities for free or cheap, homeschool groups, Amish communities in the vicinity... it's not perfect by any means (where is?) but it has a lot of potential.  We just moved about six months ago from out of state and I'm still trying to get my footing, but we're getting there.