Orange Co???

[azziesmom]

I may be moving to OC due to my hubbies job offer in Huntington Beach. I can't even fathom this. Currently we live in WA have a very modest but cute house, were my 2 girls play in the yard a ton & go to the Waldorf school. No traffic, very kid centered, safe, tons of parks, hiking, etc. Affordable. Please speak to me about how or if to survive there. I'm freaking a bit. Just found out today the waldorf school is full, not that I could afford it anyway.

[Love my 2]

WE used to live in Los Alamitos. It has a more homey feel than some of orange county. It borders LA county, between Long Beach and Seal Beach. I walked everywhere when I lived there and there was a small Farmer's market on fridays. There were also several consignment shops for women's and childrens clothes.....great deals!

A lot of orange county can be snooty and shallow, and some, kind of ghetto (Buena Park, Stanton and some of Garden Grove).
I really liked Los Alamitos and Rossmoor.
I'm not sure about Waldorf, but ther are some Montessori schools out there.

[ZoeyZoo]

No advice. Just wanted to let you know I understand what you're going through. I have lived in both places and it is night and day different. OC isn't very crunchy.

It's an expensive area but Laguana Beach is more of an artsy community there. Seal Beach is nice too but it may be a little much of a commute.

[Eaglevoice]

I don't envy you, sorry to say. You'll survive your move to OC...but it won't ever be anything like where you live now. I grew up in OC and lived there for 25 years. You'll never run out of things to do. You can find hiking and camping...but you'll have to drive a bit to get there. For your children, the societal pressures to conform and fit in are a bit stronger than you will find in a lot of other areas. And there is a reason why so many people want to live there...The weather is amazing. Huntington Beach has some really nice areas. Any of the beach towns have their own unique, more laid back feel to them. I have lived in several different cities in OC and I would say the closer to the coast, the better IMO. The less distance you have to travel to work, the better as well, because traffic is abso-freakin-lutely horrendous! I used to have a 25 mile commute to college from my parents house and there were days when it took me an hour and a half to get there. The people are a lot less friendly in general, there is competition galore. But, honestly, its a really fun place to live. There is so much to do and experience. And living in HB, you'll be so close to disneyland, you can get anual passes and go anytime you want. The schools are pretty good in most of the nicer areas, athletic programs galore! It's just going to be a little bit of a "culture shock" at first, but you'll get used to the fast pace easily enough.

[Eaglevoice]

I just wanted to add there are two different chapters of Holistic Mom's Network in OC, on in the south and one in the north part of the county. That would be an excellent way to find other crunchy mama's in the area.

Here are some other resources that I have saved on my Comp (we thought about moving back down there since my family is all still living there):

http://attachmentparentingsupport.blogspot.com/

http://www.apioforangecounty.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/APOran...ec=group&slk=1

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SoCalA...ec=group&slk=3

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OCBaby...c=group&slk=10

[mad4mady]

Hello, I live in Costa Mesa and have lived here for many, many years. There is a Waldorf school here, not sure if that was the one you were talking about. I also know that Aliso Viejo has a Charter Waldorf inspired school called Journey School, but if you plan to live in HB that is a little far. There is a public school in HB that has a garden and farm on site called Golden View. I don't know much else about it but that did sound interesting. It is not the "crunchiest" of places but the beaches are great and I have decided you can meet cool people anyplace.

Megan

[megababymomma]

as an OC resident, I feel for you. I have no idea how I managed to develop the ideals I have that allow me to fit in here while living in the OC my whole life (well, a couple brief departures to Long Beach and Santa Barbara) but I did, so hopefully that is uplifting!

It is going to be different. Housing is expensive, space is limited, and cute/unique areas are hard to find. That being said, they are out there! Also, common minded people are out there. I am searching for some right now and found a few on mamasource.com and also on meetup.com.

If you decide this is right for you and your family you'll be able to make the best of it, it will just be different. If you have questions or are craving specifics shoot me an email, I live in HB right now and have lived all over OC so I think I can be pretty helpful. Also, once you get here and need someone to hang out with, I'm game!

[BeingMe]

I feel for you mama. I grew up there and have family that wants me back but my desire is to move out of here. If I could break the ties I would be out of state, but for now I have to settle with the Inland Empire.

[La Limena]

I was born and raised in OC and left for college and residency but came back to settle here because my family is here. I really love where I live in OC, an unincorporated area on almost 1/2 acre. Here the lots are more spacious and the homes a little more varied. I hear coyotes at night and there is a small flock of wild parrots (much smaller than Santa Ana's and Orange's) that roost at dusk. I grow fruit (2 orange trees, lemon, key lime, kumquat, fig, pomegranates, 3 plum trees, a pluot and a baby loquat tree). I also grow veggies sometimes and plan to get some backyard chickens when baby boy gets older. I had ducks when I lived in the area when I was in high school. Not too far away are areas with Old Towns (Tustin, Orange) or Downtown areas (Santa Ana) and some of the residential areas in these towns have gorgeous historic and period homes (Floral Park, French Park). Downtown SA has an artists village and there is a farmer's market there weekly, also in some of the other towns in the area. If you want even larger lots and room for more fruit trees, gardens, livestock, etc, then Orange Park Acres is also a nice place to live as are some of the canyon areas like Silverado. Because these areas are a little more rural feeling you can't really walk to anything and would need to drive to get anything. There is a Whole Foods and Sprouts and Trader Joe's nearby and in my area the public schools are excellent and award winning. There isn't much diversity, however, almost everyone in the area is white. But there is a huge Hispanic community in central OC where you can eat at Mexican, Peruvian, Salvadorean, etc... restaurants. There is also the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam in OC and South County has a large Chinese community. Unfortunately all of the areas I like besides beach towns are far from HB but may be worth the drive to you if you like these kinds of things. I personally highly dislike South OC because of the sameness/cookie cutterness/mc mansion on a tiny lot/designer obsessiveness I perceive but I guess that works for some folks. Countywide, the weather is great.

I don't really have any likeminded friends because I think most AP moms SAH and I work while DH SAH so I just don't fit in well with maintream or crunchier moms, but I still love where I live.

[SusanneH]

Just moved to OC myself- where are crunchy ppl? where's a FM or CSA?

Dear Azziesmom,

I just moved to Irvine on Oct. 10 (well, we're in Irvine for 30 days temp. housing b/f we find a place somewhere) b/c my husband got a job here. While we don't have kids, I'm a doula and from a fairly crunchy-friendly area around Albany, NY, where we walked everywhere and got almost all our food at our amazing farmer's market (grass-fed meat, dairy, produce, bread- everything). There was a strong buy-local movement there, too, and we could get everything pretty much locally.

Needless to say, I'm having a difficult time believing I'm living here. While the weather is nice, all of Irvine is brand new and pretty much run by this one big realty company, so everything is big, boxy and fake. I've lived all over the country (including Chicago and DC) and in several countries, and this is so far the biggest adjustment I've had to make.

From what I've gathered online, the area farmer's markets are more craft stalls than food markets. Does anyone know where a decent FM is? Someone mentioned Santa Ana- what does it have?

It's bizarre to me to be in a non-crunchy part of California, because the stereotype is that it's a crunchy place. I feel like I've been tricked. One consolation is that raw milk is easier to get here than in NY.

My DH and I are trying to find an apartment until we can find a house (my heart breaks at what we can get here for what would buy a mansion with a huge yard in NY) somewhere, but one thing is sure, I DO NOT want to live in Irvine- the stronghold of fake, corporate-made "villages". That's my impression so far, anyway. One sort of good thing is that there are a lot of foreclosures, so there are some cheaper houses available.

So, I'm wondering where the crunchy people and where a good FM or CSA is. I'd love to meet other crunchy, attachment parenting, non-designer people. Please let me know where you are!

I'm also going to check out the links someone posted above.

Thanks! And good luck, Azziesmom. If you move here, let's meet up and go through the culture shock together.

[La Limena]

Susanne-
For "good" farmer's markets, you would just have to go by trial and error. My former fave, Santa Ana's is temporarily (I hope) shut down. My other closest ones happen while I am at work, so I haven't been able to visit them in person. You can check on cafarmersmarkets.com and search in OC and it will give you a list broken down by day of the week and time. I live near 2 streetside farm stands, so during the Summer, if I want what they are selling, (berries, corn, tomatoes) I can stop by and get them. I guess I haven't had much trouble getting fresh produce as I can grow my own and trade with my mom, cousin and aunts who also have crops to share. As far as CSA, there is only one localish one I know of, in San Juan Capistrano (south OC) called South Coast Farms. You can find them at southcoastfarms.com. I peeked and there was a blurb about grass fed beef, but I don't eat beef or much dairy so I didn't check it out. Depending on where you live (zoning) you could get your own eggs if you are partial to having a chicken coop. One house I drive by often has a cow in the back along with sheep and a couple of horses...I don't know these people but maybe they milk their cow, sheep? Depending on your area, you could have your own cow, etc... too if you like.

Whatever you do, don't live in Irvine unless you like masterplanned communities and chain stores. You might like some of the unincorporated areas of OC but you can't really walk anywhere. Also check out Old Towne Orange (oldtowneorange.com)

I like it here but I am also not super crunchy (I am AP, babywearing, BFing, homebirther, wear birkenstock clogs to work daily, BUT I shave my legs, black is my favorite color, and I am partial to Coach bags and shoes so I am more crispy than crunchy).

[BeingMe]

Susanne,
Theres a WAP group in OC, and the head lives in Laguna. She has classes, and a list of local places to get stuff. Her name is Marsha and she is very nice. I agree, don't live in Irvine. I lived there for a while and it's not natural.

[SusanneH]

Dear Being Me and La Limena,

Thank you both for your input! I never would have thought of looking for a WAP group here- great idea! I'll email Marsha. Thanks also for the input on the farmer's markets. I was feeling pretty down about this area the other day, but yesterday I went to the farmer's market by the Katie Wheeler Library in Irvine and while small, it was encouraging and I met some nice people. And it's exciting to be able to get local asparagus here in October when it's only available for April/May in New York!

We're definitely looking for places outside of Irvine- I could not stay here. We're looking at Costa Mesa and Santa Ana right now because they're not too far of a drive from my husband's work, but we'll consider other areas if needed. I keep hearing good things about both and I drove through CM today and while parts can be not as polished as Irvine, it sure felt a lot more comfortable and there were tons of local shops/restaurants.

La Limena, you crack me up. I love the term "crispy". I shave my legs, too. Most of the time... but as I tell my anxious mother ("Don't become one of those hippies who doesn't shave their legs."), my not shaving is not due to any philosophical objection. I won't attempt to make it any loftier than mere laziness!

Thank you both again!

[Rikki Jean]

i don't live in oc, but if we did, i'd want to live in fullerton. i've always felt like it's a cozy place to live, and i know a lot of crunchy people who live there. i love downtown fullerton. they have a great natural parenting store (www.bellysprout.com) that has a lot of fun classes and events for families. the mommy mingles are great!

[SusanneH]

Thanks Rikki Jean! I drove thru Fullerton the other day and was really impressed with the downtown area- that's more like what I'm used to! And I'll definitely check out Belly Sprouts.

[SusanneH]

Wow! Belly Sprout is just what I was looking for- I am so excited! They give so many good resources, as well. Thanks!!!!!

[Rikki Jean]

Originally Posted by SusanneH

Wow! Belly Sprout is just what I was looking for- I am so excited! They give so many good resources, as well. Thanks!!!!!

No problem!

They are awesome! The owner's DS2 and my DS1 are birth tub "cousins"; we had DS1 in the birth center that used to be in the area. There was a um, situation, and someone else was already in the one-bed, one-tub bc when I went into labor. So, our MW borrowed a tub from Kristy (her baby was due a few weeks later), and set us up in what used to be the Birth Connection (where Belly Sprout started), which was connected to the birth center. Confused yet?