[Mama2Lennon]

so after years of wanting to move out west and a torturous past year where we are now, it's time to go! i've given notice and i've already started getting rid of our stuff. i would really like some ideas for the best place to live in BC.

i would ultimately love to live rurally (i'm a farm gurl!) but know that isn't a likely option. i don't really dig big cities (too big, not enough trees

) but i'd like to live somewhere "big enough" - for a like-minded community and for ease of car-free travel. is this possible???

here are some things i am looking for (and can only really know from people who live in these places) --
- good, easy, access to fresh,

: food (most important)
- lots of local food is a big plus (this winter my family would eat a whole box of apples a week so the okanagan looks good for that reason alone)
- community gardens (family-friendly)
- an accessible transit system
- good second-hand stores, or freecycling systems
- reasonable rent and easy to find 2/3 bedroom apartments
- community centres
- supports for single parents
- easily accessible trails, forest, waterways
- wild berries!!!
- CAS is NOT really crazy

:
- a group of life learners/unschoolers
- and of course, a community of AP-minded mamas

what i have been dreaming of since ds was born seven years ago is to live in an eco-village/intentional community. i have been discouraged by the ones in canada because they all ask for a sum of money i just do not have or carpentry skills i do not have. i love to

and i love the idea of such close communities ... if anyone knows of something that accepts single moms - let me know! i am looking for a "safe" place and a natural world that calms and strengthens my Spirit. i dream that my children can live in a world of green.

aahhhh ....

i don't have definite plans for getting out there yet, either. i am still hoping to find someone who wants to make a road trip of it so we can take our time, see the country and tent out. i don't plan on moving much (some clothes, diapers, few books). know of anyone who'd be interested in this?

and i hope i don't come off as too "airy-fairy", i really am a down-to-earth mama who's only finally going to let go a little and take a risk!

 

[weliveintheforest]

You might really like the sunshine coast, although I don't know if it would meet all your criteria. There is lots of trails forest etc and berries, and its close enough to Vancouver for times when you need a city for something.

I live in Kelowna and while there are many nice things about the area, I find it to be too small and yet too big for my liking. It's almost like it has lots of the bad parts of city living and the bad parts of small town living but not as many of the good. There are community gardens and transit though, which is a good thing!

I loved living in Vancouver, and there are coops there that would have space for a single mama and her family http://www.chf.bc.ca/index.asp

 

[Mama2Lennon]

thank u for some info on kelowna, weliveintheforest, i had been looking at it. when i passed through there some five years ago i thought it was so beautyfull. it's the biggest of the okanagan cities so i thought it would have more resources. how are the winters? my biggest concern is actually the amount of pesticides used on all the orchards (fruit growers are among the biggest "sprayers") but i did some some organic folks out there ... thanx for the link, not sure if it will help in the short term but i can once i get settled. i will see if i can get a better feel for a few areas from the site.

i am interested in sooke ... any thoughts on that anyone?

 

[Saf]

I have an Aunt who lives in Sooke, and it is quite nice/picturesque. It is near Victoria. My Aunt lives right on the water. I haven't been there in awhile, so sorry can't give you much more info than that. I was actually think you might enjoy the island with your list of likes/dislikes. I *think* it is Bowen Island that is very natural. Also, I believe there is a cohousing community starting up in Nanaimo.

 

[Lynnseedoil]

Victoria is great for everything except rent, depending on how much you find to be affordable. We drive 15 minutes up the farm road and have more local produce than we can shake a stick at! Really, Victoria meets all of your criteria as far as I can tell. I know that a super-beautiful nice 2 br suite next door to us goes for 1100.

Sooke is cool and cheap but the busses to Victoria are slow. Maybe a little closer in?

Or maybe somewhere up-island would be more affordable... Comox, Duncan, Nanaimo, etc. I've heard great things about them.

Congrats on moving to BC. We're just moving away and I'm really going to miss it!

 

[Mama2Lennon]

is there anyone here who lives further up the island coast, comox, courtenay??? at least if someone on these boards is there i know i won't be alone

1100 rent for a 2 bdrm is too much for me.

is there an online site i can look at that will give me an idea of rental costs? i know houses are expensive now but has rent gone up too?

 

[dawncayden]

http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/ca

this co-op sounds interesting: http://www.chf.bc.ca/pages/directory-coop.asp?CoopID=58 but its in the city.

Here's my opinion of specific area of places I've either visited or lived:

Vancouver: Good transit, lots of organic, good co-ops/cheap rent, lots of resources, lots of AP parents, lots of homeschooling families and resources. Not too much for trees, but there's Stanley Park, and North Van is close as well as lots of beaches.

North Van: Not cheap rent unless you get in a co-op, good organic, transit is fairly good, very green, some AP parents, good resources.

Campbell River: Cheap rent, no AP, poor transit, not much organic, some resurces, quite green.

Courtney: Very artsy, some organic, can get around on foot, but will need a car to get to other parts of the island, poor transit, some AP parents. Lots of trees, water. Cheap rent

Surrey: poor transit, not much organic unless you go to a farm, but then you need a car. Some single parent resources, not much AP or homelearning resoures. Some trees. Cheap rent

Hornby Island: Get anywhere on Island on foot or hitchhike (its safe) Organic, lots of trees and water, not many resources because its so small. Cheap rent in winter, but more expensive in summer. (my friend would live in a bus in summer on a friends land and rent a cabin in winter)

Nelson: Lots of trees and water, lots of AP, expensive rent, lots of organic, can get around town on foot, but would need car to leave town. Great community and good resources.

Dawn

 

[Mama2Lennon]

than u dawncayden, that was a good cross-section of various places in bc!!! i think i might have too many good choices now

tell me- is it cold in nelson in winter? is it real snowy?

who LOVES where they live in bc? pitch me your city! (please!!)

 

[dawncayden]

I would imagine it would be VERY snowy in Nelson.

I like living in Vancouver. It is quite busy here, but I just make sure I go to the forest quite often...go camping, hiking, go to Stanley Park, Lynn Canyon...there's lots within transit's reach.
Its affordable if you live in a co-op and there are a lot of organic options and great places to eat out.
There's lots of resources for AP (there are LOTS of us here) as well as single parent resources.

Dawn

 

[babygrant]

I was just coming to say Nelson!!! It's quite snowy here....but not terribly so. I love it in this area.

Ask any questions and I can answer!

 

[Dal]

Hi! I'm vegan and from SW Ontario too! I have a 3 year old son we will most likely unschool. We moved here a year ago. We love it here... but I'm still looking for pretty much what you've described! We're currently in Burnaby. There is a lovely little forest right in our backyard with berries in it -- YUM. But we have to drive everywhere or take the bus/skytrain. I want to have resources more readily available -- I really need them to be within walking distance or else I find myself in slumps of inactivity.

Our rent is $1100 for a two bedroom plus a den townhouse, which seems to be fantastic compared to most of what I've seen around here/in Vancouver... (a lot of outrageous prices!) so unless we're able to find something better without going up too much in price... it seems we'll be stuck here for awhile. This is not a bad place to be stuck... to say the least... but I wish I were somewhere livelier with all of the perks you (and I) are after more easily within reach.

I really want to be in a co-housing type of set-up too but we aren't ready to buy now either. Maybe someday a group of us can sort out a way to build our own mini intentional community!!!

Best wishes!!!

 

[Village Mama]

I am in the Comox Valley and we are car free. I love it up here but rents are becoming very high as well. To be truthfull, being car free is difficult. The bus system here is pretty crappy. There arent bike trails from the outskirts into the main sections of the city... which would be wonderful and enable us to continue being car free. We just attempted to work out a system in which we would bike everywhere but it is just not doable unless I ride on the highway with two kiddos and a trailer for 45 min or so.
I grew up in Victoria... that is one wonderful city to go car free in , in my opinion. Good markets, everything you need within walking distance and great biking trails.Expensive... but there are benefits as well!

 

[Village Mama]

I didnt know you were in Nelson BabyG ! I would love to make my way out there one day... dont know what the draw is for me!!! everyone wants to make there way out there dont they?!

 

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

I grew up in Nelson and really want to make my way back there. As soon as we find work.

How snowy it is depends on how far up the hill you live. Down a lake level, it snows but the snow doesn't stick for very long. Up at the top of Stanly street the snow can get quite deep. It doesn't get too cold though. There might be a streatch in where it gets down to -20 for a few days but generally it hovers around the freezing point all winter.

 

[Mama2Lennon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dal I really want to be in a co-housing type of set-up too but we aren't ready to buy now either. Maybe someday a group of us can sort out a way to build our own mini intentional community!!!

that is what i would love, ultimately but i don't have any friends or family in a location i want to live in permanently. wouldn't it be great to start an MDC kind of community. i have been thinking about parenting and community a lot lately. it's great to parent ap and continuum concept but we are all still living so isolated in our nuclear families. even if we go out and "socialize" with other parents we are still, as mothers mostly, totally responsible for our "own" children. we don't live communally and that is what i would love to have. families living close together and working together as a whole. i know that ecovillages have this model but i don't have the finances to get into any in canada. my hope is that once i get out to the coast i can find other families who share this vision and we can start something, somewhere ...

i checked out the co-housing site and the waits are long 6mts to 3 years. i would also have to apply to each housing place separately. not something i can do from waaaaaay over here in ontario.

 

[Mama2Lennon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhiannon Feimorgan I grew up in Nelson and really want to make my way back there. As soon as we find work. How snowy it is depends on how far up the hill you live. Down a lake level, it snows but the snow doesn't stick for very long. Up at the top of Stanly street the snow can get quite deep. It doesn't get too cold though. There might be a streatch in where it gets down to -20 for a few days but generally it hovers around the freezing point all winter.

it seems like nelson is a favorite. maybe i am shying away from nelson because i've heard so much about it, like being a mecca for crunchies and i think "can it really be that great or does everyone just think it is?" i guess i will only know if i go there ...
btw, when does it get too cold in nelson to camp?
when does it get to cold on the island to camp?

 

[babygrant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mama2Lennon it seems like nelson is a favorite. maybe i am shying away from nelson because i've heard so much about it, like being a mecca for crunchies and i think "can it really be that great or does everyone just think it is?" i guess i will only know if i go there ... btw, when does it get too cold in nelson to camp? when does it get to cold on the island to camp?

People here camp until early October although I believe the campgrounds close in late September.

:

 

[babygrant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mama2Lennon maybe i am shying away from nelson because i've heard so much about it, like being a mecca for crunchies and i think "can it really be that great or does everyone just think it is?"

It really is that great!!!

 

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mama2Lennon it seems like nelson is a favorite. maybe i am shying away from nelson because i've heard so much about it, like being a mecca for crunchies and i think "can it really be that great or does everyone just think it is?" i guess i will only know if i go there ... btw, when does it get too cold in nelson to camp? when does it get to cold on the island to camp?

Like an comunity, Nelson has it's problems. Finding work that pays a living wage can be dificult for instance. Being a "mecca" there is a huge transiant community there. Most of these people are beautiful free sprited crunchy folk some of them are simply druggys and bums though.

I've camped comfortably as early as March and as late as October (but then I enjoy winter camping and have slept outside in January so I might not be a good judge) It varies from year to year though. You can usually count of good weather, not getting below freezing at night until the last week of September. There are usually a few nights in October that get below freezing and at least one snow fall. It get's cold more often through November and there is usually snow that stays by the first week of December. Although like i said that can depend on your elivation. Nelson is built on a mountin side and the weather can be dramatically diferant from uphill to down town.

At one point I lived at the top of Stanly Street. More or less as far up the hill as you can be and still be within the city limits. When I woke up in the morning it was a beautiful sunny day. As I sarted walking down the hill, i hit fogg a few blocks from my house. I walked through fogg for a coupple of blocks and when I came out the other side I realised that i had walked though a cloud. Downtown was cloudy and rainy that day!

I should have stayed home!

Because of the way the mountins lay around Nelson, some parts of town have quite limited sunshine especially during the winter. Some places are better than others. The north shore is sunnier than in town. Kaslo, north on the lake about an hour (where I actually grew up. I usually say I grew up in Nelson because nobodys ever heard of Kaslo) is quite a bit sunnier as far as hours that the sun is above the mountins.

But all in all it's a wonderful place to live. The people are so generous. There is a huge natural living comunity, many AP families, great access to local organic food, a big Pagan comunity (not nessisaraly a plus for everyone but a big plus for me) a great Waldorf school. Good public schools too. Great access to alternative medicine and a regular medical infrastructure that isn't afraid of alternative medicine. Natural beauty, great hiking, camping, boating swimming, biking, skiing and any other outdoor activity you can think of except maybe surfing. A huge arts community, art galeries, theater a great little art school. Funky victorian buildings. Lot's of shopping options everything from little shops featuring the work of local craftspeople to Walmart. No Mc Donalds (thats a huge plus for me, I wish there was no Walmart too but you can't win them all).

I'm getting all sad that I don't live there any more....3 more years and we can move back.

 

[Mama2Lennon]

i have more questions about nelson --

is there a group of ap mamas who meet regularly?

are there any unschoolers/life learners? do they meet at all? or even homeschoolers?

i like that there is a pagan community

are they hard to find?

i do think i have a toss up between nelson and the coast! my soul soars when i think of island living ... but it may not be practical or feasible yet.

dp is doing a small tour in august in BC and i think the final choice will be his since he will be there feeling things out and trying to find us a place but he's looking to me to give some idea of where i'd like to be ...

i love the descriptions -- keep em' coming

Rhiannon Feimorgan - you have given me some very specific clues about where to live in nelson, thank you so much!

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