This is something that just rolls back and forth inside my mind everyday. Would anyone care to share their stories--how the burning need to move happened, how you made it happen, how you're doing after, and all your thoughts on the whole process? There are soooo many things to consider: friends here, money, immigration, how to get started, who went with you...

Thanks for sharing! =)

Hi.
Are you wanting to move?
For me,moving is probably the hardest thing to adjust to in life.
I moved to where I am 3 years ago due to wanting to live with my girlfriend.
I had just re-located to another state 3 yrs prior to that.And before that move I was in one place for 27 yrs,with 3 apartments in the later years.So I feel like lately I have been through a sieve.
All I can say is that at this point in my life I would never move again and give up a feeling of home.The feeling of home is most important to me.
I am building it here.So far so good.But I would move again if I knew it would be a better place.Basically more space and bigger property.But I would never move just to go to a warmer climate.I love the seasons.
Brian



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2008 08:10PM by Raw1228.

i had a conversation with someone about this recently
and basically the thing about "home is where the heart is"
kept coming back

everyone is different and everyone has priorities depending on what u really want, what is important to you etc.

its hard to weight it out
wish u luck

don't u wish u could pack up your friends in a little magical duffel bag
and take them WITH you?

that would be great

La_Veronique..I am packing my little friend up in a duffel bag and taking him with me on my move

Ok, he's a dog, ok, he's in a car and not a duffel bag..but he is little, and he is my friend I call him my good luck dog..

I can't answer Phantom's huge question about moving more towards sunshine and warmth as it's too much 'splaining to do from my experiences starting when I was 19.

I can't live in cold climates, I do much better in warm climates. I have to have sunshine and warmth..no doubt in my mind about that. I am leaving the NW back to SoCal and I'm essentially homeless from July 8th until I secure a roof over my head..which I think I already have due to being able to do home health care. And if this particular position falls into place, it would be a really cool place to live and with some very intellectual and seemingly down to earth people. And it has some land also..so hopefully I may have a little space of my own to garden in.

Raw foods living has been a trip since I started on it over 5 years ago. I feel like I go thru shedding periods or healing events of various natures.

Love,
Prism

We were living in California, and about 2 years ago decided to move to Spain, Andalucia. The climate is somehow similar to souther california, but closer to our roots, we are french.
We liked California, had plenty of friends over there, and still have. But land was just too expensive there, so we relocated. We quit our jobs and decided to live a simpler live and bought some land to grow our food and live in a peaceful and clean environment. And we haven't lost our friends, since some made the trip to come see us, and we met new friends quickly.
In conclusion, the best thing we ever did. It's the beginning of a new life, and one we decided, not one that society imposed on us.

Raw Fruit Festival
[www.raw-fruit-festival.net]
Health, Fitness and Fasting Retreats in Spain
[www.fit-in-nature.net]

I am moving to a warmer climate soon!
Currently living in a small town north of the northernmost city in North America... up here in Canada. Winter's are cold and snowy... Each year I feel thankful to have survived another winter! Haha!!

The province I live in is known for it's farming, beef, and the stampede... I don't fit in here!

After going raw, my husband and I decided to work hard and look for opportunities to leave Canada and go somewhere hot where we could be raw and eat locally... We had decided on Australia, because we thought we'd be able to get jobs there, with our education and experience.

Then a wonderful opportunity came up, and we have joined in on Storm and Jinjee's Raw Vegan Village in Ojai California. We will be moving in 1-2 years. This winter will hopefully be our last snowy winter up in Northern Canada!

Sunflower
Raw Food Chef and Writer
Comfortably Raw
[www.comfortablyraw.com]

I came to US in 93 to do my Masters Degree.
Well,I met my husband,an american,and I am living here now.I think I have two homes,here and Brasil,but I feel much more at home in Brasil.I don't know how to explain.It's not the language,wich helps,but the feeling,the air,the culture,the happy people,carnaval,all my infancy and teenager years,friends,family.....A friend of mine told me once that if one lives in a foreign country,one would be torn forever,and now I do understand.I love here,the open mentality, books,libraries,universities,friends,...I don't know anymore.

We are in the middle of the moving process. We're selling all of our possessions, including our home, buying an RV, and traveling slowly across the US from PA to CA. We've chosen Northern California (final destination is unknown) for our new home.

We've had just about every friend and family memeber tell us how wrong this all is, but it feels so right. It's too cold here, not enough sunshine, and I want a place where I can live and eat where my food is growing. I'm drawn to being in the sun, and that just isn't happening here in Pittsburgh.

We'll be documenting our trip on our blog. I'm going to be stopping all over the place, educating people about raw foods along the way! ;-)

It's certainly not 100% easy to pick up and move, but change isn't always easy even when it's for the better. I love our home and I'll miss it, but I'm ready to start a new chapter in my life. I'm thankful that even though it's not easy, my family (husband and daughter) have agreed to this journey and major life change.

So, I haven't physically left for a warmer climate, yet...but my heart is already there in sunny California.

Lots of love to you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

I'm very interested in the responses to this thread..

As per my last post on the Root Cellar thread, I too have been giving serious consideration to moving to a warmer climate where year round gardening is a reality..

I think that my current depression & my difficulties on a raw vegan diet can be traced back to the day years ago that I gave up my organic garden..

There is something primal about living in a warm climate, & growing one's food..Getting that biologically rich soil under one's fingernails..

To me the greatest gift in life is planting a seed, watching it grow, harvesting the fruit or vegetable, rinsing it off, & eating it immediately..Nothing tastes quite so delicious..

I've never owned a car, was recently forced by my finances to give up my motorcycle, & am down to a bicycle & a bike trailer for transportation & shopping..

I'd like to take things to the next level by moving to a climate where I could work within commuting distance by bicycle of where I live..And have enough land to grow a substantial portion of my yearly food needs..

Bruce

Great thread!! Now I don't feel so alone on my journey to SoCal!
Good luck to all of us and anyone that is thinking of making any kind of life changes!

Love,
Prism

yeah, deep thread
nice responses

Exactly 24 years ago TODAY (!), I left Texas and came here to the Big Island of Hawaii.

I came here because I felt like the cold winters in Texas were beginning to take a toll on my health. And I really wanted to see if having fresh tropical fruit available year-round would help me realize my goal (at that time) of being a fruitarian. I was mostly raw at the time, but also anorexic.

I had a degreee in Special Ed, and felt confident I could find a job.

It definitely wasn't easy at first. Especially the first 18 months or so were very hard. But the people here are wonderful (and eccentric, like me). I felt I belonged here.

I'm so glad I came. This is my home. I'll never leave. I'm still not a fruitarian (and no longer want to be), but I'm all raw; and being here definitely helps. This climate and the opportunity for year-round fresh raw food has really defined my life (as a tropical fruit and palm farmer now) more than almost anything else.

For everyone with a similar dream, who has decided to "up and leave for a warmer climate", if you happen to hear that kind of call, then I hope you go for it and find wonderful success!

And for anyone who has already found Paradise in their own wonderful heart, well, certainly, there's no truer success than that!

Here's a great bumper sticker I saw yesterday: "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spritual beings having a human experience". Wow! That's so neat!

Love yas, Alice



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2008 09:59AM by suncloud.

hey suncloud

i'm jealous ... but in a FANTABULOUSLY good way

hawaii... ne'er been there

is it all that they say? white sands.. see through transparent waters.. dolphins dancing in the shards of moonlit light and such?

mangos and papayas coming out of fissures of volcanoes

oh... and coconuts dropping off palm trees in front of you wherever you go and begging to be transformed into some sort of thai salad?

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

i'll be visiting one of these days

especially interested in a volcano someone told me about

but can't remember the name

something about pigs

and something about dark ashes

and something about it being sacred

i forget

but maybe you know?

SoCal is great for its weather for sure, but if you plan on moving there, keep in mind that it's a desert fueled by the colorado river, and the level of the river is going down dramatically. Just ask the mexicans on the other side of the border who can see the river recessing every year, and not reaching the gulf anymore.
I know some farmers over there, and this year, they can use only 70% of the water they used last year. It makes it tough for them, but there is not much choice over there.
That's one of the reasons why we chose to move away from SoCal even if we liked it there.

Raw Fruit Festival
[www.raw-fruit-festival.net]
Health, Fitness and Fasting Retreats in Spain
[www.fit-in-nature.net]

I left the US for Canada 2.5 years ago (totally ALONE) for a lot of reasons, including to get rid of all the background noise of everything familiar, to basically figure out who I am.

I've done that, I've found raw foods, I've learned a lot, and now I'm feeling nothing short of THE CALL.

I need to go where it's warm. I have to do something sustainable. I have to get rid of my car. I have to be involved with some kind of lifestyle that doesn't support consumerism, animal or human slavery. I don't want to be enslaved at a job to meet my food requirements for the rest of my life. I can't sit still inside anymore. I have to be OUTSIDE, moving around--I planted flowers for the first time this past weekend, and it made me SO HAPPY (bummer it was at someone else's house~).

Things are good now, because there's lots of sun, the forest behind my apartment will be a smörgåsbord of berries in a few weeks, I can go outside whenever I want... but the winter? What will I do in the winter?

I have no university degree, and I can't go back to school, because I would spend the mornings physically ill with anxiety, school was like someone had gagged my inner child, tied it to the back of a truck with a noose and went for a speeding drive around some rocky countryside EVERY DAY. I have no certifiable skills, but I have two hands and a heart (and clever wit ^.~ ). I'm saving money, but in no way will I be able to get any land anywhere--I need to find some kind of *community.*

So, I'm feeling frustrated, because I know in my heart what I need to do--but I have no idea where to start, since it is IMPOSSIBLE to do alone, and I have limited resources. I don't have a family to go with me.

I'll also be moving for the 4th time in the 2.5 years I've been living in Canada this month--into an awesome place (hopefully it will help me find direction! ^.^), but it will only be good for a year, so my mind is digesting the long-term, thinking about where I REALLY want to be and what I REALLY want to do that will make me happy.

If I stayed here, doing what I am right now, my entire life would be a compromise. It would be one battle after another against the system--on the system's terms--because I didn't have the nerve to get up and create my own paradise. I don't want to live like that. I can't bring children into a world like that. I don't want to have to justify doing what's best for me, my family, or for my planet to any institution, any employer... at least, not without the failsafe of a giant garden, and, oh, I can dream of wind turbines...

And the rising gas prices... Are there any animals besides humans who hang around and wait for tsunamis?

GypsyArdor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
We've chosen Northern
> California (final destination is unknown) for our
> new home.
> Lots of love to you,
>
> Wendi
> XOXOXO

which city in northern cal? my hubby and i go to a bed breakfast in elk, close to mendocino which we absolutely love! northern cal is beautiful
patty

La Veronique,

Funny about the coconuts. When I first came to Hawaii, I laughed with delight to see the numerous signs on the grounds of my hotel, "Beware of Falling Coconuts."

I'd come from Texas tornados, and here I was being warned to "Beware of Falling Coconuts"! Was I in Paradise or what?! "Beware of Falling coconuts"! YES!

Unfortunately, times have changed since then. Things are still good here, but definitely not as absolutely perfect as the lovely vision you describe. These days, the coconuts at all the hotels and in all the city parks are removed so no one will sue if a coconut happens to fall on their head. There are many more people now, and no longer much easily affordable land. We have bunchy top virus attacking the bananas and we have genetically engineered papayas. The wonderful black sand beaches of Kalapana and Kaimu are now underneath the lava flows of the late 1980s. The military has drastically increased its take-over of the northern dry forests for training grounds. Beautiful Hapuna white sand beach is practically surrounded by hotels, and the nude beach at Kehena, once visited by perhaps one or two people a day, is now a packed social scene every single day.

But still, there are the distant beaches, the ones that require a hike. And still, you can cruise along the Red Road (no longer paved with the original red cinder), and get coconuts or get them from your own yard if you are so fortunate. Or you can pick up an unlimited variety of avocados along the roadside or from vacant land pretty much all over the island, depending on the time of year.

And yes, oh YES, the volcano! No one can touch her. If you try, watch out! As beautiful, powerful, mysterious, breathtaking, lifetaking, lifegiving, as ever. No matter what, she will have her space, and provide shelter - temporarily at least - for those who settle on her slopes. She destroys the land, she spreads her skirts and builds land anew. Her magnificent body is lavished with her centuries-old rainforests of giant hapu fern and the mysterious ohia trees with their red lehua flowers, right alongside of her many miles of steaming and dangerous craters. Volcanoes National Park has hiking trails throughout, from the very top of Mauna Loa to miles and miles of shoreline. Nothing on earth is more wonderful or more awesome than Pele. Come see!

------------------------------------------------

To Phantom,

For the reasons stated above to La Veronique, I think if I were starting all over again now, maybe I wouldn't settle in Hawaii. (although I'm grateful to have my niche here now, courtesy of Pele, until she decides to reclaim it)

But there are still places to go to on the planet, and I think you definitely have the right idea about forming a community. It's a very good option.

As a step in that general direction, I wonder if it would be helpful to check into some of the nonprofit organizations that offer hands-on assistance to local farming communities in "developing" countries. Might be a good way to learn basic tropical farming techniques, become familiar with a greater variety of sustainably-grown tropical foods, and develop some friendships with like-minded individuals.

Or, you could just look at some maps, read some travel info, save up a little cash, and go check out the locale of your choice to see what's there.

However you decide to make it happen, I so wish you the best!

You and others like you are the ones who will help carry the world through its coming crises. A great blessing, and yet a great responsibility are yours.

I'm in Dallas, Texas and I'm a sun hound and I say if you can move and your drawn to the sun then do it!

F1

dewey, we only have it narrowed down to Northern CA. It will most likely depend on where my husband finally gets a job--or whether we find a place and just KNOW it's the place for us. I'm kind of drawn to the Garberville/Sebastopol area, but I'm not sure if my husband can find a job within an hour of there. My daughter is a huge cat fan and wants us to please find a way to afford living in Los Gatos.

Anything in life is possible, we just have to be clever enough to figure out how to make things work. So, I know we'll end up in a place that's perfect for us--because that's our goal. :-)

I agree with what everyone else is saying: If you feel drawn to living in a warmer/sunnier climate, then go for it! It's not easy to make such drastic changes, but it beats living a stagnant life.

Lots of love to all of you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

Suncloud--that's a great idea, about the nonprofit organizations. What a great way to get hands-on education.

I'll be saving up tons of cash for some kind of move, even if I'm still deciding along the way. >8)

I've heard awesome things about Thailand, and I LOVE my lychees and durian... but I don't want to idealize any one place. Everywhere is bound to have its own set of problems. Also, for example, does anyone know if immigrating to, say, Thailand, is nearly as complicated as it is for the US/Canada? Is North America especially, less, or equally complicated?

I'd love to see the Amazon, too...

It's just like... You know how when some people hear about going raw, and detoxing, and all that for the first time--they look at their lives, panic, and think, "OH MY GOD! I NEED TO DO CRAZY DETOX PROCEDURE X IN THE MOST EXTREME WAY RIGHT NOW!" When, in reality, small changes, consistently, over a long period of time are what yield the stable and transformational results.

I'm having the exact same thing with sustainable living right now: I see everything I'm doing, I look at the world, make the connections, and feel like, HOLY @)#($*@)(*#$)(# maelstrom of destruction, Batman! So I have to get a plan. To make the plan work, in North America, I also feel like there needs to be a LOT of cooperation from everyone (which may be a future reality!)--I don't want to pit myself against society and try to fit in at the same time, especially if I don't believe in it. I'd rather drop out and do things I feel are right, and welcome all members and non-members of society to come and go as they please. =)

Every day I try to cultivate sincerity and gratitude toward my experiences as my life stands, which is a huge challenge. But to live, work, pay off the Visa, ship the kids off to public school to get a mass-produced education is a concession I'm unwilling to make.

I tried to compromise with it before--I imagined my future just slipping through the bars like I'm slipping through them now, meekly asking for salads with no dressing. It's not good enough! And to admit that... brings a completely different, unknown shedding of skin ahead.

I don't want to meekly ask someone else to bring a bowl of wilted iceberg with no dressing. I want to grow my own food, and rip it out of the earth with my bare hands, I want sun, dirt, and satisfaction. Now that I'm eating and caring for myself at my absolute best, I can't live with myself if I don't get every other aspect of my life up to par.

My story of raw is a nice spin on a far-Eastern proverb I read somewhere: "Never invite an elephant trainer into your house unless you are prepared to live with an elephant. Especially if the elephant is green."

Hey Phantom, here's my story:

I moved from Northern California, where I had lived 42 of my almost 45 years, to Massachusetts, where I had been exactly once, a little over two years ago. I left my entire family, including three kids, the youngest a 20 year old single mom with various health issues, and all of my friends. I moved with my partner and our then 11 month old daughter. We had visited David's home state over the holidays to meet some of his family, and the love they have for our daughter, coupled with my partner's need to be around his family (which he had moved away from when he started college), housing costs in California and the increasing pollution there (we were in Chico, in the northern Sacramento Valley), beckoned us east. I have mixed feelings about our move. A lot of thought went into it, but I feel like I could have thought it through more. It is a huge decision, and I think much more so when there is family involved. I go to Cali at least three times a year, but I feel like it is not enough; I miss it so much.

The pros: I have met some amazing people and am finally starting to get involved in the art world out here, which is helping a lot. The air is much cleaner here and people here seem more conscious of the environment and the part we play in sustaining it.

However (the cons), moving was way more expensive than we thought it would be, the weather here is hard for me to deal with (I get really achy when the weather changes drastically -- not arthritis, but very painful leg aches which I've had since childhood), I see way less sun than I did. My older daughter had a very rough first year without me, both medically and emotionally, and had to deal with it without me there for her. There are less choices for good jobs here in my line of work (fine dining), which is ok because I'm getting tired of waiting tables anyway (I guess that's a pro).

So there was a lot for me to think about. I can't say that I regret it though, because David and my daughter are very happy, his family know her, and we own a house with a big yard full of gardens, something we wouldn't have been able to do in California at this stage in our lives. As long as I am able to go to Cali and see my kids get married (one did last year) and have babies (two did last year), and go sit in a sauna to thaw (they have one at the Y) I can hang for the time being. We do plan to eventually move somewhere, possibly back to Cali, in the next five or so years, but it will involve considerably more thought than I gave to this move.

That's my story; hope it helps. As hard as the move was, I'd move again, especially if it meant going to a sunny climate where I could grow food year round!

I moved from the Midwest to South Florida. I miss season change a lot like the spring and fall. However I like the Winters a lot here. I do not feel all trapped, couped up and COLD like I did back in the Midwest. During the warm months here I do not want to eat anything cooked or heavy I just juicy fresh foods. For the most part I prefer warmer weather!!!