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Hello! My fiancee and I are looking to move to South Carolina. We love safe small cities with lots of job opportunities where the community has organic gardens and/or natural food markets, and like-minded people. My fiancee has had a roofing business for the past 25 years, I've worked in offices, organic apple orchards, cooked and am currently work for an apiary. We are hard working and can do anything. Looking for a place that is beautiful, quiet, fun with a community of good people. Coming through in January.
Thanks and warmest regards.
South Carolinians for some reason don't care very much about organic foods. They seem to not mind pesticides and genetically engineered ingredients in their foods judging by the popularity of super markets who don't really try to carry much else.
Even the Farmers' markets only feature one or two organic farmers here in Charleston. There really aren't many health food stores either here. It was a huge dissappointment for me when I moved here from Southern New England where there were lots of farmer's markets with farmers who were mostly organic-- as well as health food stores and larger markets like Whole Foods with LOTS of organic produce.
Here in the big state of SC (with lush farmland) there are only two Whole Foods stores and only a few other smaller Natural Grocery chain stores in the whole state. There don't seem to be any independently owned heath food stores with fresh produce and groceries in Charleston or Beaufort, Bluffton and Hilton Head anyway. It may be due to BIG AGRA putting the small local and organic farmers out of business with the so called "food safety" regulations designed to do just that.There is a much greater awareness in North Carolina and Virginia and in Florida and in the Atlanta area of GA about the advantages of buying pure real food. SC has a long way to go to catch up in my opinion. However, the weather is subtropical -- comparable to northern FL --- so if you have a garden you can grow your own. It is the best way to get organic produce.
As much as it pains me to say your description of "progressive, organic, small city" probably describes a certain aspect or quality of Spartanburg. There is I guess what you'd call a small but emerging creative class in the city proper. There is an alternative arts venue that is always doing things like artists in residence, films, etc. Plus there is a farmers market and other "artsy" festival-type things where I am told a lot of the progressive folks hang out. Plus there are a few organic food co-ops in the works I believe. Well here are some links you might want to check out:
innovator82 wrote:"progressive, organic, small city" probably describes a certain aspect or quality of Spartanburg...
LOL! - Sptg and progressive used in the same sentence; haven't seen that in awhile! We still have family in SparkleCity, but don't get back there very often. IMHO, it's a neat little town with quite a bit to offer. It's good to see some positive comments flow in that direction.
Not sure "lots of job opportunities" is a good match, or is the job scene picking up around there more than I realize? Why the pains?
Last edited by PawleysDude; 11-09-2009 at 10:29 AM..
Reason: More rambling...
There is an independently owned health food store in Beaufort SC - "It's Only Natural".
Been there for a number of years and fairly well stocked with fresh organic fruits and vegetables.
Thanks for all the replys-I really appreciate it. We are coming down in January and will taking some time to check it out. Besides Beaufort & Spartanburg, are there other cities or anything on the coast we should check out? We will also be looking for jobs (He is in construction: roofer, carpenter), I have worked for years in an office, also done some cooking, currently work in an apiary. Thanks again!
Well this is tough in SC not due to an adversity to such things, but because much of the population in SC already has garden plots, especially in small towns, and really doesn't need to shop in organic stores. I know tons of natives there who grow their own vegetables almost year round and either put it in the freezer and/or pressure can it. They were organic before such things became trendy.
You didn't say how small you wanted to go but if you are looking for something on the coast, I would recommend checking out downtown Georgetown. If you are in the upstate, then I would recommend at least looking at downtown Greenville. Greenville isn't small town but the downtown might be what you are looking for. Of course if you go there, you might as well check out Asheville, NC as well.
If you have more specific questions, I will be glad to answer to help narrow it down.
We spent three months looking at places from Ithaca, NY as far south as Athens, GA - both great intential/eco-conscious communities btw.
We chose Greenville. The downtown health food store run by Jenny and her family is a great resource. There are organic community gardens at the Cliffs Community just north of Greenville, through one of the hospitals, and quite a few local farmers who raise their livestock and grow organically or beyond organic. There is a Whole Foods market which hosts a farmer's market in the parking lot and features local foods. There is also an Earth Fare market (which rocks!) - check out www.earthfare.com.
We've also found some other great resources by posting on the Greenville-Spartanburg City data forum (you can search - there's quite a few discussions going on currently).
Copper Lakes is doing an eco-focused development just north of Greenville too. We are hoping to find out more soon. We have a lot of other resources we are happy to share. If you don't mind the heat/humidity and college town environment, check out Athens, GA too.
Greenville had everything we wanted - like minded group of attachment parents for raising our daughter, longer growing season so we can have our own fresh produce, and a great bike trail system -- the downtown area rocks!, convenience of highway systems, a good airport and really nice people are bonuses! GOOD LUCK!
^ Great to hear you chose Greenville! You'll be happy here. My partner and I fell in love with Greenville from day one and are so glad we picked this area.
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your description of "progressive, organic, small city" probably describes a certain aspect or quality of Spartanburg. There is I guess what you'd call a small but emerging creative class in the city proper. There is an alternative arts venue that is always doing things like artists in residence, films, etc. Plus there is a farmers market and other "artsy" festival-type things where I am told a lot of the progressive folks hang out. Plus there are a few organic food co-ops in the works I believe. Well here are some links you might want to check out:
We are choosing Greenville area
