For a coop locator page...

Here is a link that might be useful: Coop Directory Service: Find A Natural Food Coop Near You

corvallis! or albany...which only has the first and last on your list, but is 15 minutes away and has a great music festival on the river in the summer.

-ming

I know this is a distance Portland, BUT, we just moved to the beautiful Applegate River Valley just south of Grants Pass, Oregon, there is a lot of growth here but still bargains to be had. Also up North from us is Roseburg, we have friends who have moved there and it is also very nice. Good luck with your home search...

ah, i also forgot to mention Hood River--it's 45min - 1hr from PDX and is just lovely. safe place, too, and the houses are still reasonable. i lived there for a year and wished i had more time there.

-ming

If it were me, I would look at the southern Oregon coast. It has a climate similar to Northern California, so you can grow almost anything there. Large palm trees, along with anything that thrives in Portland or Seattle. Gold Beach Maybe? Brookings? Check it out.

-Brian

There's more to climate limitations that winter cold. Like San Franscisco, Brookings-Harbor is too cool in summer for heat loving plants.

Information sources like this are available, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon.com: Making Your Move to One of America's Best Small Towns : How to Find a Great Little Place as Your Next Home Base: Books: Norman Crampton

Is WA out? Vancouver has all of what you're looking for but affordable homes -- but some of the outlying towns might qualify, still put you close to family and the other things you want. Might be worth checking into. If you're close enough to Vancouver, you can take advantage of the benefits, including the health care options you want. Vanouver has the largest farmer's market in the Portland/Vancouver area. And there's a group of people in the process of starting a own food coop but I'm not sure when that will be active. Good luck!

Some of the outlying areas in Vancouver might do for you. Battle Ground, Ridgefield, Camas, Washougal etc. They are very close to Portland/Vancouver metro area but are still small towns.

Albany, Corvallis and Philomath might work too.

If you are interested at all in SW Washington, there is Stevenson less than 40 miles from portland, but far enough away to have it's own identity. Also WA has no state income tax. n. Bonneville, Carson

Oregon gets you the absence of sales tax, Washington the absence of income tax.

My choice in Oregon would be the McMinnville area. They have the cheapest electricity, from what I understand, due to their investment in hydro electric projects.

I can't speak to Washington.

As LOVINROSES said...

Applegate Valley is nice. We moved there - Ruch - from Beaverton which is by Portland.

The traffic in Portland and suburbs was pitiful for being in a landscape, design and water feature business. Too many trips for supplies through traffic. Seattle is known to be worse. Beaverton used to look like the Applegate Valley in the 1960s, now all the Portland suburbs, even as far as 1/2 hour drive out, are getting "inhaled" with developlement.

If we didn't have family nearby, I'd jump on Brookings in a heart-beat. But I love coastal weather.

I didn't notice if you need a place with jobs, or if you are retired (??).

My picks in the state would be:

West of Portland >>> Forest Grove, North Plains, Vernonia, Dallas

South Oregon >>> Ruch, Applegate, Williams, Murphy, Grants Pass. There is a community west of Grants Pass called Wilderville - very nice, but a bit far out if someone has kids that like city stuff. But they do like it here.

I made a page on our site for our Applegate area, last winter - see below.

Here is a link that might be useful: M. D. Vaden's Applegate Valley page

hi Ru,
I moved to Mac (as it's called locally) last year, and love it. I'm attaching a link for you. Check us out! I have never felt so welcome as I did after arriving here. Quite an artistic community with very friendly people.

Here is a link that might be useful: City of McMinnville

We like McMinnville too. If I was not in business, needing to drive among several suburbs, we may have moved there. It would be a long, long, long....drive for someone working in Portland.

Leave Portland, go through Tigard, Sherwood, Newberg, Dundee, then McMinnville.

But if work would be local, or one suburb away, travel would be fine. That's a very nice area with decent schools and a lot of surrounding fields. The stores and shops are plentiful.

The drive to the beach from there is only about 1 hour, too.

Although I don't gamble, the food is excellent at the buffet of Spirit Mountain Casino not far to the west. The restaurant is open to anybody.

Faster to take I5 to Wilsonville and take Wilsonville Rd to Newberg and then on to McMinnville.

Skips the Tualatin/Tigard/Sherwood traffic mess and is scenic. :)

My naturopath is in McMinnville and there's a natural foods store down the street from him. It has a very quaint downtown area.

I wondered what it was like to live in Silverton. It is near the Oregon Gardens, and the town itself seems to have a nice feeling. I loved the coffee house with a back porch overlooking the river. It has at least one farmers market.

Here is a link that might be useful: Silverton Farmers Market

i really like the whole area on scenic 99: canby, mcminville, woodburn etc. even oregon city with it's weird smells.
there are lots of little gardening gems off the beaten path (e.g. Multnomah Orchid!) and if you're a cyclist, you really can't beat some of the roads out there. not sure what the farmer's market/co-op scene is, but at least you can hop over to PDX pretty quickly. my vote still goes to hometown corvallis, though.

-ming