'Agrihoods' put nature at the center of life

Across the United States, “agrihoods” like Georgia’s Serenbe or Idaho’s Hidden Springs are satisfying a craving Americans have for feeling more connected to the land and what they eat. A passion for organic or locally sourced food is motivating people to move to nature-centered developments.

“Real estate developers are looking for the next big thing to set them apart,” said Ed McMahon, senior resident fellow with the Urban Land Institute in Washington. Upscale development near agricultural activity until now has usually dragged down home values and even been impossible in some areas due to zoning or infrastructure limitations. So there are many variations of the agrihood, McMahon said.

Developers may choose to thread housing units onto acreage rented out to existing farmers or hire farmers to set up a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program right in the subdivision. Some agrihood models are styled like an Israeli kibbutz or moshav, where the residents themselves run a farm with a you weed, you feed business concept. In others, residents simply live near their food and can buy a CSA harvest share.

Ten miles north of Boise, Idaho, in hilly open country, Timothy Wagner chairs the Hidden Springs Farm Committee. He and his wife moved to Hidden Springs in 2008 from Washington, D.C. An engineer by profession, he guides the 40-acre agricultural program at Hidden Springs.

“It’s relaxing out here. We operate on courtesy,” he said.

The farm community has almost everything residents need: a fire station, mercantile, restaurant, elementary school, and options ranging from condos to 5,000-square-foot custom homes. The perks include open spaces, community gardens, group work, classes, and even a 1-acre corn maze.

“You can be self-contained here if you work from home,” Wagner said. “Go over the hill to Boise just for fuel or groceries not found at the Merc.”

For Hidden Springs, the Little Red Hen principle is important: You work, you harvest, and you have some. Residents get email directions for how to participate in activities each week. And one resident manages a Facebook page and community website.

Colorado-based Agriburbia built and operates a business-model community, The Farmstead, near Salisbury, N.C. Resident homeowners get the opportunity to be mentored in market-garden farming and even have their own small “steward farms” next to their homes, all set within a larger expanse of the community’s “civic farm” land and common spaces. Another agrihood, Arizona’s urban Agritopia community, has a commercial zone and assisted-living units beside 452 single-family homes.

At the heart of the model is a focus on growing, processing, and consuming local edibles, with an emphasis placed on the idea of community. But for all the talk of fellowship and “community,” there is little mention of church.

Clay and Roz Johnson planted themselves in Serenbe, an agrihood 30 miles south of Atlanta, when their second child arrived and they wanted more space. Now they live next to the barn. They enjoy watching the farm’s free-range flocks and being involved in producing their daily food.

“We sold our three-bedroom [house] in Atlanta for more than we bought our five-bedroom here. We both work from home, and have room available if needed for our aging parents,” Clay Johnson said.

Ten years after its start, nearly 70 percent of Serenbe’s 1,000-plus-acre property is green space. Its landscape provides edible, medicinal, or native plants, said spokeswoman Monica Olsen.

“We have blueberry bushes at all of the crosswalks, three on-site restaurants and a seasonal farmer's market,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.