Lifestyle
Agritopia planned community near Phoenix mixes farm and neighborhood
GILBERT, Ariz. (AP) — Just steps from the porticos, patios, clay-tiled roofs and manicured lawns of suburbia, Kelly Saxer has gotten used to questions. As she weaves through tomato vines, snaps asparagus and generally gets her hands dirty, visitors and even some nearby residents want to know what she’s doing — and how the farm where she works wound up here.
“Sometimes it feels like we’re animals in a zoo a little bit because people will walk by and they’ll just stare, you know, like gawk at us,” Saxer said.
This is Agritopia, an 11-acre (4.5-hectare) organic farm that’s all that remains after miles of alfalfa, corn, cotton, durum wheat and sugar beets were swallowed up by Phoenix’s roaring development.
Farmland sits amid Agritopia, a community nestled around a plot of agricultural land, on Monday, April 21, 2025, in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
Kelly Saxer, lead farmer at Agritopia, a community nestled around a plot of agricultural land, harvests lettuce April 22, 2025, in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
In this “agrihood” — a residential community that includes a working farm — kids play outside at a school that borders vegetable fields or in communal green spaces nestled between homes. Well-dressed couples and boisterous teenagers flock for selfies and picturesque photos. Lines form at the diner featured on Guy Fieri’s Food Network show. On the farm itself, people can walk the dirt roads, rent out plots to grow their own foods or buy its produce.
Some developers have turned to the agrihood concept in the past couple of decades to lure buyers with a different kind of amenity. At least 27 U.S. states and Canadian provinces had agrihoods as of a 2018 report from the Urban Land Institute, and more have cropped up since then.
Experts say agrihoods cater to buyers interested in sustainability, access to healthy food and a mix of urban and rural life. The core aim of many projects is to “create a feeling for people,” said Matt Norris, one of the lead authors of that report.
Agritopia’s founders saw change coming, and made a plan
Joe Johnston, the founder of Agritopia, a community nestled around a plot of agricultural land, poses for a portrait inside his office April 22, 2025, in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
It was the late 1990s when the family behind Agritopia saw “the writing on the wall,” said Joe Johnston.
The family farm was some 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Gilbert then but it was clear the Phoenix area’s rapid growth was going to bring development to their doorstep. With his parents mostly retired and a pair of brothers interested in doing other things, Johnston got their blessing to develop the land himself rather than simply selling it.
Johnston, with a background in design engineering, was intent on “creating place,” as he puts it. The neighborhood features narrow streets and homes within walking distance of restaurants, bars, shops, small parks and fitness businesses. The farm is at the center of it.
Residents greet Joe Johnston, founder of Agritopia, a community nestled around a plot of agricultural land, as he makes his rounds in his golf cart April 22, 2025, in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Melissa Checker, a professor of anthropology at City University of New York and author of a book on environmental gentrification, said agrihoods can appeal to people in different ways — their desire to feel environmentally conscious, nostalgia for an imagined idea of the past, increased interest in food “self-sufficiency” and even a heightened desire to be safe and connected to neighbors after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You have a kind of convergence of some commercial interests, you know, something that you can sell to people, and then also this real desire to change the way we do things,” she said.
Agritopia, but not utopia
Kamori Parra, 5, hangs out on one of the farms at Agritopia, a community nestled around a plot of agricultural land, on April 22, 2025, in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
In an ideal world, using green community space to grow food could especially benefit people who are food-insecure, Checker said. But because agrihoods are often tied to real estate prices and developers want a return on their investment, “it’s much more likely that these kinds of projects go into gentrifying neighborhoods or more affluent neighborhoods,” she said.
It’s not clear just how big a role the farm plays in attracting buyers. At Agritopia, for example, few of the 500 homes participate in the farm box program that offers them first pick of seasonal fruits and vegetables. (The farm also sells at a market in downtown Gilbert and donates to a local food pantry.)
Fae Padron, 4, plays in a “kid pod,” a cluster of families with more than 20 kids between them, at Agritopia, a community nestled around a plot of agricultural land, April 21, 2025, in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Johnston said he knew “not everyone’s going to be passionate about agriculture.” That’s why he was intent on creating a village where people have spaces to come together; it’s up to them how much, if at all, they want to be involved in farming.
Still, farms are a selling point for developers especially across the Sun Belt who compete to offer pools, gyms, parks and other perks to would-be residents who have a wide range of planned communities to choose from, said Scott Snodgrass. He’s founding partner of a developer that created Indigo, an agrihood outside Houston, and also of a company called Agmenity that runs farms for agrihood developers.
How the farm and the neighborhood intersect
At Agritopia, a community nestled around a plot of agricultural land, residential homes are intentionally close to the farm, April 22, 2025, in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
As the sun rises, the farm’s workers snip the roots off scallions and pull up thick bunches of lettuce and green garlic.
Before he started working at Agritopia, Ernesto Penalba didn’t know all the steps involved in growing garlic — harvesting, cleaning, plus packing and transporting. “But we only perceive it as one process. So it was really interesting to understand that,” he said, speaking in Spanish.
CC Garrett, who goes by “Miss Hickory” when she’s leading educational tours for kids on the farm, said she loves watching young people connect with their food in new ways — eating and maybe even enjoying salad for the first time or learning why you can’t grow tomatoes year-round.
“It’s amazing for me just because this community, it just really speaks to me, being built around an urban farm, which I think is such an important American concept,” she said.
A tractor clears farmland in Agritopia, a community nestled around a plot of agricultural land, on Sunday, April 22, 2025, in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
For some who live here, this place is more than a typical neighborhood. In Agritopia’s “kid pod,” a cluster of families with 23 kids between them, parents let the young ones roam freely, knowing at least one guardian will always be looking out for them. The rest of the parents make dinner or plan a date night. Just across the street, a peach and citrus orchard sways in the breeze, occasionally wafting the smells of fruit into front yards.
Maria Padron lives in the “kid pod” with her husband and two children. She loves living in Agritopia for the sense of camaraderie with her neighbors.
Maria Padron, center, plays with her daughter Fae Padron, 4, right, in a “kid pod,” a cluster of families with more than 20 kids between them, at Agritopia, a community nestled around a plot of agricultural land, April 21, 2025, in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Her own family in Virginia had to give up their farm when her grandfather couldn’t take care of it anymore. She wishes it had stayed in the family, but it’s a vineyard now.
Asked whether she would have wanted her grandfather’s land to become an agrihood, she says maybe — if it was done right.
“There’s something obviously beautiful here that’s going on, but there is some grief there too, if you’ve watched this land be a certain thing and then it changes within an instant,” Padron said.
Maverick, left, and Brennan, right, play in Agritopia’s “kid pod,” a cluster of families with more than 20 kids between them at Agritopia, a community nestled around a plot of agricultural land, on April 21, 2025, in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
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Follow Melina Walling on X @MelinaWalling and Bluesky @melinawalling.bsky.social. Follow Joshua A. Bickel on Instagram, Bluesky and X @joshuabickel. Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram @ahammergram.
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
NEW YORK (AP) — MrBeast plans to turn the success of his Amazon Prime Video reality competition series into millions of dollars for charity.
YouTube’s biggest creator is offering an exclusive weekend on the set of Beast Games Season 2 to the first 40 donors who make $100,000 gifts to his registered nonprofit. The earliest contributors and up to two guests each will spend June 27-29 touring MrBeast’s North Carolina studio, hearing from the production team in a private Q&A and visiting Beast Philanthropy’s food pantry.
The invitation comes as Jimmy Donaldson’s reported $5 billion media empire surpasses 400 million subscribers on YouTube, where he had already set the record for the biggest following. But the call raises a question: Who among his following of young people and their parents can make a six-figure donation?
“I have some big charity projects I want to fund so I think it’s a win/win,” MrBeast said in a post on X.
Rallying his fervent fan base to make their own contributions marks a new fundraising strategy for Donaldson. He has long stated that his YouTube pages’ featured charitable work is funded with his Beast Philanthropy channel’s revenue.
The content has drawn a mix of praise from fans for working with local nonprofits to support previously unfunded projects and pushback from critics who accused Donaldson of exploiting vulnerable people for clickbait “inspiration porn.” Campaigns have involved treating rheumatic heart disease in Nigeria and protecting endangered animals in Kenya. Other examples include building wells in countries across Africa and covering the cost of cataract surgery for 1,000 people.
The call also signals Donaldson’s continued philanthropic presence after comments suggesting he would get “less hate” if he stepped away from philanthropy altogether. Responding to allegations that he uses philanthropy as a shield, Donaldson said he thinks “it paints a negative spotlight on me.”
“People hate me more because I do good,” Donaldson said in a conversation uploaded last November on the YouTube channel oompaville. “Maybe that’s too crazy of a statement. I’m not trying to sound like a victim here or anything.”
“The truth is, I just find videos where I help people more fun than videos where I don’t,” he added.
Monday’s announcement comes shortly after Amazon Prime Video renewed Beast Games for two more seasons. The reality competition series pitted 1,000 contestants against each other for a $5 million grand prize that doubled in the Feb. 13 finale. Forbes reported that the show broke the streaming service’s record by totaling 50 million views in the 25 days after its premiere.
MrBeast’s latest fan event also follows reports that an April weekend experience billed as “immersive” and “unforgettable” had fallen short of attendees’ expectations.
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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
LONDON (AP) — People in parts of the U.S. may be able to see Northern lights Monday night — or at least use a smartphone’s camera to reveal hints of the aurora not visible to the naked eye.
Space weather forecasters issued a rare, severe solar storm alert on Sunday after the sun let out a huge burst of energy called a coronal mass ejection last week. Another one headed toward Earth on Monday could produce more aurora sightings and with it, more social media posts of the majestic spectacle.
If you plan to head outside after sunset to look for the lights, and photograph them, there are things you can do to make sure you get the best shot. First, though, try to find a quiet, dark area away from light pollution and check the weather forecast — clouds can cover up the aurora borealis.
As for equipment, ideally, you should use a DSLR camera because its manual controls give you lots of control, and a tripod to hold it steady. But many people won’t have this sort of equipment. But if you’ve only got a smartphone, you can still take great photos of the night skies.
Here are some tips on how to shoot the Northern Lights:
A good setup
Before fiddling with your phone, take a few other steps to improve your chances of getting a good shot. First, dim your screen. A bright screen can hurt your night vision and both others nearby.
Even if you don’t have a tripod, it’s best not to hold your phone with your hands while shooting at night because there’s a good chance the picture will turn out blurry. Find something to rest your device against, like a hat, a book or even just the ground.
Of course, check the forecast because auroras are best seen in clear skies. Find a dark spot, away from city lights and look north. Also, consider going horizontal instead of vertical to capture a wider image.
Tips for the iPhone
First, turn off your phone’s flash. It’s usually marked by the lightning bolt symbol in the corner of the screen.
Next, use Night Mode, which is found on iPhone 11 and newer models. It usually turns on automatically in low light. You can tell it’s on because a circular icon with a crescent moon will appear in the top left corner of the screen.
For night shots, a longer exposure is better because there’s more time for light to hit the lens. Apple says Night Mode’s exposure length is normally determined automatically, but you can still experiment with manual controls.
To get to the controls, tap the arrow at the top of the camera screen, which will bring up a row of controls at the bottom. Tap find the exposure icon, which is the same crescent moon symbol as the Night Mode icon.
A slider will come up, which you can drag left or right to choose between Auto and Max timer settings. Max will give you the longest exposure time. Whichever setting you choose, it will be remembered for the next time.
Then, tap the shutter button to take your shot. Better yet, turn on the countdown timer. The delay gives you time to move away and reduces the chance any movement from your finger will affect the shot.
If you are going handheld, and the iPhone detects movement in the frame, it will display crosshairs. Try to keep them lined up to minimize any motion that can ruin the shot.
Tips for Android devices
There are similar night and astrophotography modes available on most Android devices.
On Pixel phones, tap the Night Sight setting at the bottom of the screen. If you’re using a tripod, the astrophotography setting will come up automatically once the phone has detected that it is still and ready, according to Google’s online guide.
Now you can press the shutter, which will trigger a five-second countdown timer before the phone starts taking a long exposure of up to four minutes.
If you don’t have a tripod, you’ll have to activate the astro mode by tapping the crescent moon icon and swiping the slider.
You’ll still get a five-second timer when you hit the shutter, which Google says “allows you to place your phone down on a steady surface facing the sky.” Then the phone will play a sound to let you know it’s done.
Newer Samsung phones can access an astrophoto mode, but users will have to download the company’s free Expert Raw camera app to get it.
Use a third-party app
If you feel like you need some outside assistance for your snapshots, tourist boards and other outfits from some Nordic countries have suggestions for you. Iceland Air, for instance, has a blog entry on the best apps for taking pictures of the Northern lights, including the Northern Lights Photo Taker, which costs 99 cents to download and “does exactly what it says,” according to the post.
Inspired by Iceland lists additional apps to try, especially if your default camera lacks manual controls. These include NightCap Camera, ProCamera, and Slow Shutter for iOS. For Android, ProCam X Lite is a good choice.
Visit Norway suggests similar camera replacement apps, but notes that you should test them before you go to see what works best for you and the type of phone you have.
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AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay contributed from San Francisco.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — It’s time to peek at the peak peonies.
Visitors are making the annual pilgrimage to the University of Michigan this week to see — and smell — one of the world’s premier collections of the garden plant, featuring showy red, white and pink blooms of countless shades and varieties.
Melanie Millar and her friends visited the Ann Arbor school’s Nichols Arboretum on Monday to take some graduation photos.
The 18-year-old Millar is set to graduate from a Detroit-area high school in a matter of days.
“I’m here with my best friends — a bunch of girls. … We just came here to get pictures since it’s going to be a nice day, and the Peony Garden seemed like a nice place to go to,” Millar said.
The W.E. Upjohn Peony Garden features the largest collection of historic — pre-1950 — herbaceous peonies in North America, “and likely the world,” curator David Michener said.
“Once you come here to the Peony Garden, you’ll be mesmerized, and you’ll understand why people love peonies,” he said. “The fragrances, the colors, the forms, it’s just intoxicating.”
The peony watch is a spectator sport with tens of thousands of visitors arriving at The Arb each spring to behold the unique perennials — so many that visitors have to be bused in.
But there was a somber mood among some Monday. Vandals cut off the blooms of roughly 250 peonies a day earlier, the University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security said in a statement.
Although no group or organization has taken credit for vandalizing the garden, some papers were left behind, DPSS said. One referenced the war in Gaza, saying: “Palestinian lives deserve to be cared for. More than these flowers.”
“What would possess someone just to destroy nature and the beauty of it? It’s just unfathomable,” visitor Linda J.K. Klenczar said Monday. “There’s no explanation. I don’t know if they’re going to catch someone who did this. They need to explain themselves.”
It’s a moving target each year as to when the peonies will reach peak bloom. And one of great interest – with scores of peony-watchers glued to the Arb’s Instagram page for updates.
“What makes it so challenging to predict is they pay no attention to the calendar,” Michener said. “They’re driven totally by day and night temperatures.”
The campus Peony Garden contains more than 300 historic cultivated varieties from the 19th and early 20th centuries, representing American, Canadian and European peonies of the era. The garden typically features up to 10,000 flowers at peak bloom.
Their colorful blossoms draw admirers from Michigan and beyond, but the peonies’ beauty is not their primary function. The garden is designed as a support mechanism for academia — to be a research collection for students and faculty to explore genomics and social issues.
Michener and his colleagues at Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum work closely with their sister garden in Minsk, the Central Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, trying to understand how ornamental peonies are related to each other and the wild, ancestral species.
Michigan’s Peony Garden is free to visit and open from sunrise to sunset. For those drawn to the ancient plant’s scent, Michener said it’s best to show up earlier in the day or later in the evening, when the fragrances are the best.
“It’s very colorful. I have a lot of peonies in my backyard, so I have a spot for them. But they’re a beautiful flower,” Millar said.
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