Jason Dohring has spent several years away from television, but the Veronica Mars actor has not been sitting around waiting for another role. He has been developing farms.
Dohring, 44, revealed that a gardening hobby he picked up around the COVID-19 pandemic eventually became a much larger commitment. He is now working on his third farm and has shifted much of his attention from acting to growing food, according to PEOPLE.
The change has involved considerably more than a backyard vegetable patch. Dohring worked on a 14-acre farm in West Virginia where about 4,000 fruit trees were planted, and he estimated that he personally planted roughly 3,500 of them. He now lives with his family on an 11-acre farm in Florida.
Acting is not completely behind him. Dohring recently agreed to appear in a friend’s short film and said he expects that he will “probably jump back into” the profession at some point, even as farming occupies most of his attention for now.
‘I’m Just Gonna Go Farm for a Minute’
Dohring traced the change back roughly four years, when he became absorbed in gardening at home. He recalled becoming so interested in it that he barely noticed the passage of time during the pandemic because he was spending so much of it outside working in his backyard.
The hobby eventually became serious enough for him to tell his representatives that acting was no longer going to be his immediate focus. “I told my agents, ‘I’m just gonna go farm for a minute,’” Dohring said during the Don’t Do Nothing podcast. His agents told him they would continue sending projects anyway.
What sounded like a temporary detour lasted much longer. Dohring said he has spent about three years developing farms and is now on his third, motivated by his interest in producing high-quality food and learning how soil, growing methods and farm design can affect what people eat.
He also described the work in creative terms. “The flavor of food can be so amazing,” he said, adding that there is an artistic element in the way a farm itself is designed and built.
He Planted Thousands of Fruit Trees in West Virginia
One of Dohring’s largest projects was a 14-acre farm in West Virginia. He said about 4,000 fruit trees were planted there, including apples, pears, peaches, cherries and nectarines, and estimated that he personally put roughly 3,500 of them into the ground.
The colder climate allowed him to grow fruit trees that need a certain amount of winter chill before producing properly. Those crops are less suited to the conditions at his current farm in Florida.
Dohring has also emphasized avoiding chemical sprays. He told the podcast that he once spent about three months covering trees with landscape fabric. “We haven’t sprayed once on our farm,” he said, describing the approach as successful so far.
His current operation is an 11-acre farm in Florida, where he lives with his wife, Lauren Kutner, and their four children. Dohring told Fox News that the climate was part of the appeal after attempting to grow food in Los Angeles, where long stretches without rain and restrictions on accessing water created additional challenges.
His Goal Is to Grow Food for 5,000 People
Dohring is already thinking beyond what his own family can grow or consume. He said his long-term goal is to produce enough food for 5,000 people and build a dedicated market around customers who specifically care about the quality of what they buy.
He compared the idea to a private wine club, except the product would be carefully grown food. Entertainment Weekly reported that Dohring wants to create his own market for people seeking what he called “really good quality food.”
Dohring said he is interested in how regenerative growing practices, farm design and attention to flavor could produce something meaningfully different from conventional grocery-store produce. Asked about his ultimate goal, he broadened the answer beyond farming. “I really, honestly, just want to help people,” Dohring said, whether that eventually happens through farming, gardening, education or art.
He Has Not Closed the Door on Acting
Dohring’s most recent television work remains his four-episode run as Lt. Cmdr. Alex Whitshaw on SEAL Team in 2021. He has nevertheless been back in front of a camera since then after a friend asked him to participate in a small short-film project.
The experience reminded him how strongly he still responds to creative work. Dohring said being around art made him immediately excited about acting again and acknowledged that he will “probably jump back into it at some point.”
He also spoke warmly about Veronica Mars, where he became best known as Logan Echolls opposite Kristen Bell. Dohring pointed to the unusually deep roster of performers who passed through the series, including Jessica Chastain, Amanda Seyfried and Paris Hilton, whom he remembered as “very, very smart.”
Dohring played Logan during the original television run, returned for the fan-funded 2014 movie and reprised the role again in Hulu’s 2019 revival.