Yard to Table
Dublin family transforms its yard into a fruit-yielding farm By Megan Roth Photos courtesy of Don Belock
While none of their homemade products are for sale, Don says the family enjoys gifting their jams to friends, family and their children’s teachers. Those fruits of their labor are a special way of working together as a family to create one-of-a-kind gifts. Don and Lori estimate that they have made at least 100 apple pies and 200 jars of jam, all from the trees and shrubs in their yard. “It really gives you some perspective of what kind of productivity you can get in a suburban yard,” Don says. Educational Opportunity The Belocks view their farm as more than an interesting hobby, but a way to instill important values into their children as well. Ripening the peaches and creating the jam.
Don and Lori Belock have long had an interest in the fruit cultivation process. After taking their children to various U-pick farms throughout central Ohio, though, the couple decided to start their very own at their suburban home in Dublin. “We’d always talked about buying some land and having a farm someday,” Don says, “and then we said, ‘Well, shoot, we have enough land to do it here!’” After a family meeting around 2006 with daughters Kristen, now 17, and Marissa, now 22, to discuss what everyone hoped to see grow at the residential farm, the Belocks began swapping out ornamental plants in front of the house for apple, peach and nectarine trees. 26 • June/July 2022
“It was a one-step-at-a-time process to change our landscaping from traditional ornamentals to productive food growing shrubs and trees,” Don says. The farm began with smaller, selfpollinating fruit trees while the Belocks honed their pruning and cultivation skills. Larger plants typically require many other plants in the vicinity in order to pollinate. As the smaller crops began successfully growing produce, the couple were able to cultivate larger crops that would be able to help one another pollinate. Today, the Belocks grow peaches, apples, nectarines, figs, black raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Farm to Table As the farm began producing hundreds of pounds of fruit, the Belocks started using their homegrown produce to make jams, pies and preserves.
Don and his daughter, Kristen, with a golden delicious apple picked from their tree. www.dublinlifemagazine.com
