Photography Blog

The State of Ohio is part of the American Corn Belt, and as such, we are naturally invested in agriculture. In addition, we have been fortunate over the years to have had many advancements for farming. It is still a time-consuming, but rewarding job; but these new advancements have certainly made this line of work less physically taxing. Farming itself became easier to do, while the yield of crops have dramatically increased since my grandfather’s time.

So in contrast to those farmers from decades past, today’s farmer finds himself with more time to dedicate to his hobbies. With regards to myself, I have been able to put this time to good use by pursuing woodcrafts that I have not been able to do since I was a small lad. Those were the days - back then, my father did most of the work in the farm, with me dedicating only a fraction of my time to the crops. I spent the rest of the day carving away with my grandfather.

It was thus natural for me to have developed an impressive collection of woodcrafts over time. It eventually came to a point where I could no longer keep them stored on my shelves. So I did what was very saddening to me; I kept many of my works in boxes that were kept in the attic. But even those began to pile up and take up too much space. Something had to be done.

So then one of my good friends suggested something interesting: Why keep the fruits of my labor in boxes that no one will get to see, when I could instead sell them at craft shows? He even suggested that I man the booth myself, and just instruct my first-born son to mind the farm in these rare days. I could even carve some more while I wait for people to take an interest in my crafts. It was an interesting idea, and I decided to try it out.

I am so glad that I tried it! It turned out to be one of the better things that I’ve decided to do. It was really hard at first, but I eventually got my legs on the ground. The idea of selling my crafts allows me to keep my home collection to a bare minimum while gaining some extra income for my family. It’s not enough to make a living by itself, to be sure, but it’s good enough to let me give my children gifts from time to time. Now I’m not forced to give them some of my own carvings as birthday presents.