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.

As it happens, the farmers of today get to have more time to devote to himself and his family, as opposed to their predecessors from decades past. For example, I, as a farmer, have been able to spend more time with my hobbies. This is something that I would not have been able to do with the way they farmed fifty years ago; I am able to go back to wood carving in the same way that I did as a young lad. And this is all due to me spending only significant fraction of my time farming, as opposed to all of it.

Before I noticed anything, my extra time has allowed me to develop an impressive collection of wood carved objects. there were so many of them and they could no longer fit in the shelves. Although it saddened me to do so, I was forced to start keeping some of them in boxes. But then, even the boxes began to increase their number.

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.