Gardening, Cooking, and Woodworking

There are certain characteristics about my family that I enjoy a great deal - and oddly enough, come to think of it, most of them are tied to what we spend our time doing when we get together around the holidays. Growing up in Arizona - Thanksgiving time was always outdoor project time - we loved doing things in the garden, in the yard, in the garage. Christmas time was about the same, with some baking of Christmas treats thrown in. It seems like we were always finding excuses to get dirt under our fingernails, or saw-dust in our hair - and that's stuck with me.

Even at college, I start filling blank spots in the apartment with plants, and looking for excuses to build little furniture odds and ends for myself, my roommates, and close friends. A good portion of my belongings consist of tools, both power and hand. From personal experience I can tell you that having tools, the know-how, and the willingness to help is a great way to expand your circle of friends. Same goes for cooking - feed a group of people a good meal and you'll see what I mean.

I've given some thought to this recently - given how much enjoyment I find in gardening, cooking, and woodworking... why I never really considered a career in any of those fields escapes me. Of course, I've been told that the best way to ruin one of your favorite hobbies is to try and turn it into a career. Still, you always hear stories of people who did the very same, and love what they do, and never look back.

Most tempting of the three is woodworking. I've remarked several times to close friends that saw-dust has an almost narcotic appeal to my senses... the sounds, the smells, the feel, the sense of accomplishment that go with creating beautiful pieces of woodwork are hard to beat - although I have to admit that I've cooked several things that smelled (and tasted) better than fresh sawdust (not that I've ever deliberately tasted fresh sawdust).

Since I enjoy so much about woodworking... I've tried to think of several ways that one could make it a going proposition for paying the bills and more. Short of building custom furniture, it's hard to imagine how one could build on a small scale and make any money -- assembly-line pieces may not have that 'heirloom' quality and look to them - but it seems like economy and convenience for relocation are pretty powerful arguments for finishing a home these days?

Another option, with it's own appeal, is timberframe construction of homes. That sort of work may not be easy - but it would certainly get me into the outdoors, and working with wood - both of them huge plusses in my book.

Ever since I found Google Sketchup, I've been creating designs of things I'd like to build, things I have built, and things I don't think I'll ever be able to build - but that process of creation, planning, and construction thrills me in ways I find hard to describe.

The thing that plagues me is that I'm pretty sure I would love doing this - just working with wood in general - but part of me keeps on saying "someday" when I know that if you say that enough it'll turn into "well, woulda coulda shoulda." Am I crazy enough to de-rail my university studies to chase after something like this? Not quite that crazy -- there's got to be a better way to go about it, I just haven't found it yet.

The funny thing (to me) is--- that I'm now positive I'm not the only one who has given serious thought to this -- several people I have mentioned it to have expressed a surprising amount of interest - "If you ever do that, keep me in mind." Words to that effect. They have no idea how much more tempting they just made that option sound by letting those words off the tip of their tongue. The thought of this thing 'snowballing' just makes it that much more tantalizing.