Maggie's Farm

I make stuff, mostly of wood, and have done so for many years. It started as a way to get things done that I couldn't afford to pay someone else to do - or the job was too small to attract the interest of a professional. I now make all sorts of things, including furniture, turned items, kids toys, etc. My wife is also handy but focuses more on sewing, knitting, and craft sorts of things.

Crawford says it very well in his book:

“The satisfactions of manifesting oneself concretely in the world through manual competence have been known to make a man quiet and easy. They seem to relieve him of the felt need to offer chattering interpretations of himself to vindicate his worth. He can simply point: the building stands, the car now runs, the lights are on. Boasting is what a boy does, because he has no real effect in the world. But the tradesman must reckon with the infallible judgment of reality, where one’s failures or shortcomings cannot be interpreted away. His well-founded pride is far from the gratuitous “self-esteem” that educators would impart to students, as though by magic.”
― Matthew B. Crawford, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work

Interesting to see too that our mental health is generally improved by these handi activities.

So true. I should have mentioned that my woodworking and my wife's sewing and such are hobbies for us. Much like you I've got a day job that pays the bills. Though I've been thinking about 'retiring' to my hobby full time.

For a very specific and, I would argue, esoteric area of Economics. Wiki says: Krugman was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to New Trade Theory and New Economic Geography. The Prize Committee cited Krugman's work explaining the patterns of international trade and the geographic distribution of economic activity, by examining the effects of economies of scale and of consumer preferences for diverse goods and services.

He has since used this to justify his status as an expert on all matters of economics; falsely if you ask me. He's very much a shill for Democrats and their policies - not an objective and disinterested expert.