(upbeat music) (keyboard tapping) (mouse click) (wood scraping) (hammer knocking) - I've always loved art.

I've always had an appreciation.

I always wished I could do stuff.

Didn't know I could carve a face until I got into it.

(gentle guitar music) 2007, I went and visited a friend in Newport, Tennessee, and he goes, "Come on out in the shop.

I wanna show you a hobby I got into."

And he had a pretty rough-looking face and he was carving in the side of a old cedar fence post and he gave me a chisel and he said, "Run that up, run that up that cedar."

And the moment I did that, something in me clicked, and I just said, "Man, I've gotta do this."

And on the way home, I made the people I was riding with stop at a bookstore, I bought a woodcarving book and a woodcarving magazine and I began to whittle, just with a knife.

And then my friend, Marty, down in Tennessee was taking lessons off a real master carver down there and so he was sharing with me what he was learning.

And so I drove down to Tennessee maybe several months later and that's when I did my first rough face.

Then I got some YouTube videos, I actually purchased DVDs, just started studying, learning, growing in that and took some real professional lessons.

And I was stumped and almost quit because there is a level of skill, especially when I started getting into the faces 'cause all my faces at the beginning, they kind of look like aliens or Easter Island faces.

And I wanted to carve realism, I didn't want to carve caricatures unless they were more of a fantasy type.

And so a lot of wood went into the fireplace.

I just kept at it, kept digging in.

I'm not a quitter.

It does take patience.

I'm not a patient man, I'm kind of a type-A leader.

I have a lot of energy.

It really helped me find some peace and that kept me coming back, coming back to the shop and keep carving.

(gentle music continues) So many things can happen when you begin to do a carving 'cause you can only carve what the wood gives you.

And so you may predict, like, the grain is doing this, and then you get inside and maybe you find a knot.

I was carving a Green Men and while I was carving, a worm came out of its head and there's a perfect little round circle and I'm like, "oh my gosh, it ruined my carving."

But then you just gotta, I guess the artist in me just appreciates, you've gotta work with what you have.

And so it's very rare that I will get into a piece and say, I don't like what the wood's doing, and I'll scrap it, unless you get in there and there's just rot.

You can't carve rot.

Or some of the biggest mistakes I've made with wood, the grain, if it runs away and I carve it wrong and I do a big chip out, some of those biggest mistakes actually take you deeper into the wood, which adds more depth and shadowing, which makes it more, adds more realism, but most carvings, once you get into it, if there's something in the wood, you take what nature gave you, you take what the wood gives you.

And so I've always thought whenever I thought a carving was ruined, it actually became one of my better carvings.

There's always another level that you go to when you're carving and I'm not there yet, I'm still learning.

But the expression is the life in the face, so you add character, a personality.

That's what I'm going through, that's my next goal.

(wood scraping softly) And then I did my first portrait of my father.

(gentle guitar music) I wanted to honor him even though he may not, you now, I showed him the carving once and he's like, "well, I can't believe that."

But I also in my heart wanted to know I'm honoring him and so his legacy will continue in that piece of art.

The reason I love doing Green Men is 'cause they are very freestyle, meaning you are not copying necessarily a Green Men, even though I have one I copied from Norwich in Europe.

And kind of the tradition or the legend of Green Men in some churches in Europe before the 1600s at some place in the cathedral would be a Green Men, which is a man either in ceramic or mortar or wood with leaves or vines coming out of their face.

Nobody has really said, this is the reason those were in churches.

It's all a lot of speculation.

They take a little time depending on how detailed you get with the vines and the the leaves and those kinds of things.

Also, I really love carving Native Americans and I like Native American history.

It's very sad history, our country was terrible.

And so some of the strength and the honor hat is in some of those older pictures, I enjoy carving that.

I really would like to go beyond faces because it's a skill set I don't have yet.

That's what master carvers are.

They can do a lot of different styles of carving where I've kind of focused in on the faces.

So I'm trying to focus in on other styles, other figurines or nature.

I'm doing a dragon.

Very difficult for me because the proportions and everything I've learned do not apply and so it's a whole new, a whole 'nother step of learning, which is part of the fun of carving and wood carving.

So my greatest, I guess failure or challenges carving is not quitting quite yet, (tool whirring) to add just a little more detail because the detail is what makes a standard carving a fantastic carving, the more detail, the more realism, the more artistic it looks.

So I've learned when I think I'm done to be, like, set that aside, come back out tomorrow night or when I get another evening, and look at it again and realize I wasn't quite done, and the times I've done that, I've always been very, very happy with the outcome.

I love to carve because when I come out in the shop, and like I say, I just kind of leave everything behind and you kind of enter this peaceful state of just enjoying working with your hands, enjoying working with the raw materials that the Lord created, just wood, and you really do experience just a peaceful joy in your heart, whether I'm listening to a book or some good music or a lot of times just carving in silence.

You get into a piece and then the time can just fly.

That's always a great time.

You see it coming together, that just adds to all of those feelings and emotions and you just keep doing it.

I mean, you created it.

There's nothing like it in the world.

It's the only thing like that, the only piece like that in the whole universe.

There's a lot of emotion in art, even though we may not want to see it.

It's just not this static analytical thing.

You emotionally connect with pieces.

To give a a piece away and write a note with it on why you were inspired to carve that for them, that's the best, and see somebody tear up or somebody smile or somebody just really enjoy it.

That's really, really important.

- It began with a woman named Edna Ruth Byler and she started traveling around the country selling Fair Trade items out of the trunk of her car.

(keyboard clicking) It began with a woman named Edna Ruth Byler.

She and her husband were in Puerto Rico doing mission work and she met women who made these beautiful needlework crafts.

So she went back to North America, bringing with her the needlework and she started traveling around the country selling Fair Trade items out of the trunk of her car.

Much later, in 1974, a woman here in Bluffton named Lois Kreider asked members of her Mennonite church to do a project to open a storefront.

This was the first Fair Trade shop that we know of in the United States.

They also started a thrift store to buy the products and then sold them making money to send the artisans rather than to pay a middleman, and it started a movement.

(bright violin music) Now there are Ten Thousand Villages shops all across the United States, and we're very proud that 50 years ago, we were the first.

Ten Thousand Villages has worked with most of our artisan partners for decades, and what this means is that we really do get to know the artisans that we work with, but it's important to realize that we don't just go out and find an individual who's making a craft.

We're working with groups of people who have already organized themselves, and so they are looking for Fair Trade outlets for what they do and we certainly are open to make sure that they are following the highest standards for working conditions.

(bright piano music) - Mitra Bali is a group of people who were fed up with how the big companies just dominated the tourist industry in Bali and they wanted small-scale crafts people to have a shake.

They formed a cooperative and you can only be in the cooperative if you can document that you are treating women fairly, that you are not employing children, that your working conditions are good, and that is the essence of Fair Trade.

- We definitely have people who specialize in what they enjoy.

We have people who really enjoy our fibers, our silk and alpaca and wool products.

We have our coffee drinkers or chocolate lovers.

We have a couple of people who collect jewelry, who are always delighted by the variety of gemstones and really fine jewelry that we carry.

And of course we have the Christmas ornament lovers.

I'd like to show you some of these beautiful sinamay angels.

These are made from sinamay, which is a fiber in the Philippines that comes from a tree similar to a banana tree.

I have another angel I'd like to show you and this is a jute angel and it comes from a group of women in Bangladesh who have a cooperative called The Jute Works.

The Jute Works employs 4,000 rural women and that is one thing that's really wonderful about Ten Thousand Villages is that we have angels with every skin tone, we have nativities from around the world that show the story of Jesus' birth in different cultural contexts with different colors of skin and it's a really beautiful thing to see that collection.

I think that Ten Thousand Villages brings something very special to Bluffton.

We're a small store, but we have the whole world right here and it helps people understand about different cultures and to learn about different traditions and most importantly, the artisans who make the products.

(bright music) - [Narrator] After the break, (upbeat music) the "Scenic Stops & Stories" crew reveal their favorite stop of the season.

Which one would you choose?

(upbeat music) (keyboard clacking) (mouse click) (upbeat music) We are located in Port Clinton, Ohio, which is about halfway between Toledo and Cleveland, right along the water.

It's a fun place for nature, outdoors, fun activities outside, and just a little relaxation from the city life or your country life, if you like.

(upbeat music) We are a drive-through safari park.

You drive your vehicle through the park as you go.

You feed the animals while you're out there as well.

It's kind of a self-guided safari.

It's a little over a mile long.

We've got animals from all over the world out there from North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, you name it, all over the world, out in our drive-through.

And the animals come right to your car windows.

So when you're out there feeding the animals, you really get to see them up close and personal and you get to make memories with your family out there while you're feeding them, which is my favorite part, because you're just laughing.

Most people are laughing the whole time.

There's a few scaredy cats, but for the most part, it's a fun family experience.

(upbeat music) So the drive-through is about a mile long.

It's divided into roughly five sections.

And we rotate the animals a little bit around based on who gets along with who, as well as to give them some enrichment and to change up their day so they're not always in the same space.

And the animals that are in the first couple sections are what I like to consider our easy feeders.

Those are our alpaca and our cows.

They're super gentle with guests.

They love to feed.

(lively music) Then in our next section we have our bison, elk and deer, which get a little more exciting.

They're a little more excited to take your food.

They like to steal cups occasionally, and you get a good laugh out of them.

(light laughter) - [Visitor 1] He's pacing you.

Wait, let me get this.

He's pacing you.

- [Visitor 1] This is so cute.

- [Visitor 1] Look at that.

Oh, his ears are pinned back.

- [Visitor 2] There you go.

I have no more food.

(light laughter) - [Kelsey] And then our last section is a mix of some of our more exotic African species.

So we have East African mountain bongo out there, we have zebra, giraffe, we have a few different species in that last section of the park that is more of the exotic animal feel.

(upbeat music) As you go through, it's kind of a winding road.

You can't really see always where you're going up ahead so that there's a little mystery about where are the animals.

The animals have free choice in the drive-through, so they can be anywhere throughout their sections at any point in the day, kind of every time is a little bit different who you're gonna see first or second, or who wants to come feed.

They have opportunities to hide from the guests or come up to cars, either one.

(upbeat music) In the summertime when the full park is in operation, we have over 900 animals in the park.

It's about 45 to 50 species, depending on the season.

Bison, our probably number two favorite.

Giraffe is always everyone's number one.

That's why people come here in the summer.

But bison are pretty cool.

They're here as well.

We've got over 20 bison for people to feed and see in the drive-through.

(upbeat music fades) Animals can eat all of the same food.

There's a couple different options.

Each guest gets one free animal cup with their car purchase.

So each vehicle gets a complimentary cup on us.

And then additional animal food is for purchase here.

You can buy as much or as little as you like.

It's really a make it your own experience.

If you really like feeding the animals, you can go through all day.

We offer a couple different kinds of produce throughout the season, depending on the day.

We use the produce as sort of like an extra enrichment.

It allows us to help give the animals something exciting and new, but they also balance their diet out.

You will find that as you go through, some of the animals have their favorites and what they like more than others.

For example, our giraffe do not like the regular grain.

They're picky.

And they get to be picky 'cause they're so cool.

They prefer the produce and the lettuce.

We also sell browse, which is a type of willow tree that we cultivate specifically for the giraffe, and that's their favorite.

So you kind of figure out who likes what.

(light laughter) - [Visitor 3] I think it did something.

Did it just wink?

(laughter) Oh my god.

(laughter) - [Kelsey] African Safari is a education and conservation place for the family.

Each visitor is given a park map when they visit the park.

It has an animal identification checklist in there for you to see every animal that you're gonna come across today.

And some animals that may be out at a different point in the summer They're all included.

- [Visitor 4] Oh, look at this little guy.

- [Kelsey] We have a QR code for a very interactive experience, so you actually can scan that QR code and follow along on our website with lots of other information about the animals.

Additionally, while you're out in the drive-through, you can always talk to a ranger staff.

We have rangers out there that know these animals very well and they love to talk to guests about what each animal is, what kind of animal they are, their names, things like that.

We like to make sure that guests are understanding and learning as they go.

Our park does a lot of different things in the way of conserving animals and plants locally and in the wild.

Part of the guest admission ticket does go towards our conservation efforts.

Additionally, all of our gift shop and food service locations have roundup and go to our conservation fund.

It's a great place for you to see animals that we want to conserve in the wild, but also a great way to support conservation.

Throughout the year, we also do conservation themed events here.

One in particular is our World Giraffe Day events.

We do conservation messaging all day, and do extra special giraffe things on June 21st.

It's the longest day of the year for the tallest animal.

And on World Giraffe Day, we fundraise for giraffe, but we also do special keeper talks and education messaging for the giraffe so that people learn about what's happening to them in the wild, but also what's happening to their counterparts in the wild.

- [Visitor 5] He's coming right for us.

- [Visitor 2] He's looking right at you.

- [Kelsey] My favorite part about working at African Safari is the guest interaction with the animals.

When you go to a normal zoo, you are far away from the animals.

They are for you to look at only.

You don't get to touch, interact, or have an experience.

And those experiences are what connect you to that wildlife.

You're never gonna forget when the giraffe licks your fingers.

And those are the things that really inspire me to work here.

- [Visitor 1] Oh my gosh.

- We just like to listen to what's coming out of the cars because it's hilarious.

There's guests laughing and crying and screaming.

You name it.

And every person's reaction to animals is different, but that reaction is what makes our jobs worth it so that they get to experience animals the way that we do.

- I guess you're hungry.

(jaunty music) - [Visitor 5] Am I hungry or not?

- [Visitor 1] She's debating it.

No.

You sure?

(jaunty music) (laughter) (juanty music) - [Visitor 1] Here we go.

(laughter continues) (juanty music) - [Visitor 1] Oh, is that not gross?

Nothing?

You're hungry?

All right, we gave you the shot.

(jaunty music) - [Visitor 6] Oh, this is awesome.

(jaunty music) It's licking the camera!

- [Visitor 4] No!

Hey!

(laughter) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Still to come.

Can you choose just one?

The crew of "Scenic Stops & Stories" reveals their favorite story of the season.

(upbeat music) (keyboard clacking) (mouse clicking) (tool whirring) (upbeat music) (hammer thudding) - I used to work in the Jeep plant and I was on the line and I was watching the floor doing the same job for 10 hours a day over and over and over.

And I'm seeing all these pieces just like fly by me that I know were going in the trash.

And I was like, what can I do with these?

So I took a handful home and I created my first junkie and that was it.

(rock music) So I create characters that I call Junkeez.

And I call them that because they're made out of at first it was like junk pieces things that we're gonna get thrown away.

I've kind of grown into making pieces with like antiques and vintage items now rather than just like trash.

But what they are are found object, repurposed sculpture.

Anything that I find that I think is interesting, I create characters with it.

And I kind of use hardware and things to put them together.

I love wooden fruits.

Like any, did you know, you've seen people's coffee table with a bowl of wooden fruit or whatever, anytime I find them, I have to get them.

Almost everything I use is metal and wood, rarely plastic or any kind of things like that unless it's like an accessory.

When I start making Junkeez, I might have an idea in my head based on feet or based on the body or whatever, but I really don't know who they're gonna be until I'm done making them.

And then I'll look at them and be like, okay, who are they and what are they doing?

So this is gonna be a little bear I guess or something, maybe a mouse.

(upbeat music) And I go to friends and Facebook and Instagram and wherever to have my community contribute to the name and what they're doing and stuff.

People love that.

When I go to make Junkeez, I either was inspired by a piece or part that I found somewhere to build the whole junkie into something or I just grab pieces and parts that I think will look good together and I'll start building and then it just comes together.

I put so much care and time into each piece and part that I make for the whole junkie itself.

I will try my best to make those pieces and parts fit somehow.

Even if I did screw something up, drill an extra hole, I don't consider it a fail, I consider it another challenge, another hurdle for me to try to figure out how to fix.

Yeah, I'm trying to figure out.

I'll throw some details on there real quick while I'm thinking of feet.

Just use more forks and spoons or something.

Why?

On occasion I will have to look for a certain piece or part because I have an idea of how I wanna put a certain thing together.

So I have to have like a certain shape of wood or a certain whatever.

You got to stay away from glue if you want things to stay together forever.

So I strictly use hardware.

If I ever use glue now it's for like a tiny detail that needs inset somewhere or something like that.

Eyeballs, on occasion I'll put glue just to make sure that they're in there, but they always have something that's still keeping them in there besides it.

But not until the past like 10, 15 years have I came into what I'm actually doing.

And how everything that I've learned all through the years and everything else, it has all kind of came together in my art.

It might have took me a week to make a small junkie a long time ago, you know, 10 years ago, but now I can kind of, I know what pieces and parts go together, I know what hardware to use, I know what drill bits I'm gonna need for this screw now and all that stuff.

I love making custom pieces because that's how I grow as an artist, I need challenges.

And as much as I try to challenge myself, it's never as good as when somebody else wants me to make something for them, 'cause first of all, I'm excited you want me to make something for you.

And then I am excited for the challenge because if I couldn't do all this stuff and be creative, I don't think I'd be able to function the way that I do.

It's always been my coping, my fun, my everything.

(tool whirring) I feel like since he's gonna be so plain and weird, his name's Carl.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music)