Wooden this be nice for Christmas? Young entrepreneur expands his range of unique, handmade gifts

An award winning young entrepreneur from Meath Hill who came up with the idea to make and sell wooden birdhouses to his neighbours for extra pocket money has been busy creating his new collection for Christmas 2023!

When budding carpenter Jesse James Stewart’s mum refused to give him the money for a takeout from a chipper in 2021 he decided to take matters into his own hands and came up with the idea to make the birdhouses from scrap timber to afford a burger and chips from his favourite local takeaway.

After all of the wooden creations were snapped up by keen locals the Drumconrath youngster decided to keep his enterprise going by making wheelbarrow planters selling an incredible 50 in just one weekend. But it didn’t end there with the savvy teen going on to decorative make hand painted wooden Christmas trees and sleighs followed by Easter Bunny Planters.

Whilst some of his peers had smart phones and trainers on their lists for santa, self-sufficient Jesse James' only wish for Christmas one year was a cordless drill! The now fourteen-year-old says he hopes to “design and build kitchens” when he is older and has a busy festive season coming up this time making model toy farms inspired by his own experience growing up on a farm!

“This year I’m making model farms in different sizes,” said Jesse James.

“I have ones with a cattle yard, it has the sheds , the crush and the silage pit,” he added.

“There’s a bull shed as well, it’s a wee shed that you feed silage into for bulls. There is also a wee field with a wee shed in it for cattle and I did cow pastures with a pen in them for bringing the cattle in. I made them just as if they were in front of you in real life.

“I have done a few Christmas markets and they were really popular, it’s a nice gift for someone.”

The teen who is a third year student in Patrician High School in Carrickmacross says his favourite subjects are woodwork, technical graphics and business. Such is his love for the classes that last year, Jesse James was prompted by his teacher to enter the Monaghan Student Enterprise Awards where he won the Junior Category Mini Company Award along with the Overall Social Media Award.

“My Business studies teacher Ms Healy put me forward for the awards, I didn’t know what to think, but in March 2022 I ended up winning two awards, I really couldn’t believe it,” he said.

“After winning this, it meant I was now moving on to the National Entrepreneurship Final. I went on to win the award for Best Commercial Potential in the Junior Category Nationally.”

The Meath Hill tycoon in the making previously explained why he decided to take the initiative and find his own way to make money for what he wanted, started the road to entrepreneurship!

“I wanted a takeaway from a chipper so I thought where am I going to get the money? So I went outside and I saw timber at the corner of my eye and I was looking at little birdhouses a few weeks before so I thought it would be a good idea to make birdhouses and sell them to get a chipper.

“My mam is building a new kitchen and she gave me the scrap timbers and I used a handsaw and a drill.

“I went around the neighbours and knocked on the door and said would you like to buy a birdhouse to hang in your garden, loads of people said they wanted them and then I ran out of birdhouses so I had to go back to the house and build more.”

Jesse James says any money he makes from his ventures goes into investing in more tools!

“I have enough tools to do anything now really, I got a router there a couple of weeks ago.”

Proud mum, Marie says her son has always had “a wonderful passion for woodwork.”

“He could be sitting at the table eating his dinner and he’ll say ‘Mam, I’ve come up with a new idea’ and he no sooner has it said and he’s off down to the shed to cut timber and start building his new wooden piece,” said Marie.

“He really enjoys making the model farm sheds because they are what he loved to play with when he was younger and he enjoys designing them like real farm sheds,” she added.

“I’m wondering what new ideas he will come up with next year!”

Find out more on Jesse James Wood Craft Instagram Page