Arfur
Jewel Crafting is a good choice - it is something that is useful to any player whether they are melee warriors, mages or foragers because you can build in HP boost, Stamina boost, Sap boost, Focus boost or a combination.
Do note that the overwhelming majority of your requests will consist of either HP or Focus jewels (or other equipment), even for Magic (sap) and Melee (stamina) users. This is due to the HP credit stanzas that let you turn your health pool into another resource for actions. Conserve skill points by skipping Sap and Stamina boost stanzas until much later.
Kilgoretrout
If you do choose jewel crafting those mats are easily gotten in Tryker. It's a pretty safe spot on the lake in Loria.
Nice little plug for Lakes =) Can't say I blame you, Lakes is peaceful and is second only to Prime Roots in beauty, imo =)
Lakes does have the single best 1-200 digging zone in the game: Enchanted Isle near the Kami TP. It is 100% safe and never suffers from wandering aggro, and there is every resource you need, including several excellent quality resources. The only drawbacks are the lack of a Hawker for temporary storage, max of q200 materials, and access itself becomes less safe if you declare for Karavan (only Kami and neutrals are allowed to use that teleport).
Each q250 region has its own nice digging areas, and each suffers from the occasional wandering aggro. You'll be able to find what you're looking for in any area you pick, with varying difficulties from region to region. Desert, in the Flaming Forest (FF) is also a reasonably safe Jewels (and weapons) q250 dig area, with a nice tribe nearby for protection if you do happen to need it.