About my fondness for fishing - I appreciate that it's not everybody's cup of tea and necessarily involves what may be seen as cruelty - but it's my karma and I'm prepared to risk coming back as a yabby (or worse)! I do breed my own yabbies and I'm a member of a club that restocks our waterways with native fish, and I only ever keep one or two fish to eat.

There's also something kind of primally satisfying about catching, killing and preparing food from the wild.

Anyway, to each his or her own, as I said.

You ought to see the nasty things I do to feral rodents with gas pellets, poisons and traps :0 However, I don't do that for relaxation.

CJ, "There's also something kind of primally satisfying about catching, killing and preparing food from the wild."

You have been day dreaming about Sarah Palin again?

So you might harvest venison if you had the chance? Hold the sage and parsley sauce for the catfish and whip out the wild mushrooms, pine nuts and red wine for the tenderloin instead?

I blame Antiseptic for this re-engineering of CJ's image and for the new shed CJ is building in his head.

How sweet. Typical snark from Cornflower. So much unrequited angst.

Does s/he ever chill out?

“…this re-engineering of CJ's image…”

Yes Cornflower, CJ is behaving in a very strange manner on this thread. He’s almost behaving like a normal human being!! I hope it is a permanent change.

We’ll see if a leopard can change its spots!

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Oh uh. Seems like the spots are firmly entrenched!!

Nice idea CJ. Fishing is not a problem for me as long as it is for food and not sport. With the way we are going many baby boomers may have to fish for their food. :)

When I am not working I do a lot in the garden and am in the midst of creating an urban food gardem in the backyard. Although my neighbours may start to notice a few rambling pumpkins and rockmelons rambling down our steep-ish front yard.

I grow most things from seed and collect seed where I can. Generally I grow heirloom varities but not opposed to the odd hybrid now and then.

Other than that I spend time with family, two cats and a reading group - an excuse to catch up with friends. Lately I have been thinking about getting back to doing some more painting. I love fossicking around local food and produce markets, old towns, old buildings, independent bookshops and non-yuppie art galleries.

I am also trying to write a book so spend some time on the computer cursing at the fact that what I have in my head is not coming out as I want on the page. My own worst critic. It is a challenge. I am not sure why I thought I could write a book - it is hard - to the point that I admire anyone who manages to get a book finished let alone published.

Well only rednecks go out and kill for thrill.

I am very pro environment but not a greenie. I do feel the human is part and parcel of the natural environment so needs to be allowed to claim space and hunting rights...for food. Not fun, for food, for work, for survival.

Killing can be necessary but it should never be fun. I have killed some cane toad when I had a feral moment after my dogs got foaming mouth after biting them. To see my dogs suffer due to vermin makes my blood boil. I do have brief murderous moments of running around the backyard with the dettol spray but then it is not fun. In fact it is cruel. So normally do the freeze kill. So am no angel, far from it but I can't see how killing can ever be fun, chilling out? Does not make sense.