I have had a love of nature for as long as I have been conscious of it. When I was a teen my friends father was an outdoors man. He took us fishing, I knew he hunted and I was included at times on his trap line. Some of it was brutal but it was part of how I was interacting with nature. I was allowed to help on the portion of his trap line that ran through our farm. One day my friend and I were helping and his father had to go back to the vehicle. He had shown us before but he told us what to do. We set our own drown set. When he returned we were rather proud, everything seemed done as necessary. My friends father waded into the creek to test our drown sticks. He was not impressed. He admonished us in his gentle way then took each stick and rammed them into the creek bed with all his might. I could copy his effort but never his strength. I still needed to attempt this feat because it is by practice that we gain strength.