Killing invasive plants. It’s very satisfying to see the results and makes a difference for biodiversity. Pulling ~10ft tall buckthorn or bush honeysuckle out by its roots with a Weed Wrench is good exercise too. Check if your area has a local Weed Warriors group

Origami.

It is affordable, fun, can be quite useful and once you reach certain level is an art form.

Music. Because it’s sound, even when I’m at my most lethargic, depressed, and too exhausted to do anything, I can enjoy it just by feeling its vibrations in my body.

Collecting rare and high-quality pages on the internet, especially personal websites. In this age of social media where information flow is manipulated by algorithms, the culture of personal link collections is all the more necessary.

Tabletop rpgs are the only artform that merges artist and audience. Telling a story is probably the oldest human artform. With a well-designed RPG and a good group you can tell a story and thrill yourself at the surprising outcome. It’s a unique and timeless hobby.

Music production

I was a professional musician most of my adult life, but it was all performance and I never really got to experience the recording/audio engineering side. So I’m semi-retired out of that now, and I built a little recording studio in my house and have been slowly studying production while continuing to write and record music. It’s a good hobby for me because it allows me to keep scratching that musical itch I’ve always had and gets me out of my own head after working in a lab all damn day.

Gaming: very convenient. Don’t have to put just about any effort into turning on the computer after work and spending the entire evening.

Hunting: I feel like a part of nature in a way growing potatos in the garden does not come close to.

Drums! It’s honestly just a lot of fun and a bit zen, depending on what you’re playing. I don’t play in a band anymore, but they’re still a blast. I try to play at least a couple times a week.

Textile work and sewing. I love working with fabrics and turning a flat piece of cloth into a usable/wearable object. It also gives me a feeling of connection to the flow of human history. When I’m sitting in my craft room, hand stitching a hem or working on a piece of embroidery, I often think about the fact that the physical movements I’m making with my body have been shared across human cultures and time. The pulling of a needle and thread through fabric is a mirror of the human tapestry we all create together.

Film photography. I enjoy all aspects of it. Travelling around to all the antique stores looking for cameras, composing shots, developing the film…

As a middle aged man, playing soccer. I fell back into it just before I hit 30 and have made a boatload of interesting friends from all walks of life in the decade since. It’s also a lovely mental yoga, for an hour several times a week I don’t think about work, politics, life of anything, just keeping a dumb ball out of my dumb net and helping others put it in the bad guys’ net. Physically, to keep playing I’ve had to stay in shape, which is a lot easier when it’s directly related to a fun hobby instead of a vague concept of being healthy.

We’ve been at it so long that a couple teammates who met playing have just had their first kid.

My hobbies are more for practical function than hobbies.

I design and 3D print things to fit my specific needs, rather than compromise with something store-bought. I recently made a USB cable holder that matches the profile of edge banding on a desk I refurbished.

I made a bed, refurbished a desk and made a dressing bench. I have plans to make an entryway table.

I sewed a cover for the pad for the headboard of the bed I made. I’ll make another one for the bench whenever the fabric shows ups. I also made a t-shirt last year, one that fits me.

I’ve fallen off a bit on it, but Go. The amount of complexity that emerges from simple rules, the aesthetic forms that emerge, as if both players are collaborating on a work of art. To an experienced player, each stone has a meaning, in it’s own language, and you can almost hear them speaking. There are so many ways to approach the game, a player’s personality reveals itself on the Go board, and any flaw in one’s way of thinking, anything you need to work on, comes out on the board like looking into a mental mirror.

I’m actually heading out to a tournament now, and I’m super rusty but I think I’m starting to rediscover my interest in it.

3D printing. Making things in general, because it’s useful, but 3D printing specifically because I can make things I otherwise wouldn’t be able to dream of making.

Gaming and cooking

Fun and relaxing

Tasty and relaxing

I do a lot of gardening and cooking.

Sourdough bread is probably my favorite because it still blows my mind that flour, water, and salt are the only inputs and can deliver a loaf I could sell for $8-10. Literally some of the best bread I’ve ever eaten, and there is no reason it should even work.

Gardening is sometimes magical and sometimes tragically frustrating.

Yoga I value because it keeps my body and mind in good shape.