The Outdoor Gibbon
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The Outdoor Gibbon
68 From Kitchen Table Crafting to House of Bruar: How Spent Shells Transformed the Shooting Industry
A refreshing conversation from the tailgate of a pickup truck at the Scottish Game Fair reveals both the challenges and triumphs shaping rural Scotland today. Fresh off remastering the entire podcast back catalog for better listening quality, Peter shares concerning news about devastating wildfires that recently swept across moorlands, burning over 10,000 acres of land.
Most striking is the story of dedicated gamekeepers who spent 72 continuous hours battling these blazes, yet received virtually no recognition in media reports. Even when local fire crews openly acknowledged they couldn't have managed without the gamekeepers' crucial expertise, national parks and official bodies initially failed to mention them in public thanks. This erasure highlights the ongoing struggle for recognition faced by those working in traditional land management roles, despite their irreplaceable knowledge becoming increasingly vital as climate change intensifies fire risks.
The episode's centerpiece is an energetic conversation with Sarah from Spent Shells, whose sustainable crafting business transforms shooting byproducts into beautiful, handcrafted items. What began as a creative project with her young daughter has evolved into a thriving enterprise now featured in the prestigious House of Bruar. Sarah's philosophy—"kill it, cook it, eat it and use as much as you can"—extends beyond her crafting business to encompass an eco-farm, butchery, and caravan site all operating in perfect symbiosis. With infectious enthusiasm, she describes creating over 1,000 handcrafted baubles annually, each containing 70 individually cut feathers, and her pride in building strong community connections within the rural business circuit.
Whether you're interested in sustainable rural enterprise, the challenges facing land management in changing times, or simply enjoy stories of passion-driven small businesses, this episode offers rich insights into how traditional rural activities are adapting to contemporary challenges while maintaining their authentic character and community spirit.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Outdoor Gibbon podcast. We're back to normal. The last two episodes were specifically recorded for the British Deer Society at the 2025 Stalking Show, so they're a bit of a different format, but anyway, you may have noticed that we've actually well, I don't know, you might be the first listener to this podcast, but you've not been through our back catalogue. Well, I'll just update you now. Our back catalogue has been completely remastered all the way from episode one, all the way through, apart from episode 15 with Scott McKenzie. Six hours of editing, and it is impossible to make it sound any better. I was going to try and get it recorded again at some point, but I will, and I will bring you that episode in all its glory, as it should be, because there are some great facts and figures in there that really do need to come out. The reason for the remastering is, if you're a new listener, I wanted to make a seamless transition so that when you started at the beginning and worked your way through the podcast, everything sounded the same. I had some horrendous, horrendous level issues from the first few podcasts and I had a bong in there to separate the the sort of the starting point and the main body of the podcast and the end point. However, again, being new to all of this and getting some of those levels wrong, I think the bong made a few people jump out of their skin or things like that, because I just had the volumes all incorrect. But going back through and using the skills that I've developed now to actually produce a seamless episode, I think makes a huge difference and it basically will give you a much better listening pleasure.
Speaker 3:We've been recording some absolutely fantastic episodes with some great guests. They are lined up. However, this is a very short episode that I actually recorded sat on the tailgate of sarah's pickup, who runs spent shells at the scottish game fair. I just thought I'd chuck it in there now so you can all listen to it while it's still fresh in everybody's mind. It was an absolutely fantastic weekend for a Scottish game fair. The weather actually held. It didn't rain too badly it does rain, of course, at all Scottish game fairs and we managed to have a good few laughs and some great entertainment. Red Hot Chili Pipers again even managing to drag a piper back to the bar. It seems to be a thing. Now. Rob seems to be very persuasive at bringing that piper over to the bar and having a bit of a laugh. Why was that the scottish game for this year? Mainly to record and work with the gwct and actually record a lot of the conversations that were happening in two of their tents. These will hopefully be brought out as podcasts in the near future.
Speaker 3:I think there are some absolutely fantastic topics that we really need to listen to and share. We did have one technical difficulty where one of the really really important topics actually the memory card for some reason decided to start playing up and actually corrupted just on that particular recording. Fortunately, people have said you might be able to save the data. There's no data to save. It didn't actually record anything. But what we have managed to do is we are getting all of those people in the talks back together and we'll actually do it on a Teams meeting, so you'll still get to hear that topic of conversation. We may not have all the questions that the audience asked and I know it was a very hot topic with the the current wildfires that have been happening in Scotland, so there were lots of, lots of questions at the end, but hopefully some of the some of the people on the panel will actually remember what those questions are and we can still address that situation and get those out to you. It's quite nice to actually listen to the rain falling outside, because I know that we've had.
Speaker 3:Well, this weekend was incredibly hot up here in Scotland, getting up to temperatures of 29 30 degrees. It's incredibly dry still and the wildfires that happened two weeks ago some of those actually reignited and have been causing problems, especially catching up with a few of the keepers I know at the Scottish Game Fair and having a chat with them. They were on the hill for 72 hours trying to put these fires out. It's absolutely crazy and in some cases there were reports going out newspaper reports. I think if you follow my social media you'd have seen the stories and everything I was posting up.
Speaker 3:But these keepers weren't getting a mention at all. The fire crews were. It was really bad that even like the national park did a post on their facebook page praising and thanking the firefighters and the estate workers, but they couldn't put the word gamekeeper in there. It was all of the moorland groups that dived on that post and said you need to support the gamekeepers and thank them for all their help. About five hours later, the the national park then reposted, including a post saying we need to thank all the gamekeepers. It was really nice to see one of the local fire crews basically the nairn fire crew posting up saying that they couldn't have done half the work they did on the hill if it hadn't been for the extreme knowledge of these keepers that were out there just knowing how to deal and and steer the fire in the direction it needed to go.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, hats off to these boys. They are absolutely something that's um, it's a, it's a skill and a knowledge that we are slowly losing. And if it carries on the way it's going, these fires will get worse and worse with the fuel load that's on the ground and it'll only be a matter of time before something major goes off. As I say, the fire that we were talking about was already 10,000 acres of damage, and that was two fires. So, yeah, it's not good.
Speaker 3:But, on a lighter note, I won't tell you too much, but I can tell you that we've got some very exciting things in the pipeline one. We've got some potential film work, we're going to be doing some great conversations with some fantastic guests coming up. So watch this space and we're also going to be? Uh, obviously we start the stags on the hill very soon. So, yeah, watch my social feed, for for me dragging myself around the hill trying to get guests a a decent animal this year, that's enough of me randomly waffling on.
Speaker 3:Let's go on and have a listen to my chat with sarah from spent shelves. An absolute wonder, she turns the byproducts of the shooting industry into some fantastic gifts and and memorabilia. The Outdoor Given podcast is proudly sponsored by the Shooting and Hunting Academy, an online training platform and UK registered learning provider that provides a host of accredited and nationally available courses and masterclasses delivered by leading industry experts experience. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Outdoor Gibbon podcast. I am talking to Sarah of Spent Shells at the Schoon Game Fair. How are you doing?
Speaker 2:Hello, hello, I'm good, thank you. How are you?
Speaker 3:Very good, very good. So it's actually a really interesting chat to have with you, because your USP is you kind of use a by-product of the shooting industry. I do and let's talk about how Spent Shells came into being of the shooting industry?
Speaker 2:I do. And let's talk about how Spent Shells came into being, um. So I have two children and I was crafting with my daughter one day, um, and she was sticking feathers to a plastic bauble thing, um, and I was like, do harder, millie, come on, try harder, make it look nicer. And then that was it. She'd fallen asleep and I was still going, I was still, I was my OCD kicked in hard and I started to make these baubles, um, and yeah, that's, that's it really. So it was kind of down to my daughter, who was one and a half two at the time oh, fantastic.
Speaker 3:So yeah, it started off with that. I think it was a bit of a. There was a craze, wasn't there? People sticking um feathers onto baubles?
Speaker 2:yeah, I started it um, yeah, and then it was the key rings. So I make shotgun cartridge key rings with english leather, um, and basically someone had asked me, could I make them, um, a key ring for their gun cabinet? They wanted two key rings, they wanted a top and bottom one. And I was like, yeah, hold my beer. So made these key rings and again with the baubles, at the same kind of time, um, so it was like in the september, ready for the shooting season, um, and it just started to kind of like morph into a business and I was like, shit, you know, I need to actually like do something here because I'm making money off something.
Speaker 3:Oh, fantastic but it's really nice to see because obviously the shooting industry gets a fair rap but to actually use that one of those, those products that basically people don't think about, like feathers or cartridge cases, and I think you do a lot with shell cases and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah we use as much as we can. That's a byproduct. So we run an eco farm in Northumberland. Oh, planes, we run an eco farm in Northumberland and our whole ethos is kill it, cook it, eat it and use as much of it as you can Like. Eliminate the waste. So we do tanning at home ourselves. We always have done so. That's always been part of our lives. Done so. That's always been part of our lives, so it only seemed natural to kind of grow off of that and diversify even more.
Speaker 2:Um so I started shooting when I met my husband and uh, yeah, I just hated how much waste. I think loads of people do. But because I'm a crafty person and my dad's an artist, so like naturally we kind of have that creative gene I just yeah, just carried on.
Speaker 3:But that's really good, especially obviously in this day and age where the waste product is kind of one of the big topics. You go to clay grounds and there's thousands of cartridges being dumped and everybody's sort of talking about plastic and stuff like that. And you're able to use not all of it, potentially, but at least a good portion of it. No, exactly.
Speaker 2:I mean, we're actually working on things at the moment to use the plastic as well and to modify that into a whole range of products as well. So watch the space on that one.
Speaker 3:There you go. You've heard it first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's definitely kind of a bone of contention, and I think the other thing I love is trying to educate people a little bit more. I actually prefer going to some of the shows with, uh, quite a raw audience. You know where. You're not actually preaching to the converted, you're actually talking to people. I love turning a vegan right, that's one of my favorite things to do so if I have someone who's you know kind of coming onto the stall and they're a little bit apprehensive and they're like are these real feathers?
Speaker 2:so you know and then I can talk about how obviously these are a by-product and the meat's gone into the food industry and like when they leave with a product because they appreciate the fact that someone's gone to that effort to respect the animal to the point that everything has been used and you've eliminated the waste aspect and again the respect is there. That is one of my like, that's like my little happy place doing that.
Speaker 3:So you're not. You don't just do because obviously you are a fairly established name and around all of the shooting shows and everything thanks. No, you are, I think I think you probably do every show pretty much yeah, um, we've kind of we've definitely got our, our solid shows.
Speaker 2:Now, um, we try and kind of go the length and breadth of the country because, again, it has got that educational aspect to it and, um, yeah, just try and cover all bases. So we do shows, we do the big shows and you just meet so many different people and, yeah, networking and education.
Speaker 2:It's great to kind of find other people that are similar or to be able to help people that want to change their way of it as well so you know, like, if you get, we all know that there's some big shoots out there, that they seem a little less, a bit not cold to that side of it. Well, so you know, like, if you get, we all know that there's there's some big shoots out there, that they they seem a little less, a bit not cold to that side of it, do you?
Speaker 2:know what I mean, like and it's also when they come to you and go right, we want to do better, we want to make this more sustainable. Um, can we use our, our cartridge?
Speaker 2:so we do that for individuals, but we also work alongside. Some states have their own cartridges, produced with their own heads, exactly yeah, and and then Can we use our cartridges. So we do that for individuals, but we also work alongside shoots and do that as well. Yeah, because some estates have their own cartridges, produced with their own headstones, exactly yeah, and then they'll bring those to us, we'll recycle them into products and we try and work on a bartering system quite a lot of the time as well.
Speaker 2:So we'll barter with them, so they'll give us feathers or whatever from birds, and then in return we'll give us feathers or whatever from birds and then, in return, we'll give them products that have been personalised with their own cartridges and stuff as well. And they give them to beaters, the guns, lots of different people, or sell them in the shops as well.
Speaker 3:Brilliant, and you've recently, I think you've jumped into Hasselbreuer, haven't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's my win of the year Fantastic. But again, that's just recognition't it really? At the end of the day, oh, that made my heart happy. When they headhunted me I just thought, like little old me in House of Brewer it was, it was, yeah, definitely a big accomplishment. I mean, we're in some of the the big gun shops and on some of the big estates as well. Um, and House of Bre brewer was my. It was kind of the top of my list. You know, when you do your five-year plan, well, I'm rubbish at all that, I'm shit at it. To be honest, I am like let's just see what happens. Let's just see, like, keep it quite like fluid and natural, just see what, what goes. But that was always kind of my aspiration, like wouldn't it be cool if so? Then when I got that email, honestly, like my adrenaline I started shaking. I think I shed a tear because I was like is this real?
Speaker 2:so then, like I was googling the email address to make sure it was no, someone wasn't taking the piss um, and then they rang me, started discussing things and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm a big girl now.
Speaker 3:So that was, but it's amazing that you've come from. Yeah, just doing this as a craft project.
Speaker 2:Sorry, the girls are having too much fun on. The stand quiet please. In the background so it's amazing that you've come from sort of doing this as a craft project with your daughter to being in one of the most iconic Scottish Highland shops and yeah, I think you know they're such trendsetters as well, kind of within the industry, but with a real history to them as well, and such a classy establishment with so much history it's just yeah, how do you keep the energy up?
Speaker 3:Because obviously, doing the whole show run I don't do a lot of it, but when I come here it's fairly tiring. How do you keep that energy going?
Speaker 2:It is here it's. It's fairly tiring. How do you keep that energy going? A really good team, yeah. Yeah. You've got to have people around you that pick you up and that you work off, I think. And so when I first started, I was literally just a girl on her own setting up a three by three marquee, hoping someone was going to buy something and. I think I took about a thousand pounds worth of stock, pretty much sold out, and was like, oh no what do?
Speaker 2:I do now and I remember um some of the guys, so rob from best box school yep um liam used to work. Liam marsh used to work with him as well.
Speaker 2:Um, and john bailey from bailey's outdoors uh, bailey's not outdoors bailey's sporting yeah, something like bailey's um, I, I'd seen them, I actually knew John from back in the day in a previous life and they'd said come and meet us for a drink, um, at Harrogate, at the national shooting show northern as it was back then, um, and went to go and meet them and that was it. Like they were, like you know, kind of took me under their wing, became my show family and I think without them and having amazing girls working with me, I think I would have quit a long time ago. It's quite the show scenes behind the scenes that the customer doesn't see is quite intimidating when you're first starting out, especially if you literally know no one. Um, there can be judgment, there can be like, you know, are they going to make it?
Speaker 3:kind of thing can they hack it?
Speaker 2:yeah, definitely, and um, I'm that person that never wants to put too much pressure on myself, so I was shitting it. I was so scared and then I felt relief. Um, I went back and I said to my husband I was like I've got a little show family and I was like you've got to meet them all. Like these people have taken me, like he knew John as well, so that was really nice, but they've taken him in as well. So like now he comes and does a couple of the shows with me.
Speaker 2:And we do feel like we've made such amazing friends and connections.
Speaker 3:It is something that, again, again this weekend, has been the show, family and and you've kind of adopted me into it, which is absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2:Definitely you're more than welcome.
Speaker 3:It really does. It kind of gives you that feeling that you're not there by yourself. No, you have a laugh and and you get to know a lot of people as you just walk up and down.
Speaker 2:It's another microcosmic community within the shooting industry. Um, and it's. It's like I said, sometimes you know some people. It is more about who you are and what you can maybe gain, but we don't have that about us at all.
Speaker 2:you know our businesses are really different. We book shows together in a line and you know you've got fox calls next to feather reeds and fascinators. But it works because we all pick each other up so much. People want to come to our area because they know they're going to have the crack, they feel welcomed. You know people will come and stay for half an hour an hour just to boost themselves up a little bit and there's nothing better than making it, making someone else feel like they've had like a lush show as well, like we do silly reels.
Speaker 3:You've probably seen our reels if you haven't spent shells on instagram. They are they, they.
Speaker 2:They will brighten your day, especially at one o'clock in the morning when you get woken up because the new one's just dropped, absolutely, um yeah, like I just want to have fun. Life is so serious If I can, like, make enough money to just, you know, support the family and have a good time. We are only here once, and I know that's a bit morbid and everything. But you can't pay. Do you Enjoy it as much as you can Do things with a smile on your face? That's genuine, and if the customer goes away happier than they turned up, then I feel like my job is done but I think your products are one of those things that people get that little spark of enjoyment.
Speaker 3:They walk on and a lady comes on and sees a nice brooch or a hairband or a bracelet yeah and it's one of those things that it, her partner, boyfriend, husband, can sort of be like there as well. It's like, oh, she's actually getting something that's actually from a sport that I do well, this is it.
Speaker 2:So the men love it as well, because you'll get. You'll get them come onto the stand and they'll go, oh, look at this necklace. And the boys will be like uh-huh. And then they'll say, oh, it's winchester, whatever. And they'll be like, oh no, I don't shoot that. Have they got any seikos, you know? And that's really nice, because then the boys are there going, oh, look at the shot glasses, tutus in there, say they, they're probably size six, steel shot in there. And they then have something else that's relatable to them and then they take home something that's unique for one and that's actually not a household, like oh, you know, just more tat or something I was gonna say it's not.
Speaker 3:It's not chinese manufactured, tat you've actually put in time and effort into making it in the uk.
Speaker 2:Yeah exactly, exactly, yeah. So I, I do, I love it, I I love my job and I think I feel a bit guilty that I do so much, actually, because there's so many people out there that kind of get stuck in the grind and actually my passion is my job but I think, I think that all boils down to the person and you come across as a lively, bubbly, energetic person too much sometimes I've quit caffeine honestly, because I think people just can't hack me.
Speaker 2:What you don't know is peter's had to turn the sound down on me. I'm that loud my mic's only on one but it's the whole part of it.
Speaker 3:It's that energy when we get to a show and it's great because you know as soon as you walk in or you're walking, walking down the aisle in the morning, you guys will be there and there's a smile on your face and the three, the music's on already exactly yeah, people come onto the stand and they're like god, you know you can feel the vibe, yes, and I love that, I do, I really like it.
Speaker 2:And you know, we do do quite like a one-to-one experience for the customers as well. So, so, like if someone says I need help, we're like right, you've got me. What do you want? You know, like how can I help you? Or people will come on and you can see you know they want to follow like the trend of having the pins on their fedoras, but they're new, they don't know like what's right, and we're like we've got you.
Speaker 2:Like you what are you looking for? Oh well, I don't want to stand out too much, right? You want this kind of thing, then you know you, you've kind of got that oh, that's nice from someone else, but you're not going to be like like, look at her yeah, yeah, you know, we're like.
Speaker 3:We want to make everyone feel comfortable and and that's really great, because actually every one of your, all the girls that work for you, everybody's got a unique character.
Speaker 2:You're all different well, apparently I have a type the girls were telling me earlier I definitely have like a stereotype. They're all tatted like vibrant hair colors and like bubbly personalities. They're looking at me now um, it's basically like I I've never, I've never had a tattoo, I haven't got one anywhere or anything, uh, never dyed my hair like a unique colour or anything. So they're like my inner wish.
Speaker 3:They're your inner energy. That you express through them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely Fantastic.
Speaker 3:Well, and how? Let's just say how's the show been going.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, this year it's like it's just been amazing. So we came straight from the Highland. We had like a week and a half break. I didn't sleep for about four days trying to restock, because obviously we make everything ourselves.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So it is intense, Like you have a really good show and then you're like shit, I've got to make all that stock again.
Speaker 3:So is that just you making it, or do you have a team in?
Speaker 2:No, beck helps as well, okay, so there's two of us, but like she's a mate that helps when it comes to in the office, like on the shows, obviously, like she's like I'm here, we're going for it, but like it's like a help me. You know I'm not gonna get all this done. Most of it is me. Um, I have quite a lot of ocd when it comes to to the products. You know, obviously I want product specification and things and, um, I've always tried, said that I'm kind of gonna cap it. It. It could go so much bigger.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I don't want that stress level to supersede the enjoyment level and if you go too much bigger, do you think the quality could get lost?
Speaker 2:I think the uniqueness could get lost because I'll have days. So my website has my products on but it only has like a small amount, because I'll have days where I go. I don't want to make that. I want to make a hundred unique pins today. So people will come on the stand and be like, oh, I've not seen this. And I was like, no, you won't have done like it's completely new.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I I feel like I could lose that individuality. So I don't, but I wouldn't want to lose the ability to put a bit of my personality that makes it unique, doesn't?
Speaker 3:it so at the end of the day, you know you're buying a product that's not just going to be mass produced Every pen, every model especially if you look at a feather. Every feather is slightly different.
Speaker 2:It's a fingerprint. Every feather is unique anyway, so I love being able to then almost replicate that through the products that they have made.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so somebody's bought something last year. They won't possibly buy that style or shape. Nobody else is going to have it.
Speaker 2:No, I think there's five designs of pins that I make as standard.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:But I've probably made about 5,000 different types of pins. I mean I make nearly 1,000 ball balls a year.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they're individually made. I actually lost the ability to use my left thumb last year because I internally snapped a tendon from repetitive strain of putting feathers on baubles, because there's 70 feathers on each bauble.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:And they all have to be cut individually as well.
Speaker 3:Wow, so it's massively labour intensive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can't do the math on that.
Speaker 3:But it just goes to show the passion, the, the enjoyment, the fun is still there and and for many people jobs these days they lose that they they sit the nine to five in an office and people will be listening to this like, well, how do you do it all? But you've, obviously you've made a balance and you've got out of the mold and you're doing it and you're enjoying it still I think that's it.
Speaker 2:I think when you are enjoying what you do, you can do more or you want to do more. And what do they always say? Like, if you want something done, ask a busy person so we run an eco farm, we run a caravan site, we run a butchery, we have two children all right, because you you take in, we'll change.
Speaker 3:We'll drop onto that now because obviously you take in. We'll drop onto that now because obviously you take in deer and do processing and stuff like that yeah, so.
Speaker 3:The Outdoor Gibbon podcast is proudly sponsored by the Shooting and Hunting Academy. Through the Academy, shooters, hunters and those involved in the use of firearms can gain an in-depth and unique level of training that enables them to shoot better, behave more effectively in the field, up their strike rates, as well as learning new skills, crucially those new to deer stalking. The Academy also offers the Proficient Deer Stalker Certificate Level 1, the PDS1, a deer management certificate that is nationally recognised and accredited both by Lantra and UK Rural Skills. Visit the Shooting and Hunting academy to find out more.
Speaker 2:Let's get back to the show my husband was, um, actually breeding quail for a while and we really, really disliked it. We just didn't enjoy it. And um, I was like, look, I can't have anything to do with it. I just like, for me it's not, it's just not in my ethos. And he was the same. And we just every year we sit down about the 27th, 28th of December and we're like, what do we want to do next year? And we sit and have a drink and we don't drink. But we'll sit and have a drink and we'll be like, right, let's do the list. And there's only like four or five things on the list, like it's nothing crazy. But he's like you know what I really want to have a butchery. I mean. Like because we're obviously on our own farm, we did our own personal consumption meat and like having a full pig on the kitchen table, like that was a lot Like we literally had people coming around to help us break down a pig.
Speaker 2:It was like back in the olden days, you know where, like everyone kind of had a job and it.
Speaker 3:It was great, great community spirit, but I was like you know, people want meat because everything on the farm.
Speaker 2:We're not organic status but we're as close to because everything's grass-fed yeah, yeah like the pigs get fed off brewer's grain from the local brewery.
Speaker 3:We barter with them for for meat, so like so you you've basically got a very old-fashioned way of doing totally which is great, because I think that's the way that I think we've lost it in translation.
Speaker 2:100, yeah I think that and if obviously this has grown organically kind of from that thought process and and how we work, and I think the more people that you can just even talk to or put it on your stories on Instagram or social media, the more people that see it again, it breaks down that barrier and we've had so many more people start doing what we do because of the fact that it's almost a bit FOMO.
Speaker 2:But, we encourage other people to do the same. I would never dampen someone else's dream just because we're doing it, and I never see it as like jealousy or copycat, because actually it's almost a, it's a bit of a boost for you thinking well, actually I've started this and somebody look somebody else is doing well, jealousy is the no uh. Copying is the biggest form of flattery isn't it absolutely?
Speaker 2:so it's just making sure that you're not wasting your time being grumpy about someone else doing it. You're're actually like using it as a pick me up for yourself. Do you know what I mean? And I think I'm a glass half full person, like that is my, you know me now.
Speaker 2:That's my personality, so yeah he said he wants to start this butchery by the second week. In February we built a butchery. I love him, following his passions as well, and him being happy makes the house happy. Me being happy makes the house happy and, like I, love the children, seeing that if you want to do something, just you know, put a bit of focus on it, and that's why we we moved to where we moved in the first place, because we knew we're going to have children and we wanted less iPads and less technology and more you know, rolling bales in the fields and just lambing.
Speaker 3:Just kids being kids.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wanted them to come home dirty every day and I thought then I know they've had a good day, and so we got the butchery built. He was a bit anxious about kind of how to start that off. He did his DSC1, he did his DSC2. He had to go and sit in a room again and like be educated. He bloody hated it. I mean those courses he's been shooting.
Speaker 2:Oh, he started actually shooting when he was about 12 right and then obviously started stalking and hunting when he was about 17 18 with his uncle, um, so he's been doing it 22 years, but pieces of paper. Yeah, exactly but then he started to get, and then he got his food hygienes and everything, and then all these awards and certificates was like kind of milk building up on the sides and he was like, babe, I think I'm doing it.
Speaker 3:I was like you are, like you're smashing it, but it's great that you've got both of. You've got an energy that feed off each other and actually make it work, because we're so aligned and that's really important to have.
Speaker 2:In any relationship. You know whether it be a friendship or relationship.
Speaker 2:If you're not, the barriers start to kind of get in and niggle away it's the energy of one sometimes doesn't always focus onto the energy of the other no and things don't don't work but to see it, and especially because, at the end of the day, both of your businesses are fairly high risk yeah, yeah, yeah, um, but obviously again, because we have so much transparency in what we do with each other and you know anyone that we need to obviously have kind of within that as well, like it just works. And yes, he started that and, um, we started to kind of advertise locally and I mean now it's just, it's massive. People are loving the butchery like uh, byproducts from that, you know we, so I'll be in our chiller plucking birds that have been dropped off by a local shoot and then five, ten minutes later he's.
Speaker 2:He's breasting them out even our dog treats on the stand are our own homemade jerky for the dogs. So pheasant and partridge, you know that's just the edges and the bits that you know if we've just breasted out anything else the legs and all the rest of it we dehydrate, we turn them into the dog treats.
Speaker 2:People ask us if they can buy the dog treats off the stand, you know, and we're like no, no, no, these are just you know our treats for the dogs, yeah, yeah but it's, it's definitely again, because I think we were so focused on knowing where we wanted to be. It worked quickly and efficiently and well, um, and yeah, it's been great. So, yeah, what is?
Speaker 3:but what? What a real winner, what a story, because it's not very often you hear of sort of the byproducts of shooting, the but butchery side of it. And it all works so well like symbiosis. It works together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3:And you come to the shows. The energy and people expect to see you. They love to see you. Your stall, literally. I'm sat here now, sat on the back of your pickup. We're behind the tent looking out and it is just people passing and stopping and musing and looking around your stall and that's especially at events these days. It's absolutely fantastic to see.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely we try and make the store really friendly as well. So obviously we do it like a little mini shop so people don't have that pressure of kind of like that you know really harsh straight line of products with someone standing behind staring you in the eyes.
Speaker 2:You know we want people to be able to, like you said, muse around a bit and I love it when someone goes past and goes, oh Jane, look at those baubles. Or like, oh my god, I've never seen anything like that before. And that's where the conversation opens and then you can start communicating. You know, people all their message me saying like I'd really love to have a go at making my own with some of my feathers. I will give them all the information, like full transparency.
Speaker 3:You know, if that's what you know, so if anybody listening to this, if you're, if you're fed up of going out shooting them, you can start making baubles, yeah yeah, I might actually need more people, but no, I think it's a really good way to be.
Speaker 2:Um, I yeah like eliminate as many of the barriers as possible.
Speaker 3:The more people that do it, the more people appreciate, respect, um, and that's the whole point, you know for me, yeah, no 100, and I think, yeah, it is a ray of light to see somebody with so much energy at a show because unfortunately, this day and age, the show scene is so hard for a lot of retailers I mean, you know, sorry to all the the show, the show owners out there, but it is.
Speaker 2:It's expensive as well, yeah, and a lot of people do drop off. That are the smaller businesses, because obviously we're still paying the same rates as the big businesses and it is a lot to keep your head above water. So I think, stay with it and persevere if you can, because you get places like house of brewer you?
Speaker 3:well, you do, but you do, though, and that that just goes down. As we said at the beginning, it's hard work and effort that makes that happen, but yeah, for for the people listening, you come to the show, but actually all the traders are paying a lot of money to have that pitch to be there, so yeah, yeah, and it is tough and obviously you know I mean we started out sleeping in a tent behind the pitch and you know you're there for four or five days.
Speaker 2:It's exhausting. So again goes back to having good people around you and if you've got that.
Speaker 3:Now they stay in my studio, my recording studio, which is my caravan yeah, we leveled up to a caravan with hot running water.
Speaker 2:Definitely makes different girls are much happier yeah, absolutely but no, like it's the carapub as well you know so it's like the schmoozing, just like soiree place in an evening.
Speaker 3:But I just think that whole environment, that whole energy just allows the event to go on. Yeah, it's like some of the guys, like Rob and Scott, have left this morning. Yeah, and that's it. We know it's yet the end of the show coming, but it's been an absolute fantastic few days it has.
Speaker 2:And like last night, we all had a moment, didn't we? And it was like this has been such a lush weekend, like, uh, this is the only show. Rob doesn't actually do the ig, but he still comes up because it's downtime for him. He doesn't have to worry because obviously he has more staff than me and things as well. So it's a lot of pressure, you know, because it's not just. You don't switch off at five, six o'clock, you know, you're still thinking about right, what do I need to do for tomorrow? Are the girls okay? Do I need to do anything for them? Like you know, you, you still mum, life, it almost because you know you're making sure your brood are all right, but it's keeping that balance.
Speaker 2:Like yesterday, the wind was really bad, really bad like shit, and I was panicking, like I was stressing and I thought I could feel my stress rubbing off onto the girls. And we don't do that on the stand, like we don't have stress on the stand.
Speaker 2:So I was like right, I'm buggering off because if I stay on this stand I'm just gonna bring the whole lot down. Uh, so I went back to the caravan, had a little tidy up of the caravan, came back with a couple of cocktails for the girls, because it was about four o'clock and I was like we've got an hour till we finish and that was it. Like came back in a whole different headspace and we're all very good at that, like if you know we're not feeling 100 or whatever, we we take one for the team. Like let the others like kind of do your thing, sort yourself out, like make sure you're okay, check in and then you know that's fantastic that's it, like you know just keeping a check on everyone, make sure everyone's all right, but also keeping that level?
Speaker 3:Yeah, keeping the level sorted. So last question for you, I think the important one Where's Spence Shells going? Anything new coming up for the 2026 season? I know we're only halfway through 25, but, let's throw it ahead. Where are you going to be next year?
Speaker 2:Well, we're planning we might be doing a couple of different shows next year. We're dropping one, we've dropped one this year. I had like such a cluster. Obviously we do lambing, so in April we're lambing and that's it. Like I'm switched off from spent shells as much as possible, like it's the bare minimum. Like online orders, shop orders, I try and kind of push back or push forward so that they're not in that time because I am all in on farming life yeah yeah, We've dropped one show and actually it's ended up more profitable dropping that show because, I can put more into the bigger shows.
Speaker 2:It's a bit of a shame, but it't it's something you had to give. So then next year we are actually dropping one more, but we're looking at doing a couple of others, so I don't want to say for definite yet because, yeah yeah, and then product wise, um, we are looking at, like I said, hopefully working with some of the ldp plastic.
Speaker 2:So the low density, um, from the cartridges, because again I have. I don't throw anything away either, right? So my office is full of cartridges, broken down cartridges, and then shit tons of plastic because I don't want to. So I've been like you know, little mad scientist trying to work out the best ways yeah, um, but we've had a word with a couple of other companies um hopefully working with them also. You know they like the idea of again it being a recycled product so yeah watch this space again yeah, it's trying to.
Speaker 2:It's trying to juggle and keep all those balls I was gonna say it sounds chaotic and it sounds like, but you're doing an amazing job, so keep up the hard work and, uh, thank you I will let you go back to a busy stand, so that you can uh carry on selling stuff but thank you ever so much, sell some shit made out of feathers thank you so much for and they aren't. Just, it's not just energy.
Speaker 3:That was in that podcast. Sarah and her team are just full on all the time. I just don't know how they manage it. The rest of us get up in the morning and we're a bit sort of oh it's another day at the game fair, we've got to get on with it, and I suppose we don't see them get up. But by the time they're up and they're going and they walk on that you, you bump into them on gun makers row. They are buzzing. They are just absolutely ready for it and anytime you go past the stand they're never looking dull, they're never looking down. They are just so full of energy and I think it shows and that's why they do the reels, they do everything that's going on there and people just come back because it's a great place to go. It's like one of those feel-good things and I know they're going to be at. They're going to be at the main game fair. If you're going to the the English game for at Wrigley Hall, they're going to be there and again, watch out for that energy and if you've never met them, just go along and have a look. I know it's not for everybody, but there's things on there you can get. There's all sorts of wonderful stuff on there, if it's a gift for a partner or something like that, or even something you just you fancy yourself. Go and have a look at what they've got. There is always something there. But yeah, as I say, great people to talk to, high energy, good fun.
Speaker 3:Keep listening, because we've got a lot more podcasts coming up in the near future. But what I need you to do is, if you like this, share it. But I also need you to go and leave me one of those five star reviews. Well, you don't have to leave a five star. You can leave whatever star you want, but a five star would be great. Tell everybody about it and if you've got five minutes, just write something down as well. Just leave an actual comment or a review like that. It'd be really handy. It really helps the algorithm. It keeps the podcast rolling. But the most important bit is please, please, please, share this. Tell all your friends about these podcasts, get them out there. Let's uh, let's keep us going and on that note, I'm going to bring this one to an end and we'll catch you on the next one.