The following is the transcript from our interview with Teunis and Britt, aka Mr. and Mrs. Freak of Nature.
Pamela:
Hello and good day, eh? Welcome to the Super Good Camping Podcast. My name is Pamela
Tim:
I’m Tim
Pamela:
and we are from supergoodcamping.com We are here because we are on a mission to inspire other families to enjoy camping adventures such as we have with our kids. Today, Tim is going to introduce our very special guests.
Introducing Teunis and Britt, Mr. and Mrs. Freak of Nature
Tim:
Yeah, which is a weird one. Pamela usually does this but I don’t know, I felt like taking it on. They are a couple of YouTubers, it seems like everybody’s a YouTuber these days. They’re a lovely couple. I think 2020 was when they started publishing. They’ve got a couple of thousand subscribers, which is awesome. We have three, look! Obviously, you do backcountry trips because that’s my thing, and I use this platform to just talk to all of the backcountry people that I know. You both like fishing and obviously paddling. I see a love of beer as well. And some wickedly cool leathercraft. I’m so blown away by it. I think that’s pretty much the bio that I want to put out. I would like to read something if I can. It’s a post that you, young lady, put out on January 1 this year.
Britt:
Alrighty, I don’t know which post that was, but if that was mine, go ahead.
Tim:
It’s long and it’s lovely and it very much sums up what I think of you guys. Okay, so this is an Instagram post: “Some may have noticed that I’ve upgraded my Instagram name and I’m not alone. My husband, Teunis has also changed his to add Mr. Freak of Nature. Teunis is my husband, my best friend, my co-worker, my teammate, my business partner, and my collaborator, and our focus this year is to expand our brand Freak of Nature, giant exclamation point through YouTube, Instagram, and the new and upcoming legitimate leather shop website. We originally chose this name, as some of you may relate, because we are outcasts on what today’s normal standard lifestyle is. Introverted to polished city living and advanced technology, we thrive and are happiest in nature, blissfully captivated by Mother Nature’s creations. The more time we spend outside the more awareness and respect we feel for our planet Earth. So if it makes us a freak of nature, so be it. Are you a freak of nature? Tell us why! Cheers to 2022 guys, she’ll be grand!” That’s awesome.
Britt:
I actually spent a long time on that post.
Pamela:
We’re part of your tribe.
Tim:
Yeah, that’s awesome. You have much better words than I have.
Britt:
Oh, it took me a long time. I am not good with words.
Tim:
It covers everything. We’ve done a few of these guest episodes. Plus, the outdoor community, particularly hear in Ontario, in Canada too, but in Ontario is, I can never come up with a better word, robust. We’re huge. There are so many people that want to get out and do all the good things and follow all of the “leave no trace”, all of that stuff.
Teunis:
Absolutely.
Tim:
That summed it up. You go with your better half and you do the good things.
Britt:
Well, thank you. I’m glad someone resonated with that post.
Tim:
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. There are too many of us out there trying to do good against all the bad that’s happening. We’re waiting to see if we get a tornado tonight. So that should be fun.
Teunis:
Oh no. Where are you guys?
Tim:
We’re Midtown Toronto. It looks like it’s gonna go north of us. Fingers crossed.
Teunis:
Yeah, fingers crossed.
We Talk Fishing
Tim:
So anyhow Mr. and Mrs. Freak of Nature. You guys are outdoors all the time. Fishing because you guys are great at it. We had a recent chat with Pete Parke, Latitudes Films. He’s a pretty amazing fisherman, like 72 fish in one day or something. That’s insane, right? Tell me your coolest fishing memories.
Teunis:
Coolest fishing memories, well…
Tim:
It doesn’t mean you caught the most but just that one that goes bing!
Pamela:
The one that got away…
Teunis:
I was going to say, there are lots of those. I would never say that we’re numbers people, but we do fairly well, what we think is fairly well, but…
Britt:
We like to go into the hard spots, I think, is our thing.
Teunis:
Yeah, the road less traveled.
Britt:
We started fly fishing. We’ve done it once in the past, I think, a couple of years ago but nothing serious. It was just a little trip or whatever. But this summer or spring, I guess we should say it was spring. Our friend whom we met through social media taught us how to fly fish on our spring Algonquin trip. We caught our first brook trout on a fly rod and we got all butterflies and jitters.
Teunis:
It was absolutely a highlight moment for sure.
Britt:
It was maybe this big [indicating modest in size].
Tim:
Who cares? Brook trout in Algonquin fly fishing!
Teunis:
Individual moments? It’s hard to say but there’s always salmon fishing. Those are always fun. We love all salmon, trout, char, all that stuff. I can’t think of a specific moment but there are lots of them. Yeah, we absolutely love to fish. I would never say that we are particularly good at it, but we try. Like Britt said we always go for the areas that are least traveled.
Pamela:
Which kinds of areas are those?
Britt:
A lot of Crown Land stuff. We’ll pretty much go online. I’m sure you’ve heard of the website Fish ONline and we’ll just look at any of the stocked lakes that are in our area. We’ll see how many fish were there. We’ll think: this one looks kind of out of the way, so maybe a four-kilometre hike.
Teunis:
I was going to say, it’s the ones that you don’t want to walk to. Ones that don’t really have trails or the trails are very unmaintained, even for winter travel, right? They’re really uphills or there are lots of rocks, whatever it is, people can’t get their sleds to them.
Britt:
A rule of thumb for us is that we try three times. If we can’t catch one fish in three times then it’s crossed off the list and we’ll go on to something else.
Teunis:
You’ve got to explore a little bit right?
Tim:
Cool! Yeah, no, I’m old and lazy. So I don’t do that crazy, uphill, stony bushwhacking.
Teunis:
Well, you don’t…
Tim:
Not as much I mean. I can’t say we’ve done Crown Land. We do Killarney, Algonquin, and Kawartha Highlands. Hopefully, QE II in the next couple of weeks for maybe a weekend or something like that, but that’ll be my first non-operating Provincial Park trip. Much as I love it and love watching everybody do it, I don’t get out nearly as much as I would like to. They won’t let me quit my job.
Britt:
Yeah, we have that issue too.
Teunis:
I think that’s an issue a lot of people have, right?
Britt:
I guess you can make money off of doing the things you like or love…
Teunis:
That’s the dream, right?
Britt:
We would have to build that.
Canoe Tripping
Tim:
Ditto. Oh, man. I would give a body part if we could pull that off. Yeah, a small body part. So I know that you canoe, you were talking about hiking up trails. Do you do hiking-only trips?
Teunis:
Not so much.
Britt:
No, ironically, when we first got together we wanted to find our thing. We both enjoyed the outdoors but we didn’t have something that was a mutual activity, I guess you can say. We thought we were gonna be hikers. We were looking into trails, all the gear, the lightweight stuff, and I don’t even know how canoeing even got into the mix, but we completely just went foop!
Teunis:
Yeah, so we suggested it one year because we both grew up around canoes. I used to canoe. My grandmother lived on a lake. Just in front of their home there we would paddle around the small lake that they had and Britt’s dad, her parents used to…
Britt:
get in an annual canoe trip but they weren’t big canoeists or anything.
Teunis:
Yeah, so they would dabble in it. So we’ve always had an interest in it and just from fishing as a kid and all that the wanderlust was there to always wonder what was around the next bend, so to speak. So we suggested it one year when we were dating, and just picked the furthest spot on the map and drove there, and yeah, the rest was history. As soon as we touched the water, we were like, yeah, this is it.
Britt:
Yeah.
Tim:
Good deal.
Britt:
Hiking is too much work. Not too much work, but too much of the same work.
Teunis:
Yeah. I thought we were gonna do it too more, just because of coming from a hunting background as well. You’re always walking, depending on the game that you’re pursuing. So I was like, I’m used to walking miles and miles daily, and then no. Well, portaging you get that too, right?
Tim:
So you get that little bit of hiking in.
Teunis:
Exactly.
Tim:
You get the appreciation for how hikers are very particular about shaving that gram there, shaving that gram there, but in a canoe, I don’t care how much it weighs.
Teunis:
You get your fix of hiking on the portage and then you hope for the boat.
Britt:
Teun and I spread ourselves too thin when it comes to doing things on our canoe trips. On our last trip, we ended up carrying so much weight!
Teunis:
Over 100 pounds of gear and our boat weighs 60 pounds.
Britt:
We brought chest waders, wading boots, two sets of fishing rods, we brought spinner rods, and fly fishing stuff. We had so much gear. So the hiking/portaging part is difficult. But we wouldn’t do it any other way, because we needed it to do everything else.
Tim:
With that much weight, for sure. Okay, perfect segue. Tell us about the last trip where, for starters, and what motivated you to lug 100 and some odd pounds of stuff and put a heavy canoe on your head?
Teunis:
The road itself is top-secret just from my buddy from Instagram, Josh, who has to protect the fishery. We can segue into that later. Okay, we learned about social media being a double-edged sword. It’s beneficial to get people outside and stuff but then people abuse it to try to exploit certain areas. Josh and I planned it initially because Britt’s just down for whatever. I just said, “How does this sound this year?” And she’s like, “Yeah, that works.” So in terms of mileage, it wasn’t that far of a trip. I think the total trip was probably under 50 km.
Britt:
It was 30 and 30.
Teunis:
Okay, sorry. I will say 60 to 70 km with half of that being portaging but because we were in the height of land, that’s the only tip I’ll give, in the park there is a lot of elevation. Most portages were uphill and most portages were between 1.5 and 2k, so there was a lot of double and triple carrying. That’s a lot of walking and the fishing was amazing, but you worked for it.
Britt:
In total, we calculated at the end of our trip we did 100 kilometres of portaging and 30 kilometres of canoeing.
Pamela:
You must have burned a lot of calories on that trip!
Teunis:
You were sweating. Some of those portages were probably the hardest we’ve ever done, but it was fun. I wouldn’t change it. It was great. The only thing I would change about the trip was the duration that needs to be done over an extra…
Britt:
So we did it in 10 days with one rest day, every day we moved except for one day.
Teunis:
Yeah. So I would say probably another four to five days, would have made it perfect because then you can pick the parts of the lakes more for fishing, and just rest more. We were training and working up for this. We started running again, and even still, you risk injuries and stuff, right? So it was a lot.
Britt:
Yeah, it was. But it was amazing. It was a fantastic time. We didn’t need the bugs though.
Teunis:
Yeah, prime mosquito hatch that you couldn’t have hit it better.
Tim:
So the picture I think I shot you a note about the other day with just like a mountain of bugs.
Britt:
Yeah, that was that trip.
Teunis:
Yeah.
Tim:
If you do the weight loss clinic [weight loss from all the blood loss from the bug bites], I want 10% for my idea.
Teunis:
We will put your name in there.
Tim:
All right, thanks.
Teunis:
I know that video is coming. So for those that do listen, that maybe are expecting it, it’s in the works. We’re trying to tell the story again without giving away stuff. I guess I just want to talk about the way people are abusing social media. There are now websites and Facebook groups that are people literally getting together trying to dissect photos to find the spots where they were taken. “It’s not this lake.” “I know that rock.” “I have been to that portage.” So people can just beeline to the best fishing holes and abuse them, right? We try to do our best to protect them because Algonquin‘s a busy place, right? It’s not out of the way for most.
Britt:
A lot of the lakes there are heavily fished. Outside the park, you’ll get a lot of fished-out lakes. Is that right?
Tim:
Yeah.
Teunis:
Yeah. She’s French.
Britt:
That’s why I’m not good at words. But yeah, we’ve gotta keep those interior lakes a little more sacred, I think.
Tim:
I think we need to do it for all of them. The last couple of years have been pretty brutal on all of the parks and I get it. People can’t do the things they normally do. It would be nice if they did a little learning before they jumped into it. Then you wouldn’t find a stack this deep of abandoned grates and fry pans and stuff in the backcountry sites.
Teunis:
I think a lot of people overestimate their own abilities, right? I think if you’re watching it on YouTube, and you’re like, “oh, it’s easy, right?”
Tim:
That’s an edited video. That’s not the real trip, man.
Teunis:
Yeah, and then we also overestimate our abilities, right? Depending on our age, and whatever else, people think they’re a lot more macho than they might be, or they think they’re 10 years younger, whatever, right? And you maybe strap on the backpack at home right quick thinking “you know, this isn’t too bad.” And then you get out there walking 2-3 clicks, and you’re like, I can’t do this, right?
Tim:
Yep.
Rescuing People in Algonquin
Britt:
You might be going down that path because I don’t know if you guys know, but we’re both paramedics and we often do calls in Algonquin Park.
Tim:
Oh, no kidding!
Britt:
So we’ve been called in time and time again where people are going in just completely oblivious of what they’re getting into. And then they injure themselves or are just looking for a quick way out of the park.
Teunis:
Yeah, or just abuse 911. We have amazing technology and they’ve got their SOS button, they press it and they say they’re in an emergency, then you get there and they’re walking out and they just want a boat ride or helicopter lift out of the park, right? That’s not what this is for.
Tim:
Yeah, no, no.
Pamela:
I would be sending them the bill for that.
Teunis:
Yeah.
Britt:
I wish that was still a thing.
Tim:
Yeah, we’re gonna have another conversation down the road.
Teunis:
Absolutely!
Tim:
And that might absolutely be it. Because of the leather belts I knew that Britt was a paramedic and I knew that you guys work together, so I figured something along those lines. I keep reading stories, whether it’s in Paddling Magazine, Explore Magazine, or whatever, where they talk about the abuse of the SOS systems, whether it’s 911, whatever, it is the rescue systems. People are like, “Yeah, but I didn’t have the energy to come back out.” I don’t know for sure that that’s an SOS, maybe you should have paid more attention before you went in.
Teunis:
Absolutely start small, right?
Pamela:
Plan better.
Teunis:
Yeah, instead of biting off that 100-kilometre trip. Start with a two-nighter and do 20 km.
Tim:
You can do Canoe Lake and go to Joe Lake and camp out for two nights. That’s a pretty straightforward one. That’s easy. You can take your cooler on wheels through the portage.
Teunis:
There are lots of people if you need a hand or help, it’s easy to get in touch if that’s what you’re worried about.
Tim:
You probably have a cell signal on all of those lakes.
Britt:
Have a plan B, or plan C. Have extra food, have a first aid kit, and just think ahead.
Teunis:
Because when you’re out there there are so many variables, right? You plan the 100 clicks or whatever or even 10 but throw in some bad weather, a little bit of wind, whatever the case is and now your paddle goes from being “oh this is easy and scenic and beautiful” to now you’re working and trying to get across and not capsize or whatever, right? So yeah, there’s a lot to learn.
Tim:
There’s a lot to learn. Yeah, we can spend all day advocating for “do your homework”, “listen to the things”, “pay attention”, “read up”, and “try it.” You know what? Walk around your block with your backpack on. See how just that short trip goes and then you get back and it’s like, “Oh, I’d be all sweating and stuff.”
Teunis:
Yeah, absolutely. And humble yourself, right? You know what you’re capable of. Don’t get me wrong, the human mind is amazing, and yes, you are capable of a lot more. But most people don’t unlock that portion.
Britt:
Baby steps.
Mr. Freak of Nature
Mr. Freak of Nature’s Taste in Clothing
Tim:
Yep. Cool. All right. I’m gonna move on to something else. So I have to know what the story is behind the blown-out pants. I saw that video and he had been walking around for days like that.
Britt:
Oh, Teunis is just notorious for this. He’s like “they’re still good. They’re still good.”
Teunis:
I think it’s just a man thing. Where a t-shirt has a hole in it and then you go put 50 more in it and you’re still wearing it.
Tim:
T-shirt, yes. But airing out the butt, no, not so much.
Teunis:
On a hot summer’s day, man, it helps.
Pamela:
Don’t knock it until you try it.
Teunis:
Yeah.
Britt:
It was just Teunis’ stubbornness, 100 percent. Even before jumping on this show, he was wearing a shirt with a stain on it. And he’s like, oh, it’s good enough. And I’m just like, you have to change it.
Teunis:
People are gonna see you.
Pamela:
It’s a video.
Tim:
It won’t be soon. My video editing skills suck so much. I love DaVinci, but I don’t use it often enough that I have to keep going, “I can’t remember how to do the split thing and do that.”
Teunis:
That’s the key with videos, you just got to pump out a bunch of them until you get that muscle memory because I know what it’s like to go from, you’re learning and then you go back to square one. You go back to YouTube and learn how to do the basics.
Tim:
That’s exactly it. I have to go back and watch another video of somebody teaching me how to reuse it again. Oh, yeah, that’s it. Yeah, I suck.
Teunis:
You’ll get there.
Winter Camping With Mr. and Mrs. Freak of Nature
Tim:
Eventually! [to Pamela “ask him about that” pointing to winter camping in our notes]
Pamela:
He says to ask you about winter camping.
Teunis:
Winter camping. What would you like to know?
Tim:
Two things. One is, do you guys go winter camping? Because I get the whole soft water, go far away, and check out some new place. Winter camping is a bit of a different deal. Do you guys go relatively close to home or do you do that far-away thing?
Britt:
No, we’re fairly close.
Teunis:
So far, much closer. Don’t get me wrong, in terms of being close to people, we’re far away. Like we might be you know…
Britt:
As far as a truck can get us down a dirt road.
Teunis:
Yeah. We’ll go to a lot of areas that we know are great areas for that activity or for fishing because ice fishing is probably our biggest activity in the winter. So that’s obviously a component of our winter camping. That’s one of the main reasons that we got into it more. We’ll go if we’re visiting up in Timmins or whatever, it will be maybe 200 clicks away from the nearest town whether it’s Timmins or Cochrane or whatever. You’re far away from people but from the truck, you’re probably within a kilometre or two easily. We don’t stretch it because I’m sure you guys have seen it from Canoehound, I put an axe in my foot, which has humbled me. Yeah, from using these tools my entire life to now knowing things can happen. So there’s a little bit of just the comfort of knowing that you have an escape route. But…
Britt:
And again, we don’t have a snowmobile, we don’t have a four-wheeler or anything.
Teunis:
It’s new to us as well. As much as we’ve grown up in the outdoors, both of us and then canoeing, winter is a whole different beast, right? It’s a whole lot more caloric usage. You’re burning calories, just kind of walking.
Britt:
You’re cutting wood, all day.
Teunis:
Yeah, exactly. You’re essentially a lumberjack to survive.
Tim:
I’m a lumberjack [singing the Monty Python lumberjack song]
Teunis:
Because one time we did go with Britt’s dad, it was minus 35 or so at night. Like it was a pretty warm day in Timmins, but it was cold that night.
Britt:
It was freezing. It was pushing the limits of comfort. We were up every couple of hours stoking the stove.
Teunis:
Yeah, because we don’t have winter-rated sleeping bags and stuff, right? Because all that stuff is super expensive, as you guys know, I’m sure. We have really great shoulder season bags. Super lightweight, and compact, rated to about minus 13, though. So obviously, that doesn’t coincide with minus 30 – minus 35. So to stay comfortable, when you start to get chilly, you have to get up and throw on a couple of burners and get the heat back up.
Britt:
But it was cold.
Teunis:
I really enjoy it. I really want to get better at it and also stay close to the filming aspect because it’s hard. It’s a lot of work. We’re not trying to showcase that we’re pros. We want to show people to get outdoors and show them our adventure which for us doesn’t always have to be 400 kilometres. Yeah, you don’t have to be in the middle of absolutely nowhere to find solitude and quietness, especially in the winter that you’re looking for.
Tim:
Cool! Well speaking of winter camping, all of you YouTubers went out and how awesome was that?
Teunis:
The rat pack as Dennis would say.
Britt:
It was awesome! It was good. One of the main reasons that we got on YouTube was to expand our community and to talk to people that are interested in the same stuff as we are. To learn from them and they could learn from us. The fact that we, for one, got the invite to go to this super awesome get-together, me and Tuen were just over the moon.
Teunis:
Super humbling!
Britt:
We’re just little guys on YouTube too.
Teunis:
This just shows you, especially here in Ontario, how everyone’s tight-knit, and very humble.
Tim:
It is a community, man.
Teunis:
Willing to help everyone out. You have Joe, Xander, and Careena. All of these people are literally impacting people, and we’re friends with them now. It’s great, but something that you never would have expected. You’ve got to put yourself out there and you don’t know until you try.
Britt:
Even if that was the pinnacle, the highest point of our social media journey, it was worth it. It was so much fun. Like a tonne of fun. Everyone you see online is exactly the way they are in person. Everyone’s fantastic.
Pamela:
Kevin said that being out in nature just brings out authentic, good people.
Tim:
Yeah, the good people.
Teunis:
There are no fake people. What you see is what you get, and it was super cool.
Britt:
Hopefully, it happens again.
Tim:
Awesome. That looked like an absolute hoot. It looked like a bit of a haul to get in there, but then snowmobiles came out, so that looked better.
Teunis:
Yeah, it was nice to have the sleds come help some of us. Some people actually walked the whole way.
Britt:
It was slushy. We picked a spot, of course, not knowing what the conditions were going to be like 100%, but it ended up being pretty slushy. We were lucky to find a flat spot near everybody.
Teunis:
That’s the one downside to having 20-plus people is you’ve got to find the space for it.
Tim:
Big spot, yeah.
Teunis:
Luckily in the winter, we all camped on the lake near the shore on the ice so no trees were impacted or as little as possible. Obviously, you’re cutting firewood but you’re not clear-cutting an entire hillside or flat area to make camp.
Leathercraft by Freak of Nature Co.
Tim:
Cool. All right. So I’ve been watching multiple posts of extremely cool, I don’t know a better term for it, leather work. I keep wanting to use the words leather craft because I’m watching what you do. There’s so much work to it. It takes so much finesse. There’s so much artistry to it, so many stages to it to make it all so cool. Tell me about it.
Britt:
My goodness. This was an idea that me and Teun had a while ago. We hunt, and we’ve always wanted to be able to utilize more of the animal that we kill. So we were thinking oh, we’re going to keep the hides and tan them ourselves and make something out of them. But we have had a few unsuccessful hunting years. So that was kind of not possible.
Teunis:
Yeah, it’s been a good three years since we’ve had enough big game.
Britt:
But I was always interested in the actual crafting part of the leather. So I just decided, I’m not going to wait for him to kill something. I’m going to start researching, and YouTubing. We’re self-taught off of YouTube and I just got hooked. I go to bed thinking about it, I wake up thinking about it, and at work sometimes actually work on it.
Teunis:
She’s a woman of many talents and it’s just another feather in the hat. I would say that the leather stuff started with me.
Britt:
It definitely started with you.
Teunis:
That whole animal thing was something that I wanted to add to the hunting realm but also just learn the material for making little shoes and products or little stuff around the house. Then, of course, Britt got it into her hands and she just went with it.
Britt:
I didn’t know about leather tooling, leather carving, and all of this stuff. It’s just a whole new world for me.
Teunis:
As a person, Britt is a very creative individual, to begin with. All of the homebody skills sewing, cooking, a lot of stuff, she’s just very adventurous and she touches it and it’s like, “oh yeah, here’s a quilt” and just starts making stuff. Then, sure enough, this happens and is like well you’ve got a real knack for this.
Britt:
It started off as a little hobby for ourselves. It’s kind of getting to the point where I would like to completely not be a paramedic anymore and actually make this my full-time job, which I know is huge and very ambitious but I think it’s gonna happen. I think I can do it.
Teunis:
It starts with a dream, right? And then you just have to work at it.
Britt:
I’m very fortunate that I have a very flexible schedule with my full-time job so I can work at the leather craft in my spare time and days off.
Teunis:
Full-time for us is only 13 shifts a month. So you get enough time to do your side hobbies.
Britt:
We’re trying to brand ourselves. It has been very difficult to get the outdoor Freak of Nature channel to the leatherwork Freak of Nature. We’re actually working on a leather channel for the Freak of Nature leatherwork.
Teunis:
The business name is Freak of Nature Co. now so the brand is still Freak of Nature, but just add the company portion to it to separate the adventure portion from the leather business side of it so people can distinguish the two.
Britt:
Yeah, and our YouTube channel has been acting kind of like, what’s the word I’m looking for…
Tim:
A conduit.
Britt:
I’m not sure.
Tim:
It’s like something to help move people into your leather work.
Britt:
I’m getting a lot of people asking and requesting stuff that have been watching our YouTube. It’s nice because I enjoy making stuff like axe and knife sheaves and belts for the outdoors. I want to make it for people that go outdoors. These are the questions that I’m getting, and it’s really fun. I don’t even know, my words are all lost because I’m just so excited about it.
Tim:
That’s great. I think that’s part of the whole being-an-artist thing. It has to come out of you. So getting it out like that is awesome. It’s awesome. And it makes perfect sense. Like I’m looking at the sheaves and the axe covers and all that sort of jazz, belts again, a perfect one. What did I see on your website? Oh, I think you made a sling-type thing for your walkie-talkie at work or something like that. I thought that would be a great one too, just for the additional crap that you stick in pockets and stuff like that. It’d be nice to have it more accessible than trying to dig it out of your pocket. I think that’s awesome.
Britt:
I have so many ideas that just take like you guys had mentioned earlier, it takes a lot of time to do one thing. There are drying processes, there are different layers of coats…
Teunis:
There’s also wanting to perfect what we already know to make it more showroom quality or the polished finished product to sell, right? Because we want people to be happy with what they get.
Britt:
That is something that I’m struggling with right now. I think it’s like the biggest issue I’m having is trying to make my own brand while also trying to do custom orders for people. I’m trying to find the time to manage both because I enjoy doing both. But I do have to think about our brand. So it’s challenging. We have a lot of ideas. It’s executing them that’s tricky.
Teunis:
Well, it’s also where we don’t own a home. We rent so we don’t have a lot of square footage, like our office, right there is where all the magic happens, right there. Eventually, there will be machines and stuff that will help us speed up these tasks, whether it’s dyes and presses to cut out the templates and then you’ve got to start sewing certain bits together and speed it up. Right now everything’s done by hand, right? So you literally have to trace it, cut it, polish it, and do all your little conditioning steps to get to where it is. So it takes a while.
Tim:
Yeah, well, that’s probably part of what I find alluring about it because it’s all done by hand, especially the stitching, carving all the designs, all that sort of jazz. I keep thinking about, in a previous life I’ve had to work with leather in a few things. I know stitching it by hand, that’s brutal. I’ve spent so much time just bleeding from my fingertips that it’s just insane. As soon as we could afford to buy even just a crappy little handheld stitcher machine, here have all the money out of my pockets.
Britt:
I cannot wait to have something for the stitching. I enjoy the little jobs, but I did a book cover which took me forever because I had to go around the entire edge of the book.
Teunis:
Laptop cases and stuff like that, it’s a lot of back and forth, back and forth.
Britt:
And your string is very long so you’re just weaving through this eight-foot string.
Tim:
Keeping your upper body in shape. Lots of good movement. Lots of flexibility. Yeah, I hear you, man. All right.
Pamela:
That’s it for us for today. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much also to our very special guests, Teunis and Brittany from Freak of Nature. And I’m Pamela
Tim:
I’m Tim
Pamela:
and we are from supergoodcamping.com. Please do visit us on our website. Feel free to email us at Hi@supergoodcamping.com and please connect with us on all the social media. We would love more than our three subscribers on YouTube. Bye!
Tim:
Bye