American Originals Holiday Special w⧸ Mike Rowe
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 6 minutes
Words per Minute
169.95204
Summary
In time for the holiday gift giving season, we present a special episode where we recommend some genuine, made-in-the-USA products just in time for Christmas! These are products that are actually made right here in America, so when you're buying something, you're supporting a fellow American. And joining me for this merry mission is a friend with a laundry list of media accomplishments, including the host of Dirty Jobs, as well as host on QVC. He's America's Blue-Collar Champion, and he's here to help encourage you to support American-made while checking off your holiday shopping list.
Transcript
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Today, we are presenting a special holiday episode where we recommend some genuine made-in-the-USA
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products just in time for the holiday gift-giving season.
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These are products that are actually made right here in America.
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So when you're buying something, you're supporting a fellow American.
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And joining me for this merry mission is a friend with a laundry list of media accomplishments,
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including the host of Dirty Jobs, as well as he was host on QVC.
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He's America's blue-collar champion, and he's here today to help encourage you to support
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American-made while checking off your holiday hitter list.
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I mean, we talked about this like a year ago as a goof.
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Like, Wayne's World meets QVC to celebrate American manufacturing.
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You know, we want to just create gifts where it's like a lot of times you want to give a
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And a lot of stuff we buy now in America is from other places.
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So it was like, well, let's buy stuff that's from our neighbor, from our fellow American,
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because then you're kind of given like two gifts.
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It's like I'm giving one gift because I am giving an actual physical gift to my friend.
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But then I'm given another gift because the money from it is going towards an American
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Well, the thing that got me, man, you've been touring for forever.
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We've been to 250 something cities over the past four years.
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So, yeah, well, anybody who gets around the country sees that things are tough in certain
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And the idea of reinvigorating manufacturing and showing people what's possible.
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Like these products, people should know that nobody paid to be on here.
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These are just items that we found made by people that we think are super cool.
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And it would be great to crash their website and at the same time give the audience, you
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Yeah, we just picked a lot of stuff that we thought was cool to us, you know?
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And like Mike mentioned, we do want to say that none of these products are paid to be
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And a lot of these products are like companies that we happened upon in different places.
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Some of them were businesses that we walked into when we're out on the road.
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Some are ones that are near and dear to your heart and places that you've been a champion
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And it's just nice to let people know that there is stuff that is made here in our country.
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And but that the the desire and and the the ingenuity is still there.
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And we put together our best hodgepodge of Christmas gifts that you can give to somebody
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you care about or even somebody that you don't.
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They've got a heartbeat and they figured something out.
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And, you know, maybe you can drag them over the finish line.
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This is our first item from the Sullivan Glove Company.
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Hailing from Bend, Oregon, the Sullivan Glove Company has been keeping their premium gloves
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distinctly American-made since 1941, sourcing everything from within these United States
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and crafting each glove through their dedicated and domestic 10-person team who managed to churn
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Sullivan Glove products are handsome and made for versatility.
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They're perfect for a full spectrum of activities from a night out on the town to the ranch or
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Sullivan Glove stand for warmth, durability, and the American spirit.
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Get your special holiday someone's ands into some warm American-made goodness this year.
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Oh, it's like two animals meeting in the woods, huh?
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If you really want to mix it up, give me the one on your right hand.
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I don't know that this has ever been done before at the Sullivan Glove Company.
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But, oh, wow, these are, see, that's a heavier-duty glove.
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Yeah, this is very, has a very Russian sort of we-can-do-it type of thing.
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I feel like you definitely, this thing a lot, you could do a lot.
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You could also train that falcon with this one.
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I feel like if you walked outside with this one on, the falcon will come back.
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These feel like almost, almost like driving gloves.
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There was a guy on the show a while back, a guy, a small guy, which is a child.
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And he was on here, and he found some gloves just in his pocket.
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He found some, like, latex gloves in his pocket.
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And he's somewhere, he's like six to eight years old.
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And, but he actually, we sent him a pair of these.
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Well, now I'm going to upgrade something even better.
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There's nothing I like putting my hand more in than something made right here in America.
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I mean, there was, and that could have gone a few different ways, but I'm glad it went the way it did towards Solomon gloves, man.
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You know, these gloves were created by Edward Sullivan.
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He got started producing gloves for World War II, mainly for the Navy.
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And I'll tell you a little bit of something about Bend, you know?
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There's a lot of like, even just the way it's set up there, it's not like a regular little city.
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It's little pockets of this and that, and somebody's in the woods sucking tree sap out of something.
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If I see somebody sucking on something, I'll look the other way.
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You're walking through the woods, and you see a fella sidled up to a tree.
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Yeah, and he's sucking on the tree to get the sap out.
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Oh, I think you wait a few minutes until he steps back, and then you just let him spit it on your hotcakes.
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That's, I mean, if it's pure maple, I don't know what he was getting.
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But let's get back to the gloves here, Michael.
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I do want to say there's only five glove companies left that manufacture in the USA.
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They have classic, it says, leather motorcycle.
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So if you want to get out there, and you want to get your baby girl one of those big sodas,
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and let her sit behind you on a gold wing or something, and you want to get out there and show off,
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you want to be a little Sturgis baby out there, you can do it in these Sullomons.
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If you want to, if you like dipping your nuggets in some deep ranch, you can wear these gloves and do it.
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But when, to your point, when you push your hand slowly into something that is undeniably of quality,
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then all of your fingers come together in a joyous fist of solidarity.
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Like, if you really had to sum it up, what is the aroma?
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The insides smell a little different than the outsides, but that's kind of nice.
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Thank you guys for sending us a few pairs so that we could show them off.
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That is a serious copyright infringement right there.
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The Beatles, they're very grabby with their, what you call their IP.
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But yeah, I think when people look back at this and wonder what the heck just happened,
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the image that's really going to stick with them is the guy in the woods sucking the sap out of the maple tree.
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Well, let's chat about a new product here, Mike.
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I hate to keep us moving along, but we got a lot of products to hit.
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Some of those Sullivan gloves are so dexteritous, you could actually enjoy a fine piece of fruit in them.
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I got to admit, I hadn't thought about that, but as Tim comes in with these delicious-looking, beautifully-wrapped, perfectly-boxed pieces of fruit,
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I will say that the idea of eating them with gloved hands is appealing.
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And we're talking about chukar cherries out of Yakima Valley, Washington.
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Will you give us a little bit more intel on those, Mike Hill?
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In the heart of Washington State's cherry country, an idea was hatched by a woman named Pam Montgomery,
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As Pam strolled beneath the cherry trees, enamored by the sweet smell of the sun-dried fruits,
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she began to experiment with storing the cherries without adding any sugars or preservatives, as was recommended.
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Instead, Pam made a commitment to keep her cherries additive-free,
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and eventually combined them with chocolate and chukar cherries were born.
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Now sold in Seattle's famous Pike Place and from its headquarters in Prosser, Washington,
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you can also find these in a variety of cherries and chocolates at chukar.com.
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If you think about a cherry, it's really, some people say it's just a little apple.
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Have you ever seriously heard of anybody referred to a cherry as a little apple?
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There's no wrong answer, but part of why I wanted to do this was just to sit close enough to you for a protracted period of time
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to see if I can become one of the few people on the planet with some insight as to how your brain actually works.
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But there is something beautiful about a little cherry, because sometimes you want an apple.
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Sometimes you want 40 apples, and you're like, oh, I can't eat all these 40 apples at one time.
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And you see a cherry, and you're like, oh, okay.
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I would say they look like a dehydrated cherry, almost.
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And I think just knowing that they're natural, knowing they're not all jacked up.
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You see a lot of fruit these days, and it's doing peptides.
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And it's on—you know, you'll get a pear or whatever, and it's been doing creatine.
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You know, the most suspicious thing is the color.
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When they're really super vibrant and when they look so delicious that, you know, that's just not how it is in life, man.
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Maybe for an office worker, you know, it's a thoughtful thing to do.
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You know, once you're talking about an ingestible, you are getting into, like, a personal kind of thing.
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Oh, I've sold bad pills to people over the years.
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So inviting people to buy something that's good for them is certainly not a problem.
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Oh, dude, I bought a batch of fake steroids from somebody in high school, injected it into my body for, like, 12 weeks, dude.
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Well, look, just for the record, if you're just tuning in, these are cherries.
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Just put it in your mouth, chew it, and let the unmistakable delight of cherries the way God made them wash over your palate and thrill to the delight as it journeys through your digestive tract.
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Well, I guess it would be the same, wouldn't it?
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I wasn't going to challenge you there, Mike, because you're a universe.
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But the simple fact that you know these chocolate coverage areas are in here sleeping, and I know the lights are bright.
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Raspberry truffles, vanilla almonds, classic cranberries.
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I'm going to show these up so the baby girls at home can see them.
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Thank you so much for being a part of our gift-giving holiday season and inspiring us with your Chukar Cherries story.
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And, Pam, tell me this, and thank you so much for joining us today.
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You know the logo that looks like a little penguin?
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And last year we dried 700,000 pounds of cherries.
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What's the most interesting thing about cherries that the average American would benefit from knowing but currently doesn't?
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Probably the average wouldn't know that this is one of the best places to grow cherries in the world.
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We really have focused on using U.S. products, U.S. labor.
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Well, that's one of the things that stood out to us whenever we're searching for companies like yours is just the desire to use American products, providing jobs for other Americans.
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Having people have a wonderful place where they like to work and customers that enjoy what you're doing, I think that will keep Chukar going.
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You're living the American dream through cherries.
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Well, thank you so much, Pam, for creating Chukar cherries.
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I'm literally going to order three of these for the holidays.
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And it's just nice to know you're out there doing your thing for as long as you've been doing it.
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In a small Missouri town, Drew Davis did just that.
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Born with cerebral palsy, Drew started crippling hot sauce at 16 with $3,000, a folding table, and his grandmother's kitchen.
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What began as a high school project became a national movement, selling over 500,000 bottles.
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This incredible feat is one built on family, faith, and the belief that strength comes in all forms.
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Every bottle is made and bottled here in America with bold, original flavors like spicy bacon, special treatment, and salsa verde, limping.
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Drew's determination has inspired millions, proving that when you bet on yourself, even the hottest challenges can turn into something extraordinary.
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Let me take a—I wouldn't mind taking a little hit of this deal with it.
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I just accidentally drank a decent amount of your deal with it sauce, man.
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The sauce gives you the runs better than I run.
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When did you get it into your head to start making hot sauce?
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Let's present an idea called crippling hot sauce.
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And as a person with cerebral palsy, my brain is the only thing that works 100% well on my body.
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I was like, so I went up to the teacher and asked him why.
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So, I went home that day out of spite, learned how to make hot sauce and launched it.
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And a couple of years later, we've sold hundreds of thousands of bottles, all while supporting people with disabilities along the way.
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It says on your box here that 5% goes to cerebral palsy research for every sale.
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I was going to say, I was going to recommend a chiropractor for you, but.
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Even just seeing you and feeling your energy, dude.
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It just feels like the American spirit, you know, like, oh, I'll find a way to get this done, right?
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It's not the hot sauce that put me in the wheelchair.
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So now that I get to monetize that, I couldn't ask for anything better.
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What makes this a perfect gift for someone for the holidays?
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Man, I think it just encompasses, like, the true, like, a lot of our humor, and I think it does well.
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So it's like a gimmick product that tastes well, but also does, like, great for the disabled community, which is 1.3 billion strong in the world.
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None of them are too terribly hot besides the ghost pepper palsy.
00:21:10.360
I guess specifically for, about cerebral palsy, do you feel like it's something that can be defeated one day?
00:21:16.780
Yes, I do think so, because the, what cerebral palsy is, is it's brain damage to the cerebral cortex in your brain.
00:21:25.380
So my brain doesn't get the right messages to my legs for them to work.
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We've done, like, two and a half million, um, this year, and, um, you know, still crippled, but at least I sell hot sauce.
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Happy holidays to you, and, uh, and thanks for being so creative.
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Ooh, are we going to take me out to the ballgame?
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Well, what we have here is maybe, maybe the best baseball glove ever made.
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Nothing may be more American than baseball, and with this next product, once again, we are going all American.
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Nakona baseball gloves from Nakona, Texas, are a premium, customizable, American-made baseball glove worn by both young players and major leaguers alike.
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These gloves have been in iconic baseball movies, Field of Dreams, A League of Their Own, you see them in ballparks all over the country.
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America's Pastime deserves American leather made on American soil.
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And when you visit their website, you will be treated to a grand slam of customizable options, from sizes and colors to personalized engraving and stitching.
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Catch the holiday spirit this year with Nakona baseball gloves.
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Yeah, that's a beautiful piece of, uh, equipment, huh?
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I know, uh, Nolan Ryan was a famous Nakona user.
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For 100 years, they've been making these gloves right here in the USA.
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These are the top baseball glove maker in America.
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A great piece of art, which is what I would think of this glove as.
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It's a—it is a love letter to everything we're talking about.
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You give that to the kid, and you make sure they see the story, and they understand what
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they're getting, and they understand the company culture that made it.
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And then, you know, then it's more than a glove, right?
00:24:00.400
Yeah, Bob Story, who is the founder of Nakona Gloves, he—there's a famous quote by him,
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I'd rather take a bucket of worms and go fishing than import a Nakona glove.
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One beautiful thing that happened in World War II, they got a government contract to
00:24:24.720
So they could have some—a bit of something that felt American.
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And those are the kind of stories, I think, when you get somebody a gift like this, that
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It's like—it's like so much of it—yeah, you're right.
00:24:37.540
It's about, like, a sense of tradition and a sense of why we do this and why you would
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My favorite of all time is League of Their Own.
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Just devout lesbianism hidden behind war and sports.
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Some of the products that we're looking at have been around 100 years, right?
00:25:01.780
Some of them are almost institutional to the point where you can look back, see how they
00:25:14.260
And, you know, I wouldn't put a value judgment, honestly, on what's better or what's more
00:25:23.220
Whether it's Bob Story, who 100 years ago, you know, says, I'm going to do this the way
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Or whether it's the kid with, you know, Drew, with cerebral palsy, or the lady making the
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I remember—though I wasn't good at baseball, I remember that glove.
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I'll never forget my first car, first baseball glove, pocket knife my granddad gave me.
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And now that I think about it, they were all American-made products.
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Whose life would change if you present them with a glove like this and Bob Story's story?
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Somebody's going to unwrap this, and they're never going to forget it.
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I want to thank Shopify for sponsoring this special American-made holiday gift episode.
00:26:30.760
A lot of the brands we've been talking about today run on Shopify.
00:26:35.940
Those are real people making real products, trying to build something honest right here in the U.S.
00:26:43.460
I remember I saw somebody was selling glacier water, melted, get you a little half a jug of that, or get you a quart, or get you a little cup.
00:26:55.720
They even come in one of those little baby sippers.
00:26:58.740
Shopify has always supported entrepreneurs from some of the largest corporations in the world to your favorite shop right down the street.
00:27:08.340
It's the engine behind small shops, behind mom and pop garage dreams.
00:27:14.840
Even in the craziness of the holiday season shopping, Shopify gives the little guy a fair shot.
00:27:21.820
So, if you want to join millions of hardworking men and women that managed to create their American dream out of nothing, head to Shopify.com slash Theo today.
00:27:36.380
Shopify has the know-how to help turn that dream of yours into a future legacy.
00:27:45.500
You know, we all hate buying clothes, and after a week, they're falling apart.
00:28:00.320
If you listen to this podcast, you've probably heard me talk about American Giant before.
00:28:05.640
They make high-quality clothes, and they make them right here in America.
00:28:11.220
I bought a sweatshirt from them about a year and a half ago, and I love it.
00:28:15.900
I bought a zip-up hoodie from them and a really great black T-shirt as well.
00:28:20.740
They were started more than 10 years ago by this guy named Bayard Winthrop, who was fed
00:28:27.820
I love knowing I'm supporting an American-made brand.
00:28:31.680
I mean, from the cotton grown on American farms all the way through the finished product
00:28:36.700
made entirely in the USA, I think an item from American Giant would make the perfect Christmas
00:28:42.060
gift for the guy or girl in your life, because it comes with a story.
00:28:47.680
And right now you can shop at American-Giant.com and get 20% off your first order with code
00:28:55.720
You can shop at American-Giant.com and get 20% off your first order with code Theo.
00:29:03.300
And starting now throughout the holiday season, you can find links to all of these companies
00:29:12.540
One thing I wanted to share with you right here next is a company that I learned about
00:29:25.140
People collect all kinds of things, from baseball cards to watches to rocks.
00:29:38.320
For the last 10 years, I've been buying these dolls for my own collection, and sometimes
00:29:44.700
Oddly Sweet Dolls are created in the one-woman art studio of Miss Lacey Michelle, who hand-sculpts
00:29:52.220
every creepy, cute doll straight from her home workshop.
00:29:56.620
What began in 2009 as an experiment in sculpting faces what became a world of imperfect, soulful
00:30:03.220
characters, each brought to life with humor, heart, and a touch of mischief.
00:30:09.000
After surviving a brain tumor while 27 weeks pregnant, Lacey turned creation into her therapy,
00:30:17.860
Entirely American-made Oddly Sweet Dolls stands for originality, resilience, and the
00:30:23.660
beauty of imperfection, proof that even the strangest ideas can be oddly sweet.
00:30:43.340
Is this a thing you talk about often on the pod?
00:30:48.560
I think a lot of people are going to run with this, really.
00:30:53.180
This field, maybe not like headline news, but you're an open book.
00:31:00.800
Some of them seem like maybe they've been using or are in recovery.
00:31:03.560
But I did love the fact a lot of them, like some of them have a meat cleaver or a different knife.
00:31:12.560
Millions of people have hundreds of millions of dolls.
00:31:16.840
Yeah, I think I would remember going over a certain friend's homes and some of their moms
00:31:20.580
or stepmoms would have a doll room and be like, this is where the dolls are.
00:31:24.840
Oh, dude, I just remember my friend, I would sleep at his house.
00:31:28.460
Dude, his mom would, if you got up to go pee in the middle of the night, she'd make the bed
00:31:34.780
Was this the same you were telling me about in the back of the car on the road trip?
00:31:38.900
Yeah, my buddy that was masturbating behind a map.
00:31:41.340
His family was driving somewhere. He's pretending he's reading a map.
00:31:47.160
Hmm. What do you, I mean, what do you get a guy like that for Christmas?
00:31:53.540
There's something about it to me that's very much like, even though something's messed up,
00:31:58.980
there's still, please find something endearing about me.
00:32:01.880
And just the fact that Lacey Michelle was pregnant and is dealing with a brain tumor
00:32:08.860
at the same time, you know, that has to be like fear and hope at the same time.
00:32:14.280
See, that's interesting because, you know, if you have fear and hope in the same feeling,
00:32:19.640
then you can also have creepy and cute on the same face.
00:32:23.920
When you accidentally get your sonogram picture mixed up with your MRI scan, you know,
00:32:32.000
and you're showing somebody the baby and they're like, that's the baby?
00:32:38.360
But just the whole ambiance of that is absolutely kind of wild.
00:32:43.580
And that's the stuff where creativity comes out of.
00:32:49.160
I'm inspired by her story to have two things growing inside of you at the same time.
00:32:56.060
The fact that she makes each one of these, it's pretty fascinating.
00:33:05.180
This item, she'll probably only have maybe 150 to 200.
00:33:08.400
So if you do go to her site and she's sold out, then that's awesome, right?
00:33:33.360
You could hang it on a friend that's not moving much.
00:33:36.080
How have your friends reacted who have received one of these gifts from you?
00:33:42.760
Some people are afraid to display the truth, though.
00:33:45.540
And I think that's what these things are doing.
00:33:47.920
And it just shows you, like, this is neat to me.
00:33:51.820
But there's probably a ton of other creators who are making really neat stuff and can.
00:33:58.560
The fact that Lacey Michelle does this and has an entire business built around it,
00:34:03.100
the fact that she's going to be able to fulfill 150 to 200 orders for Christmas gifts this year,
00:34:09.900
Is there someone in your life that has something going on just below the surface?
00:34:15.380
Something they may not be keen to talk about casually in polite company,
00:34:21.800
but something that nevertheless needs to be tapped into, maybe, just maybe,
00:34:27.540
a doll like this is exactly what they've been waiting to receive.
00:34:33.720
And they won't until Christmas morning when they unwrap it
00:34:37.760
and the universe suddenly starts to make sense for the first time.
00:35:05.900
a husband and wife have turned laughter and hard work into a true American dream.
00:35:15.800
After Craig's high school trapping hobby and a gag wedding gift,
00:35:20.560
the Fur Squallet, also known as a Squirrel Wallet,
00:35:26.440
With a COVID stimulus check and a lot of faith,
00:35:29.820
they began sewing fur goods by hand in their home workshop.
00:35:34.180
Today, their creations include raccoozis, possum packs,
00:35:44.420
They're made from ethically sourced American furs.
00:35:48.580
And they're named after Craig's late best friend.
00:35:58.640
to turn even the wildest idea into something worth hoarding.
00:36:16.700
But now it has a zipper where its abdomen used to be.
00:36:33.100
The aforementioned pills, whatever, medication, whatever it is.
00:36:41.180
And squirrels are notorious for hoarding and hiding things anyway.
00:36:44.440
So they're still getting to live the life they want.
00:36:58.240
Oh, if you pop that bitch open, it had some cashews in it, dude.
00:37:06.780
And you've got a little, like a carabiner right here.
00:37:10.100
So you can clip it, I guess, to your belt loop, maybe.
00:37:14.400
One beautiful thing about this company is that they received a COVID stimulus check and
00:37:23.240
All fur is sourced and harvested from American hunters.
00:37:28.340
This is straight out of God's refrigerator, the forest.
00:37:33.800
If you get tired of drinking out of a squeozie, you got that raccoozie, baby.
00:37:36.720
And it's more of my, this is a little thicker fur.
00:37:39.700
And that's, this is from a raccoon, a raccoon body.
00:37:47.160
You want to let a kid play with the tail while you stand there and drink at regular level?
00:37:51.500
If you got a son and wants to bat that tail around while you're drinking here at human
00:37:59.980
I mean, what baby girl ain't going to want that squalette?
00:38:04.540
Keep your couple condoms in that thing, too, if you're in high school.
00:38:16.260
Men, you want to improve your odds in a rough and tumble, unpredictable dating world?
00:38:21.940
Hollow out that squirrel and never take it off your belt.
00:38:24.680
Look, I've got to work early tomorrow, but I'm in, you know?
00:38:35.880
Why settle for a bush when you can have a scraggly one?
00:38:50.160
One of the things that I'm inspired by is the way that people use things in their area, you know?
00:38:55.320
And one of the best stories that I've heard about that, turning something kind of a negative into a positive, is with the Albizia Project.
00:39:04.580
Under the Hawaiian sun, where the trade winds rustle through wild forests, a once destructive tree has found new life.
00:39:12.240
The Albizia Project transforms Hawaii's most invasive wood into stunning handcrafted cutting boards that help restore the island's native forests.
00:39:23.900
Husband and wife founders Joey Valenti and Christine Johnson, alongside their team, hunt Albizia trees and turn them into heirlooms made entirely on Oahu.
00:39:34.520
From their Wahaewa workshop and cafe, they're building strong community, one cup of coffee and one cutting board at a time.
00:39:44.660
They make a few legendary surfboards out there as well, out of Albizia also.
00:39:50.060
This holiday season, give something with true aloha, proof that even the most invasive species can be transformed into something regenerative, enduring, and proudly American.
00:40:18.860
Imagine you walk into somewhere and they got a couple onions cut up on that thing, baby boy.
00:40:32.160
I can't think of a better combination for everything you would want in a cutting board.
00:40:36.100
Hawaii tourism plummeted during COVID, so they got a $250,000 U.S. Forest Service grant to launch the company.
00:40:44.480
Yeah, I think the invasive species thing is fascinating.
00:40:48.100
You've got to be very careful with what you introduce into an environment.
00:40:53.100
Oh, it's like bringing someone horrible home for the holidays to meet your parents.
00:40:59.980
One of the beautiful things about this is then not only are you creating a gift, you're giving a gift to Mother Nature, too, because you're getting bad things out of the forest.
00:41:06.660
But the other thing, too, it's like it's super personal.
00:41:11.100
Like that specific piece of wood gets traced back to a specific tree.
00:41:16.340
It gets traced back to the specific person who cut it.
00:41:22.680
And it's only possible through what they would call a super localized domestic supply chain.
00:41:29.800
So it's like, yeah, if you need a cutting board, you can go to any retailer and you can buy any cutting board.
00:41:35.560
And now there's a piece of wood in your kitchen and that's it.
00:41:38.500
You use it until you don't use it anymore or whatever.
00:41:42.960
That's not cleaning up Hawaii, keeping it natural.
00:41:46.900
Which is one of the most greatest gifts that we get in the world is nature.
00:41:55.960
Obviously, a mom would love this, especially with the story.
00:42:00.100
Or mom, remember when you tried to marry that guy?
00:42:08.860
You can use it as a small charcuterie board as well if you want to put you a little summer salt.
00:42:14.420
And you can use this one as a makeshift paddle.
00:42:24.540
I would definitely paddle some kids if they let you paddle someone else's kids.
00:42:28.460
I'd run across the street right now and, you know, don't.
00:42:33.460
You could not want to use one of these to surf on.
00:42:56.320
That's been repurposed and reimagined into something truly useful.
00:43:05.740
You go in somewhat misplaced and not necessarily welcomed in the world you find yourself, but
00:43:13.620
you come out repurposed, reshaped, reinvigorated, and who knows, one day re-gifted.
00:43:30.740
A lot of guys out there, they don't know what's going on, right?
00:43:38.180
If you have those types of feelings sometimes, the thing you can do is blaze up a tit in your
00:43:54.220
Candle tit proves that light and laughter can come from the most unexpected of places.
00:43:59.680
Founded by an artist named Bailey, this one-woman brand hand casts every candle from real bodies
00:44:10.580
Each piece is made from locally sourced wax, poured and finished by hand.
00:44:16.080
Some come for the fun, others for farewell, a keepsake made before surgery, helping them
00:44:22.640
see their body with tenderness instead of fear.
00:44:25.900
What started as a bold art experiment is now a movement that supports breast cancer survivors
00:44:31.600
and anyone learning to appreciate one of God's year-round holiday treats.
00:44:36.080
During this festive season, skip the vanilla jar candle and motorboat yourself over to
00:44:44.660
CandleTit.com, handmade in Chicago, because nothing warms a room like compassion, confidence,
00:44:58.180
That's why a tit's got two sides on it, one for each hand, brother.
00:45:08.500
It's almost more like a time capsule in a way for people that are going to go through
00:45:15.460
You know, people that could be dealing with breast cancer or breast removal, something
00:45:19.760
To have a keepsake, to have a fun kind of almost a time capsule way.
00:45:24.300
You lock that tit in forever with these blazers, you know?
00:45:28.240
And you spark one of these things up at a campfire, it's going to be a great story.
00:45:31.860
Who don't like talking tit with their buddies or their family?
00:45:37.420
My sister and I have never even talked about tits, but I spark one of these up.
00:45:43.980
I mean, this is an American doing something creative, doing something cool.
00:45:51.460
I was breastfed on an A cup and, oh, it's harrowing to see it.
00:45:55.540
You ever watch a baby try to get milk out of an A cup tit?
00:46:24.100
I get back to my room and somebody had got me a little box of Donnell's candies.
00:46:37.420
And this is, I kid you not, the best toffee I've ever had in my life.
00:46:59.880
These candies have been curated by the Stepp family since 1956 when Don and Elma Stepp opened
00:47:09.520
And for nearly 70 years, their family has handcrafted toffees, chocolates, caramels, and
00:47:13.900
other sweets using the same original recipes in copper kettles.
00:47:17.160
Three generations later, every batch still carries that small-town pride and patience.
00:47:22.700
So, this season, skip the bullshit French truffle or that Chinese-made laffy-taffy and
00:47:28.380
give the gift of truly American-made sweetness, Donnell's Candies, where holiday tradition tastes
00:47:35.840
And every piece gonna make you holla for joy and slap your cousin.
00:47:41.480
So, if you hate your cousin, I can put two pieces of this in and go whoop his ass.
00:47:53.800
And I'm gonna try one more of their candies live right here.
00:48:01.000
While his mouth is full, I'll tell you, three generations strong.
00:48:04.740
What started with Don, Elma, and their son, Mike, now includes grandson, Ryan.
00:48:09.240
They're still crafting candies by hand 70 years later.
00:48:12.380
And if that doesn't make your mouth water, my friend, I don't know what will.
00:48:27.860
Supporting such a company like Donnell's Candies.
00:48:53.620
I know some of these products we were asking around to some of our friends to see if they
00:48:59.460
And my friend, Kate Thornton, wanted to recommend a domestic company in her area.
00:49:18.820
And this is Whitestone Mountain Orchards that is sending you some fruit.
00:49:22.420
And Hal and Claire, they're the ones running that orchard.
00:49:26.060
And they do an excellent job like through and through.
00:49:28.400
Thank you so much, Kate, for recommending one of your neighbors.
00:49:30.280
Can you tell us how often do you guys harvest apples?
00:49:34.240
We start harvesting pears in mid-August and then start working our way through apples all
00:49:42.400
Usually it goes into November, but it's a pretty long season.
00:49:53.060
Well, there's at least 30 on the commercial market, but there's over 7,000 different varieties
00:50:27.440
This card says, thank you for your order and for supporting small family-owned farms.
00:50:32.840
Your apples include an American heirloom from the 1800s and a new variety.
00:50:38.620
Remember to ripen your pears by leaving them out at room temperature for several days.
00:50:46.340
Well, we met just online, but then she came to our comedy show.
00:50:49.760
And then we went and saw a concert together one time, I think.
00:50:58.480
Yeah, we went for a walk in the park with Zita.
00:51:13.080
I'm trying to celebrate the fact that you're still curious enough to go on the Instagram,
00:51:22.180
It's called stalking people, Mike, and lurking.
00:51:27.900
But I picked a good person this time because Kate's one of the best, and she just spends
00:51:31.880
so much time in the community with farmers, learning about farming, working on her own
00:51:37.560
She's just constantly, if you watch her social media, it's always a good time.
00:51:49.640
My family's been doing this for a long time, so it's a privilege to be able to highlight,
00:51:53.840
even if it's not my family, but other families that do this.
00:51:59.540
If you want to have a nice story to tell your family and get them some fruit that's
00:52:05.780
American grown, and it's not one of the big vendors.
00:52:20.920
Let's zoom in a little bit so we can see the good people that are there and that work
00:52:28.460
Kate, thank you so much for highlighting them and for just being a part of this holiday
00:52:34.940
Well, I adore you both, so let me know if I can help in any way.
00:52:45.120
That was Whitestone Mountain Orchard, established in 1993.
00:52:48.460
Mike, I do want to let you know, sometimes it's nice to have something in your mouth.
00:53:03.180
And Olympia Provisions is our next company that we're going to feature.
00:53:07.060
There's an old saying where I'm from, and it's that American meat is the real good kind
00:53:17.880
That's what people were saying that to each other.
00:53:22.240
And here we got some of the best all the way from Portland, Oregon.
00:53:26.380
It's independently owned by its founder, Elias Cairo, who first discovered his passion for
00:53:32.480
cured meats when on an apprenticeship in Switzerland.
00:53:36.200
Upon returning home, he perfected a curing process that has seen the company grow to a team
00:53:40.420
of 150 that crafts tens of thousands of pounds of cured meats every week.
00:53:46.220
Their secret, no automation, no gimmicks, just skill, time, and care.
00:53:56.460
Bet you found that in my grandmother's drawer, huh?
00:54:07.500
I'm going to have to text my sponsor, but I'll have a little cut of it.
00:54:10.240
Why don't you chop into that bad boy for us right there?
00:54:14.580
Greek-inspired sausage with garlic, oregano, and lemon zest.
00:54:23.720
If your dog gets jealous, because every time, you know, when you crack open your meat, your
00:54:28.500
He ain't been doing shit all day, but he pulls up to get your shit.
00:54:32.460
Give him a dog treat right there from Olympia Provisions.
00:54:46.480
It's been sourced from America for a long time.
00:54:48.580
You want to put together a charcuterie board, you want to get somebody some summer sausage
00:54:54.780
Cured and tastes, that's the best tasting I've ever had, I think.
00:55:07.840
I've never worn suspenders except for once for Halloween.
00:55:12.880
Like, it's something you can snap with enthusiasm.
00:55:15.580
It was like having a cup of coffee without having one.
00:55:26.680
Deep in the woods of Johns Island, South Carolina,
00:55:29.980
Michael Williams ditched corporate life to do something truly uplifting.
00:55:36.600
Welcome to Calavera Tool Works, a small batch leather shop
00:55:40.960
with a cult-like following and zero interest in outsourcing overseas.
00:55:49.040
Every single Calavera belt is cut and stitched and finished
00:55:53.860
from American-raised leather and solid U.S. hardware.
00:56:00.980
This holiday season, skip the tie and give this handsome gift
00:56:06.480
after power-munching through a stocking full of cookies.
00:56:08.980
Handmade on Johns Island, tough as a $2 Christmas steak
00:56:14.180
And built to outlast the Christmas dinner politics.
00:56:20.980
If somebody spanked me with that, I would get my act together.
00:56:23.920
All my dad had to do was walk in the room and go.
00:56:38.440
What does he have to say about these Calavera belts?
00:56:48.760
This one holds up to all my farm uses and jobs.
00:56:58.860
but this is a belt you can pass down to your loved ones.
00:57:02.280
Well, it'll grow with you, it'll shrink with you,
00:57:18.360
I'm trying to think of something nice that I've had around the holidays.
00:57:31.340
Well, there's no reason to put a ham in one of these.
00:57:34.320
Do you want to jump into one of these right now?
00:57:48.540
there's a workshop where the holidays smell like cast iron and cornbread.
00:57:53.020
And that's where Isaac Morton started Smithy Ironware,
00:57:56.420
restoring old skillets before deciding to make his own.
00:58:02.520
polished to a mirror finish and built to last for generations.
00:58:06.260
Today, every single Smithy, skillet, and carbon steel pan
00:58:14.240
Poured and polished in an old naval base turned foundry.
00:58:20.220
Tough kitchen heirlooms meant to be passed down, not tossed out.
00:58:23.940
So, if you're looking for a gift that says forever,
00:58:28.900
and give the skillet that could cook an all-American Christmas breakfast
00:58:41.100
Look at, I mean, it's a good, you know, seven, eight pounds.
00:58:56.800
Put some beef carrots in, put it on a low heat.
00:58:59.420
It's not a classic Christmas meal, but what a, what a true,
00:59:05.480
and you smelled food, what is the smell you most remember?
00:59:16.780
demographically authentic to where you come from.
00:59:20.180
God, if I ate, I could have probably one egg out of that
00:59:35.380
and go get out in the world, find me a job, find me a wife.
00:59:54.460
Your daddy won't talk to you and make him something.
01:00:06.980
Or do you have a creepy uncle who needs a woodsy cabin activity, huh?
01:00:12.720
Or maybe just a fun tradition for you and the kiddos.
01:00:28.360
He made a bunch and put them on the walls at home.
01:00:49.600
why just pick one up off the shelf from some company you don't even know?
01:00:53.240
Get one that's made by one of your fellow Americans.
01:01:04.960
These are great little ornaments and gifts, Mike, right here.
01:01:09.520
There's a ministry out of central Alabama called King's Home,
01:01:13.320
who is doing the Lord's good work by serving women and children fleeing domestic violence,
01:01:22.760
Through custom-made mugs, bowls, and Christmas ornaments with their self-made business,
01:01:28.500
Prodigal Pottery, these amazing women are turning ceramics into salvation.
01:01:33.240
God bless us all, but especially these women at King's Home.
01:01:42.340
Well, they make things like this beautiful sheep right here.
01:01:49.860
Well, I mean, I'm just thinking, you know, the lamb of God.
01:01:57.260
They make Christmas ornaments, mugs, candles, soap dishes, and bowls.
01:02:00.860
One thing that I think is pretty special is last night,
01:02:02.700
Jenna, who is the current director, drove three hours up here to bring us ornaments from them.
01:02:12.700
Prodigal Pottery is very personal for me as it gave me my life back.
01:02:18.700
It's about the hundreds of women who have walked through the door hopeless, beaten,
01:02:22.960
and not sure if they were going to live to see another day.
01:02:26.320
And I get the privilege to watch women find hope and the lights come back on in their eyes
01:02:35.700
I get to watch women get their children back, to buy their first cars, to buy their first houses,
01:02:40.960
things that we think we would have never going to achieve.
01:02:44.280
And only through the dignified work and the safety of Prodigal Pottery were these women able to just heal.
01:02:56.580
You can go on here, buy one item, and tell the story when you give it away to somebody.
01:03:30.140
It's constantly evolving that it can come or go, you know?
01:03:38.740
If we really want to celebrate the people who are making stuff here,
01:03:42.480
whether it's an ornament or an ax, we've got to support them.
01:03:47.920
Yeah, stuff like this is important to me, you know?
01:03:49.820
I think some people think that, you know, America this or America that,
01:03:57.040
And it's how we, like, operate and how we choose to operate.
01:04:00.000
And if we can choose to buy something from our neighbor, then we win.
01:04:04.640
Did I learn so many stories of so many different groups today?
01:04:08.040
I mean, the guys chopping down trees that are bad and turning them into wood that we can use for products,
01:04:13.900
Knowing that Nakona Gloves sent their gloves over to people in World War II
01:04:16.800
so that those guys could have a respite from the nightmare to throw a baseball back and forth for a few minutes.
01:04:28.500
Like, you know, sure, you could buy fruit from some of these companies that have been doing it for hundreds of years and stuff,
01:04:33.680
but you could also get it from a company that's been doing it for 15 or 20 years that has five people working at it that can ship them out.
01:04:41.540
It's like there's just different options out there.
01:04:43.640
And sometimes some of those options don't get as much advertising or don't get the word out there.
01:04:47.780
And if you see something that you guys like, just let us know in the comments.
01:04:51.820
And if we couldn't feature one of your products and we'd spoken to you, we're really sorry about that.
01:04:58.260
Like, we thought this would take a few hours, and we've been here for probably 12 hours, which is, it's okay.
01:05:04.020
It's just, but it is a long day, and so we tried our best.
01:05:09.280
Everybody we introduced you to, though, has a spirit that we admire.
01:05:23.960
Now I'm just floating on the breeze, and I feel I'm falling like these leaves.
01:05:32.280
Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found.
01:05:47.280
Rinse takes your laundry and hand delivers it to your door.
01:05:57.200
So you could take the time once spent folding and sorting and waiting to finally pursue a whole new version of you.