Rachel Jackson

Going Back to Her Roots

Name: Rachel Jackson
Born: Sydney, Australia
Age: 32
Lived in Scotland: 12 years

Rachel Jackson runs Early Bird Enterprises, a meat processing business, with her husband Keith on the Isle of Skye. An Australian in Scotland, she can trace her Macleod ancestry back hundreds of years. Rachel tells us what it’s like running a business on a beautiful yet remote island.

"I first came to Scotland in 1994 for the Clan (Macleod) Parliament with my Nana which takes place in Dunvegan every four years. She’d been coming for a long time. She’s a Macleod by birth."

Clan Parliaments have been held at the Macleod family seat, Dunvegan Castle, since 1956 when clansfolk return from all over the world for a special family gathering.

"I was at university at the time in Sydney, studying Science and I just fell in love with the place. My Macleod family had originally emigrated to Australia about 100 years ago. Originally the Macleods came from this area and the outer isles, Rathsay, Lewis and Harris."

"When I came over to Skye it really felt as if I was coming home, it was really bizarre. I'd been to the UK before (but not Scotland – we lived in York for a year when I was four), having travelled extensively in orchestras when I was at school.

"My cousins had also been over and said how much fun they’d had but I didn’t really have any idea about what it would be like.

"Scotland has a very different beauty to what I had grown up with in Australia. When you come from somewhere that's just bush for miles and miles, to a place where you've still got beauty, but a very stark, dramatic beauty which changes continually depending on what the weather's doing, it's quite amazing. 

"During my week at the Clan Parliament, I thought Skye was wonderful so I decided to come back the following year for a month's holiday. I lived with a family I'd met when I was here before, had a look around the place and really enjoyed it, then went home and finished my degree.

"After that I decided that I would do a year's working visa in the UK. I lived in London for a bit and Oxford for three months. I'd organised a summer job at Dunvegan Castle working in the restaurant and whilst working there I met my husband Keith. We got engaged and married the following year.

"I was quite happy to move here, Keith was reluctant to move anywhere – I didn't expect him too – he was the shepherd at Dunvegan Castle. I had my first child Tristan, who is now seven.

In 1997, Skye and Lochalsh Enterprise (the government funded enterprise company, now called Highlands & Islands Enterprise, HIE) purchased 4,500-acre Orbost estate in the north of Skye from the Macdonald family.  The first purchase of its kind in Scotland, it was aimed at giving ownership to the community and encouraging development.  

"So we decided to apply to Orbost. The idea was that young families from the island or links to the island would have the opportunity to take on some land, set up a business and stay here because land and housing were becoming so unaffordable for young couples.

"Our application was rejected at that point so we had to move away. So we went down to Crianlarich for three years. My husband Keith was shepherding and I had my second child, Jessica, who is now five.

"But then HIE called us and said they'd made a mistake and would we like to come to Orbost so we said yes as Skye was where we really wanted to live!

“We came back to Orbost and set up a business called Early Bird Enterprises – a worm farm, selling worms for composting and fishing, and selling composting units.

"We also set up a meat processing business. You can't buy local meat here, so we saw an opening to be able to produce local meat as there is no slaughter facility on Skye. 

"My husband Keith has a venison dealers' licence so he shoots the venison on the hill near our house. We also breed wild boar and make sausages, ham, bacon and burgers and other bits and pieces. We sell locally at farmers’ markets and lots of tourists come and buy our produce.  We also do turkey at Christmas."

So what does the future hold for the Early Birds?

"We're looking to get a licence to shoot the boars in the wood and expand the business at some point in the future."

Orbost is a remote place to live so what is it that makes it such a great place to live?

"It's so nice to live in a community. People come and go but it's very accepting, especially of incomers. Although it can be a hard place to live especially in the winter. Generally you find (the local word is) that if people make their first winter they’ll stay. The first winter is the test (despite Skye often being referred to as the 'mild winter isle'!)

Does Rachel have any tips for anyone thinking of coming to Skye to set up business?

"There are loads of business opportunities but to be here you have to be self-motivated and very resilient.

"There are skills gaps which need filled. There are lots of opportunities for contracting and temping, opportunities for things like a kids' gymnastics teacher. In the last couple of years, we've only just got a ballet teacher.

"Opportunities to set up things which are just not here are also available. In fact Keith has to take our meat to Dingwall to be slaughtered, so there’s definitely a niche in the market for someone to open a slaughterhouse on Skye.

"The other great thing about living here is that you can work remotely. There are quite a few people working in this way using email and the internet. It's the ideal way to have the best of both worlds, living in peace and tranquillity and running a business."

Related Links

• Highlands &Islands Enterprise
• Dunvegan Castle
• More about Skye