{"id":20238,"date":"2025-07-22T11:53:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T01:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/?p=20238"},"modified":"2025-07-22T11:53:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T01:53:24","slug":"hands-on-off-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/country-living\/hands-on-off-farm\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands-on, Off-farm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A throwaway line caused two outback Queensland sisters to create a business selling sun-protective gloves.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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To paraphrase the Nobel Prize-winning Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, some people see things as they are and ask \u201cwhy?\u201d, while others dream things that never were and ask \u201cwhy not?\u201d. Sisters Angie Nesbit and Shona Larkin are a classic case of \u201cwhy-nots\u201d. Catching up over coffee after a morning\u2019s work in the paddocks, Shona commented how great it would be if the gloves they wore for both skin and sun protection were more stylish. Angie\u2019s off -the-cuff response \u2014 \u201cwe should make our own\u201d \u2014 was the genesis of FarmHer Hands, a bush-based business selling gloves that don\u2019t just protect against the sun, bumps and scratches, they also come in a range of fashion-forward colours and prints. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hands-on,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


\u201cGloves are essential for most station work,\u201d Angie says. \u201cI think we were using fi shing gloves at the time. So, when Shona started the conversation, it seemed pretty obvious that it wouldn\u2019t be hard to improve on what we were currently using.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angie, Shona and their sister Sasha spent their early days on a cattle station in the Prairie district of north-western Queensland and moved 80km south of Hughenden when their parents bought Kentle Downs in 1995. Their early schooling was via Charters Towers School of Distance Education but, following the move, they were able to attend the tiny one-teacher Cameron Downs primary school. \u201cShona and I used to ride the 20km each way on a four-wheeler,\u201d Angie says. \u201cLike most bush kids, we were given a lot of responsibility from a young age. We went to boarding school in Toowoomba for high school.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hands-on,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Shona went on to study teaching and, after a nomadic period working on stations, Angie became a beauty therapist. Sasha is an events manager living in Brisbane. Their parents bought Landsborough Downs next door to Kentle in 2005, which is where Angie and her husband, Sam, who also runs an electrical business in Longreach, now live. Shona and her husband, Steven \u201cLarko\u201d, took over running Kentle. \u201cWe\u2019re lucky that our parents always did things differently,\u201d Shona says. \u201cThey were cell grazing long before anyone had ever heard of regenerative ag. They also recognised the importance of succession planning, which has allowed us to continue to live on the land.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hands-on,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


The Larkin children \u2014 Hunter, aged 13, Torah, 12, Will, 10, and Ned, 6 \u2014 and the Nesbits\u2019 kids \u2014 Hugo, 7, Tilli, 6, and Elka, 4 \u2014 now have the freedoms and responsibilities their mothers enjoyed as children. They include the privilege of learning at home via distance ed, though boarding school is an inevitability when they enter high school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FarmHer Hands gloves are fingerless, to make them mobile-phone friendly, and helpful for tasks such as using a scalpel or other tools and holding the reins when horse riding<\/a>. They are also reinforced on the underside to provide extra protection for jobs such as fencing, working with sharp tools and even dealing with spiky plants in the garden. They\u2019re made from lightweight, stretchy, durable and fast-drying fabric that\u2019s similar to the material used for swimming rashies. Most importantly, the fabric has a UPF (ultraviolet protection factor) of 50, which means that only one out of 50 (two per cent) of the sun\u2019s rays can penetrate. \u201cIn other words, that means it blocks 98 per cent of radiation,\u201d Shona explains. \u201cThe standards are regulated by the Australian government and the fabric has to be tested every year to ensure the claim remains accurate.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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UPF is a particular concern for many people living in the bush, as working outdoors means constant exposure to the sun\u2019s harsh rays. In Shona\u2019s case, this fact is personally significant as, in 2016, she was diagnosed with stage II melanoma, the most dangerous of skin cancers. \u201cIt was pretty frightening at the time,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI was still breastfeeding Will and had to go to Townsville [five hours away by road] for surgery and treatment. Fortunately, it was successful, but our family has had a heightened awareness of the risks and need for protection ever since.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia has the dubious distinction of having the world\u2019s highest rate of melanoma and it\u2019s the third-most commonly diagnosed cancer in this country. It\u2019s estimated that almost 17,000 people will be diagnosed this year and 1300 of them will die as a result of the disease. The only good news in this rather bleak scenario is that screening is available and, if caught early, 90 per cent of melanomas can be cured by surgery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Protection is a key factor in prevention, particularly for people who spend a lot of time in the sun. Wearing sunscreen, hats, protective clothing and gloves are important precautions against sun damage. Angie and Shona say they were greatly helped in their start-up by Jile Brown, another outback Queensland resident and friend, who launched a sunsafe swimwear label, Coola Cozzies<\/a>, from her on-station home near Ilfracombe a decade ago. \u201cJulie was generous in sharing tips and advice,\u201d Angie says. \u201cWith a lot of Google searching, we were able to find a company in China to manufacture to our specifications.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FarmHer Hands launched online just in time for Christmas 2023 and the sisters say they were overwhelmed by the response. \u201cIt was immediately obvious we\u2019d found a gap in the market,\u201d Angie says. \u201cWe\u2019ve been blown away by the response and the lovely feedback. We set out to solve a personal need and hopefully create a bit of off -farm income to pay boarding school fees and maybe build a swimming pool, but we\u2019ve moved beyond that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s been DIY all the way,\u201d Shona adds. \u201cFrom building the website to social marketing, packing and distribution, we\u2019ve been handson and learning as we go. There\u2019s still more to learn and so much room for growth. Our current goal is to glove-up 16,000 pairs of hands by 2026 and to develop more corporate clients. It would be great if ag companies included our gloves as part of uniform. The most important thing, though, is to keep getting the word out about melanoma and the importance of always staying sunsafe, particularly in rural Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A throwaway line caused two outback Queensland sisters to create a business selling sun-protective gloves. To paraphrase the Nobel Prize-winning Irish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[161,336,2],"tags":[71,24,74,227],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20246,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20238\/revisions\/20246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiancountry.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}