Each second of each minute of each hour of each day really counts. You just have to keep your chin up, keep smiling no matter what, and never give up on those dreams.

Jenny Magner lives with husband Paul on one of the four properties they run with their two sons and daughter-in-law. The mixed farm is 97 km west of Tenterfield on the Dumaresq River, on the border of New South Wales and Queensland. They run 7000 fine wool merinos and 600 breeding cattle, grow vegetables, herbs and lucerne hay, and have a 13 acre fruit orchard with apples, peaches and nectarines. Jenny has learned to live with challenges. In 2004 Jenny also started to develop a range of natural skin care products. Until 2005 she sold these at the family’s store in Tenterfield, via mail order, and through word of mouth from happy customers. The production has now been scaled back. Jenny herself has had to live with chronic pain after suffering a broken neck in a farm accident and more recently is battling breast cancer while Paul is recovering from Q Fever. Despite these setbacks Jenny has a positive outlook and continues to be incredibly positive and play an active hands-on role on the farm and within the family.

What gave you the motivation/inspiration to follow your dream?

In November 2004 I started making my own skin care products because the lotions I was previously using started to irritate my skin. I tried my Jen’s Natural Skin Care range on women who had very sensitive skins and they also found they had no adverse reactions. I have Scottish and fair-skinned Italian heritage, so my skin is very susceptible to the sun and skin cancers. My parents and their siblings have all had skin cancers removed. Because I work outside on the farm, I am in the sun all the time, and even though I always wear a hat, I found this wasn’t enough protection. I did a course and read up a lot about how effective natural products such as avocados are, and how they are playing a role in preventing skin cancer.

At what point did you realise that your dream was actually possible and what was it that made you think you could really do it?

In February 2004, our daughter-in-law Jodie convinced us to buy a shop in Tenterfield—a deli, nursery, and fruit and vegetable shop. She thought it would add value to the farming enterprise and also be a good business-learning tool for all the family members. As we also grow herbs and I had developed the skin care range and organic bath salts, it has become an excellent avenue for promoting these products and also selling them directly to the public. I think the point at which I knew I was on to something was when I trialled the products with friends who had very sensitive skin. After using the creams, they found they didn’t have any allergic reactions. It was then that I thought perhaps I could help people. My full range includes an eye cream, a cleanser, and day and night creams. I have taken the basic recipes I learned at a skin care school in Byron Bay and adapted them to suit the needs of farming women because we are out in the sun and wind a lot. We sold the shop in June 2005 after a very good offer. Travelling the 200 km round trip was a huge effort and our lives were becoming too hectic. As it turned out, we could not have sold at a better time.

When you were a child, what did you want to ‘be’ when you grew up?

I wanted to be a vet. Growing up I had the best of both worlds — rural and town living. My Dad managed a big seed and produce business in Lismore, so we lived in town during the week and on weekends we’d go out to our family property where we had cattle and horses.

How did your childhood influence you in later life?

My Italian grandparents lived very frugally and were fairly self-sufficient with their own ‘organic’ chooks and vegies. They both lived into their 90s and were really healthy all their lives, which drives home the saying ‘you are what you eat’! They came to Australia as part of a fraudulent expedition set up by the Marquis de Ray in the 19th century and lost all their money. Eventually they were taken in as refugees by the NSW Government after being dumped in New Ireland (New Guinea). They moved to northern NSW and, together with other Italians, established the community known as ‘New Italy’ near Coraki. My grandparents overcame many huge challenges and through hard work made a success of their lives. I always aspired to have a kitchen that smelled like my grandma’s and food that tasted like hers. She was a naturally fantastic cook and could turn a few eggs, butter and endive leaves into a feast!

Who are your role models?

My parents, who are now in their 80s, were my first role models. They spent their life working hard and have now retired to a working farm — the opposite of what most people do when they retire, which is leave the farm! I also know two elderly women who are both absolute inspirations. They have various health issues and, despite being in their 90s, still live in their own houses, are active members of the community, have amazing gardens and are planning ahead for the future. One of the women won an award for the best garden in the town, and the other recently sold up her farm, designed a home with ramps and had it built in town for when she was old! Mum and Dad and those two women are always forward thinking, such as planting new trees which can takes years to mature. They never give up!

What does success mean to you?

Success to me is not only about money — it is about having a happy and healthy life, maintaining good relationships within the family and being a good mother and grandmother.

What has been one of the biggest barriers you have had to face, what happened, and how did you overcome it?

In 1997 I had a serious accident. A huge hay bale fell on me and broke my neck. For over two years I lived in constant pain and had to wear a neck brace 24 hours a day. I became quite depressed until one day I spoke to a herbalist who was ordering some produce from us. She advised me to give up coffee, cola drinks and alcohol and to eat dried apricots, almonds in their skins, cabbage and gota kola (Centella asiatica) leaves. Within a couple of months I was a different person. It has changed my life. I will take her advice for the rest of my life as the change in diet helps to relieve my chronic pain.

My own mental acceptance of the fact that I had a broken neck was also a barrier. The doctors told me I had to be very careful as a jolt could make me a paraplegic. So I gave up outside work and spent time indoors doing the bookwork. I hated it, and one day I fell over running for the phone and realised that I could just as easily hurt myself inside the house as outside, but at least I’d be doing what I loved. So from that day I got back out mustering. I have overcome my fear and am getting on with my life, doing what I like to do.

The next challenges came in September 2005. Firstly, Paul became seriously ill with Q Fever. While he was in hospital, I discovered a painless lump in my left breast. As it was exactly where I had been bruised in the sheep yards a year before, I wasn’t overly worried, and decided to keep the knowledge of the lump to myself until Paul was on the mend. Three weeks later I told him about it, and from then on our lives have been turned upside down as unfortunately that painless lump turned out to be a deadly invasive malignant carcinoma. I had a lumpectomy, a mastectomy and chemotherapy. I cannot say any of it has been at all pleasant, but I am still here, and plan to be around for a long time yet! Paul has been totally and wonderfully supportive of me, and I just cannot imagine what it would be like if you had to suffer this sort of thing alone. I have continued making my luscious bath salts, but have only had the energy to make creams for my own body, and with the ravages it has been through, I have needed them!

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? What is your vision for the future?

I hope to be doing the same things I am doing now. I don’t want to give up farming but I would like to specialise more in making the creams, and Paul is really good at working with timber, so we’d cut back on the intensive physical hard work and just keep the sheep and cattle going. I’d like to set up a mail order website to sell the creams, write more about the products, and help Paul create his magnificent timber furniture.

What would you like to say to other women who may be just starting out on a 'Daring to Dream’ journey?

Set goals that are achievable. If you set goals that are unachievable you will just get disheartened. I set smallish achievable goals and when I achieve them I just set more and keep going. Don’t give up. Sometimes you get major setbacks and you may think ‘this is it’, ‘I can’t go on’ or ‘I can’t do any more’, but you can. I know, I’ve been in a situation where the physical pain stopped me doing what I wanted to do, but now I can look back and see that things have improved and that I am able to move forward despite these setbacks.

You just never know what is lurking around each corner that might change your life. I can only hope that the ordeal we have been through has made us stronger, and able to help others with the knowledge we now have of breast cancer and the fact that it is a treatable problem that can be overcome with the help of medical teams and your own mind and body. It makes me realise that each second of each minute of each hour of each day really counts. You just have to keep your chin up, keep smiling no matter what, and never give up on those dreams.