Article: Le Sac Story in Country Style Magazine 2025
Le Sac Story in Country Style Magazine 2025
FOR GARDENING ENTHUSIASTS TRISHA AND SAHRA DIXON, A SIMPLE DESIGN PLANTED THE SEED FOR A STYLISH BUSINESS IDEA.
WORDS: GEORGIE COOPER PHOTOGRAPHY HONEY ATKINSON
Going into business with your mother-in-law is a concept that would make many people run for the hills. But for Sahra Dixon, 35, and Trisha Dixon, 70, it was a natural fit.
In 2020, when Sahra’s husband Hamish, 41, felt his Cooma country childhood calling him back to the land, the couple – then parents to two-year-old Ali and pregnant with their second child – left Sydney and headed south, settling in Burragate, just under two hours’ drive from Trisha’s sheep and cattle property just outside Cooma.
It was there on the banks of the Towamba River that Sahra’s existing love of local produce and good food took root in her own backyard. “I had a small terrace garden
in Sydney – it was tiny in comparison to the two acres of gardens around our home now,” she says. “Trisha offered to help and we spent the entire week together, pulling out invasive grass and moving things around. She’s very gentle with advice and encourages me to find my creativity.”
Having started out as a pilot at age 20 before going on to study meteorology, present the weather for the ABC, pen multiple books and spend a lifetime following her photojournalism nose, Trisha’s knowledge and love for the outdoors is infectious. What began as four raised beds quickly turned into nine, and has now become a tennis court-sized market garden.
“Honestly, it snowballs,” Sahra says of her new-found passion. “You’ll be buying seedlings at Bunnings and then all of a sudden, three years later, you’re down a rabbit hole buying weird seeds off a website.”
Sahra is now an avid green thumb. “I love growing strange things that you can’t find in the supermarket,” she shares, from Japanese yuzu lemons to rainbow corn with colourful hues of blue, red, yellow and orange. She often finds her youngest daughter Amira, four, tucked away in the gardens, gorging herself on cape gooseberries – a deliciously sweet tomato-pineapple flavour combination hidden inside a lantern-shaped calyx.
Working in the garden each day presented a few practical challenges, though. “As we gardened, I kept complaining to Trisha about losing my tools, [having to] put my phone down and juggling my secateurs,” Sahra says. In answer, the pair set about creating a makeshift gardening belt to wear, which became the first prototype of their joint venture. Much to their surprise, says Sahra, “there wasn’t something already on the market, and the products out there were pretty grim.”
Hence, Le Sac was born. The industrious duo created a stylish solution, crafted from heavy-duty cotton canvas in various assortments of French blue, navy, red, cream and green stripes, or solids. Sturdy enough for sharp tools, the adjustable belt has two large, reinforced pockets that can easily move from front to back, which is particularly helpful while crouching among the plants.
Best of all, Le Sac is not limited to the yard. Trisha rarely leaves home without her belt, using it to hold her phone, keys and water bottle while walking and cycling. She has even used it overseas as a passport holder, while Hamish wears his bright-red Le Sac belt for lamb marking and fencing. Overalls and belts for children are next on the horizon for the product range.
“Growing up in the city, you’re unaware that regional communities are so amazing and supportive,” says Sahra of the response to their products. “At the start, it was just about having fun, and now we’re having a hard time coping with demand. It’s turned out to be quite successful.”
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