By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

A hard-working rancher in southern Oregon’s Klamath basin, Bill O’Keefe was no fool: when daily chores damaged the skin on his hands and feet to the point of debilitating pain, he went to his daughter Tara for help. She was fresh out of pharmacy school, and Bill wanted her to develop a creme for his dry, cracked skin. She experimented until she finally came up with formulations to hydrate, soften, and heal his hands and feet. Both worked so well that they've come to market.

I’ve tried each product. After extended hand weeding in sandy, rocky soil, my skin is seriously roughed up, dried out, and often cut or punctured by thorns. I’ve found Working Hands ($6.99) to be an excellent, non-greasy, fast-working restorative.

Healthy Feet ($6.99, originally sold as Working Feet) does the same job on my feet, which are prone to deep and painful cracking. The formulation of both products is nearly identical, but Healthy Feet includes a little allantoin to penetrate the thicker soles of the feet.

You can buy Working Hands at Ace Hardware and Lowe’s. Healthy Feet is sold by Walgreen’s. Both are also available online at www.okeeffescompany.com, and both are still manufactured by Tara O'Keeffe's company in Sisters, Oregon.