Kerstin Stinson says with a note of pride that she a member of the Ontario Farmers Association, inasmuch as she grows flowers on more than an acre of her 72-acre farm and the money she earns from her flower crops have earned her membership as a farmer.

Her flower crops earn her much more than that membership. They are her livelihood in so many different ways.

She sells them as cut flowers and for events that require flowers; there are garden tours of her acre; the sale of custom perennial plant orders and, most importantly, she makes wonderful, amazing (my words) art work with her flowers.

There is a great deal more to Kerstin's day to day life than her very time-consuming flower business. She also landscapes flower gardens for "high-end" clients in Toronto. While this is a lucrative part of her business, it also presents the difficulties of having to travel into the city and is extremely hard work.

Overall, Kerstin would rather keep her work home-based. Her home near Primrose is busy enough, with three of her four (not young) children at home and two foster children. She has been fostering for some years and loves the adventure of it.

She commented, " You never know who's going to come or what's going to happen." Just lately, as well, she has been nursing her brother who got C-difficile infection in hospital, which made him very ill.

In a piece she wrote recently about herself, she offered some details about her early years. She was born and lived for some years in Churchill, on the Credit River, where, as a child, she grew to appreciate the wild flowers in the valley around her. Her father, who came from Germany and had studied art in Prague, built a garden park at their home. During her youth, Kerstin became acquainted arts and crafts gardens and the ornate style of Victorian gardens.

Her real start in business, though, came through an organisation called Social & Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI), a national charity organisation that partners with governments, corporations and other charities. Its mission is to provide training and challenges to individuals so that they might learn and establish their own businesses.

In Kerstin's case, she had to save $1,200 over a period of one to three years to invest in her own business. She managed to complete her goal within the first year. SEDI then gave her additional funds, which were strictly documented to be used exclusively for her business.

She won their "award for saving for business." The whole experience gave her the push to established her flower business and she has been full steam ahead, so to speak, every since.

Her life does have a flow to it: from the spring to the fall she is in her garden, harvesting and tending her flowers. She presses them between the pages of recycled telephone books and accountant books, filing them and placing them in boxes together. During the summer, she also attends to the warm weather demands made on any professional gardener.

When the winter comes, she is in her element for it is during the cold months of the year when Kerstin creates her flower pictures. She told me, "The snow is blowing everywhere, the kids are all at school or work and I have the peace to work.

Over the years, she has produced marvellous wreath pictures, making perfect balance even with the whimsy of using nature's materials. However, every winter brings her to another format for the expression of her talent. Latest on her canvasses are her versions of Dwarf ornamental trees in winter and abstracts. She is clearly thrilled with how they have turned out.

Her pictures literally need to be seen to be understood and admired. In fact, this is currently easy to do as they are on display at the gallery in the Dufferin County Museum until August 17. After the fact of them - their beauty and fascination - what blows this writer away about them is the reasonableness of their price. They are very easy to buy.

When I questioned Kerstin about this, she said, "I want people to own my work. I want them to admire the beauty of the flowers and understand that this work is inspired by nature and comes from nature. So, I keep the prices of my pictures reasonable."

One Kerstin's regular designs is a picture made with a bride's bouquet. Sometimes, at weddings, the bride will have a "throw away" bouquet for the single ladies and keep her own. Kerstin makes a pressed flower picture of the bouquet. With consultation with the bride, she might include a wedding photo, or the vows, or the invitation. It is a charming souvenir

From time to time. Kerstin offers a workshop. Recently she has been invited by David Warburton to do workshops at his property in Hockley Valley. She has one planned for this weekend, on Saturday, July 5, but you have to book to attend it by calling Kerstin directly on 519-925-5324. This workshop is about cut flower arranging. In addition to this one, others are planned for November, January and February, all of which are booked through Kerstin herself.

Details of them and the rest of her work can be found on her website: www.kerstinstinson.com.

What makes it all work? What is her secret to keeping on track and getting everything done?

"Whatever I have to do, I am very focussed," she instructed me. "I am focussed and disciplined."

Of her flowers in art, she remarked, "I always want to work and create - to my death bed."