Kelsey Sarra Rae @amongthewldflwrs
I grew up in the suburbs of Calgary, on a golf course, which is probably one of the most controlled environments a person can grow up around.
The grass was always cut, the roads were clean and dry, and chemicals meant you rarely saw a weed for miles. Because the outside was so controlled, the inside of our home stayed fairly clean too. We went from the car, to the paved garage, to the house, without spending much time with our feet on actual soil.
When I moved to Phil’s family farm six years ago, I found it startling how hard it was to keep things clean. Well water left minerals in the sinks and tubs, dirt came in from walking outside several times a day, and the dogs brought in whatever the dogs brought in. Animal waste needed a place to go, garbage had to be hauled, and when the weather was too wet, sow bugs found their way into the moist basement.
At first, it felt like I was constantly trying to stay on top of the mess, but over time, I started to understand that the mess was part of living in a place that was alive. Out here, we are tending, but we are not sterilizing.
That has changed the way I think about clothing too. Working with wool and alpaca has taught me to appreciate materials that still carry some of the character of the living world. Undyed yarns hold the colour of the animals they came from, natural fibres soften and change with wear, and skin can breathe without a layer of plastic between us and the world.
That is part of what drew me to Kelsey Sarra Rae’s work.
Kelsey is the floral designer behind Among The Wldflwrs, a floral studio based just outside Calgary near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. She creates florals for weddings, intimate gatherings, workshops, subscriptions, and seasonal offerings, with a style that feels natural, textural, and closely connected to the landscape around her.
When I asked what inspired the name Among The Wldflwrs, Kelsey said it came from the feeling that “some of the most beautiful things grow wildly, imperfectly, and exactly where they’re meant to be.”
That sentence stayed with me because it feels like the heart of her work.
Kelsey’s flowers are not arranged into something stiff or overly polished. Rather, they reflect the wildness around her. She sources from local growers whenever possible, and she spends time foraging branches, grasses, and textures that grow around her near the foothills.
Last year, she began growing flowers on a small scale herself, which gave her a new appreciation for the care involved in growing each flower. Over the next few years, she hopes to expand her garden and grow more of her own flowers.
There is something grounding about working with materials that cannot be rushed or made to last forever. Flowers wilt, wool wears and softens, and truly natural materials can eventually transform back into the soil under the right conditions. Neither Kelsey’s flowers nor my knitwear are meant to last forever like plastic flowers or an acrylic sweater, but I think there is beauty in letting natural things be magnificent for a time and then become something else.
For this feature, Kelsey is wearing the Coralroot Halter in Size 1. The halter is hand-crocheted in Alberta using undyed alpaca yarn from Providence Lane Homestead, where Coralroot grows and where the yarn was raised in a place shaped by regenerative agriculture.
Like Kelsey’s flowers, the Coralroot Halter is deeply connected to place. It carries the natural colour of the fibre, the softness of alpaca, and the imperfect beauty of natural materials worked by hand.
Kelsey told me that rural life gives her room to slow down and be more present, and that being surrounded by nature influences both how she lives and how she designs. Her floral work reflects that in the way it is gathered and arranged, and full of enough wildness to feel alive.
You can find Kelsey’s work at @amongthewldflwrs, where she shares her wedding florals, seasonal designs, workshops, subscriptions, and floral offerings from the foothills of Alberta.
