In the movie Rocky III, a character yells out the window to two vagrants who are carousing beneath his window: “Shut up, you sterno bums!!!”

The thought of sterno bums might not immediately evoke scents of patchouli, sweet orange and cocoa.

At least until you smell the soap created by Michele Keiper, the founder of Flower Peddler, after she watched this scene.

“We have fun with the names of our products,” said Keiper, who says she is a big movie buff. Other names for the handmade soaps Flower Peddler offers include “Gutter Snipe,” “Zuzu’s Petals” and “Killer Rabbit.”

For Keiper, owning and operating her own business has allowed her to indulge both her creativity and her resourcefulness.

“When my children were born, I decided to stay home,” said Keiper, who served as an officer in the Air Force. She initially intended her business to be a floral design service.

But after attending a craft show, and seeing a display of flower-filled, herbal soaps, Keiper wanted to try something new. “I was interested, because of the science, and the art, that’s involved.”

When her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and her son with autism, Keiper’s interest in developing botanically-based, natural products intensified.

“I started thinking about toxins, and environmental factors,” she said. “And paying attention to what people put on their bodies.”

The production room at Flower Peddler contains shelves and cabinets stocked with essential oils, blossoms and herbs.

“If you look at the labels, you can pronounce everything that’s in there,” said Keiper. “Ingredients are as natural as possible, and botanically based. Most ingredients are food grade—you could eat these things if you want to!”

Working with her two employees, Donna Rush and Abby Miller, Keiper continually experiments to come up with new soaps, lotions and scrubs for her customers.

“We have flops and failures before we get the formula just right,” she said. “We keep it fresh by introducing new things all the time.”

After spending years as a home-based business, Flower Peddler moved to a designated location last October. Here is a showroom, a kitchen, a packaging room, storage place… and a bright, cheerful room where the employees’ children, who range in age from two to 19, can study and play.

“They help pitch in,” said Keiper, “and we get them involved.”

The women’s children have also inspired infant and children’s lines, called Little Buds Babycare and Garden Bugz KidCare.

“That came about because of our kids,” said Keiper. “We want to appeal to our target—which is the children—with products that are bright, colorful and busy. We gave them goofy names and fragrances.”

Now that her youngest son has entered middle school, Keiper has decided to dedicate more time to her business, to “see how far we can take this.”

In the meantime, regarding Flower Peddler, and the various bath and body products they market and manufacture, Keiper said, “We have fun making it, and they have fun using it!”

Flower Peddler is located at 11138 Air Park Rd., Suite H, in Ashland, and online at flower-peddler.com.