Rustic Broom Blog

Tag: handmade-brooms

How We Got Into Brooms…

April 29, 2025

This is the number one question we get asked. “What made you get into brooms?” or my favorite…”Do you really think you can make a living making brooms?” We get asked in different ways, but we know what they are thinking. Broom making is a weird way to make a living. Why would anybody in his right mind want to peddle the lowly broom? Let me explain…

Back in the early 80’s, I walked the docks in Seattle and got a job on a fishing vessel named F/V Yardarm Knot. I was told to work for this crusty old fellow named Chuck, and do everything he says. Chuck liked the nightlife, and I was instructed to wake him up every morning at 7 a.m. with a hot cup of coffee and a lit cigarette. Rough around the edges, yes, but once on deck, Chuck was an amazing seaman. I did everything from securing drums of fuel, hoisting cargo, to shinnying over the rail in a bosun’s chair to re-paint the name on the side of the rusty old ship. Chuck barked the orders, and I did the work. Chuck knew everything about ropework, and taught me a lot of knots – many of which I have now forgotten. And Chuck taught me how to splice lines, and weave little bracelets to impress the girls. And he always inspected my work to make sure it was up to snuff, and would kick up a fuss if I screwed up. Chuck is gone now, but I will never forget how he taught me to work with my hands, or the way he could yell and scream orders with a hot cigarette in his mouth. RIP, my friend.

Sarah and I got married in the early 90’s, and moved into this old farmhouse we were fixing up. A nice young lady about our age stopped by to meet us, and welcome us to the neighborhood. She had gone to folk school to become a broom maker, and gave us one of her beautiful creations as a housewarming gift. It was a lovely bell-shaped kitchen broom with natural hemp twine and a woven top. We were amazed by the graceful form of the broom, and how expertly crafted it was. Our new friend went on to make and sell her brooms for quite a while, but eventually moved on to bigger and better things. But her broom remained in our household for many years, and was always one of our prize possessions.

We started a gardening business after that, and learned the importance of design, and the way elements in our living space contribute to our well being. We loved gardening, but it is demanding in many ways. Customers don’t always know what they want, so there can be a lot of confusion. When we retired from gardening after 25 years, I vowed to make a tangeable product that people could see with their own eyes before buying. They can buy it if they like it, or just look.

It was Sarah’s idea… “Maybe you should try making brooms?” Sort of a question. Maybe a suggestion. Our old handmade broom had been mistreated over the years, and was on its last leg — so I took it apart and looked inside. Tight wraps and knots secured the broomcorn to the handle, and everything sort of progressing upward into a beautiful weave. I knew that stuff. Everything Chuck taught me was in there.

I began to fantasize about me being a broom man. I started buying worn out brooms of different types at antique stores, just so I could take them apart and make notes. Then I started making tools and rough-hewn machines to initiate my shoe-string enterprise. I worked a lot of nights learning to make brooms by hand, and to build up some inventory to sell at farmer’s markets and craft shows.

Today, I am a Real Broommaker, and Sarah carefully details all of my work and does the shipping. We haven’t stopped learning since the day she got the big idea, and it has been so rewarding to have our functional works of art in so many households around the country. We’re still giddy over brooms, and always look for ways to make them better.

And all that is “what made us get into brooms.”

http://www.americanbroomshop.com

May 6, 2025
Fall is Here

A blog post from September 2023

It’s fall now, and things are finally calming down around here. Summer is always a crazy time, working on the homestead, and keeping the broom shop alive simultaneously. It can be quite a balancing act, gardening, foraging for broom sticks, preserving food for winter, cutting firewood, and of course, filling orders from our wonderful customers!

We planted our garden a little later this year, about the first part of June. We have cold summer nights, frequently down to 38F, and a short growing season. Really, it can frost just about any time in the Okanogan Highlands. But this year the #1 annoyance turned out to be pocket gophers. Gophers apparently love carrots, because they ate 3 long rows of Nantes while we were asleep. They next started nibbling on bush beans, which luckily didn’t taste as good as the carrots!

It’s always amazing the yields we can get from our big patch of weeds come harvest time. Our spud patch gave us 300 lbs. of Yukon Golds, Kennebecs, and German Butterballs. The yellow onions were small, yet plentiful and tasty. The greenhouse kept us provided with ripe Early Girl tomatoes. We have canned fruit from local orchards, and put away everything we’ve grown in our own garden this year. It’s a low paying job, that gives you a glowing sense of satisfaction.

We are gathering firewood now, knowing winter isn’t too far away. The fall rains will turn to snow, and the ground will freeze hard as a rock – so we gotta keep moving until the woodshed is full to the brim. How well we enjoy working outside in the forested hills, where we find plenty of dry Douglas fir, lodepole pine, tamarack, and some Englemann spruce for the broom shop stove. By now we have most of the wood we need to get through winter, but would like a couple “insurance cords” before the roads turn to ice!

We know it’s fall around here by the signs. The aspens are already showing signs of blaze yellow color. The turkeys, quail, ruffed grouse are congregating by the creek. Even our young whitetail deer friends Fuzzy & Wuzzy came home after venturing all summer in the higher hills. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with gratitude this time of year. Fall might just be my favorite season of all.

May 6, 2025
Time Travel — Our Brooms Pay Visit to the Good Ol’ Days!

Blog post from May 2022

There is a gold rush ghost town not far from our shop named Molson, tucked snuggly against the Canada border in the northern most region of the Okanogan Highlands. Founded in 1900, the old townsite is still in pretty good shape, with well preserved buildings, mining & farm equipment, and some of the original boardwalks. The whole scene can really make your mind wander. What it must have been like homesteading this harsh place back in the day?

I’ve often wondered how our brooms would look if we brought them to Molson. Maybe try them out on the boardwalks or the floors of the old bank. See what they look like leaning next to a doorway. Molson’s peak, and the climax of the American broomcorn industry happened at about the same time in history, so it seemed to make sense to me…

Winter is nearly here, and snow is forecast. So if taking our brooms back in time is gonna happen this year, we better load them up and hit the road. We took a few with us. Some woven ones, and of course our own Shaker Authentic broom off the front porch. We need a day out. This would be fun.

On the way through the Highlands, we listened to Colter Wall folk albums -Songs of the Plains, and Western Swings and Waltzes. Really put us in the right mood to visit the Old West.

Arriving at the old town site, we were impressed how cold it was. This is mid-November, and the wind will cut you half in two. Some of the antique farming impliments were froze to the ground. The buildings are still open to escape the wind, but bring long johns!

We would have to work fast. My hands were so cold. First stop was the front porch of the Walker & Odell Cabin. The woven lodgepole pine broom seemed to fit right in. I was surprised that the placement of a household item could seem to bring an old ghost town to life!

Then to the coolest building of all… Molson State Bank. First on the porch, then leaning next to a cup of coffee at the teller’s booth. Just like the janitor was sweeping and having a coffee break at the same time.

Inside the bank…

The whole town could have used a good sweeping. I guess ghost towns are always a bit dusty. Even outhouses need some broom love now and then.

We didn’t stay long because of the cold, but it felt good to go back in time for just a spell. It was nice to finally connect our creations to their own era.

Our brooms got to do a little sweeping on the old boardwalks, and blend in casually against the walls of the Molson ghost town. For a minute there, it felt like we’d really stepped back a few years. I dreamed up the faint smell of cornbread coming from one of the homestead kitchens. I even thought I heard boots on the wood floors and some chickens running around. Ghost towns can confuse a person that way.

At least I know the brooms are real…

www.americanbroomshop.com

May 6, 2025
Goodbye Winter — We’re Sad to See You Go

Blog post from May 22, 2022

Winter was long again this year, but I have to say it was full of surprise, and numerous challenges. In the north woods, winter is pretty much a year ’round concern. Around here, they say there are two seasons: winter, and getting ready for winter.

Our shop is heated by wood stove, so we buck a lot of logs in the summer. It’s a team effort. I’m the chain saw man, and Sarah rolls the rounds into the truck. We take a drive into the mountains looking for downed fir or tamarack, which are known for putting out the most heat. We bring a picnic basket, and do our best to make a plain chore into a nice, scenic outting. Before we get started, give me a few minutes to fix the chainsaw…

It takes about 3 cords of firewood to get us through winter. We heat the cabin with 5, so all-told we do a lot of splitting and stacking. Spring is the best time. The weather is cool, and it’s good to get out. Hot summer weather is for cooking the wood dry — while we sip lemonaide.

Wood heat is the best way to dry brooms in our shop. We soak the broom corn to make it pliable for bending and weaving. A wood fire dries them quick, so we can get them packaged and shipped. When we’re not busy building brooms or pouring candles, it’s likely we are splitting kindling or stoking the fires. It’s a style of living that has a lot of rewards, if you can ignore a little pain and sweat. They say nothing warms your bones quite like a wood fire!

Wood heat is the best way to dry brooms in our shop. We soak the broom corn to make it pliable for bending and weaving. A wood fire dries them quick, so we can get them packaged and shipped. When we’re not busy building brooms or pouring candles, it’s likely we are splitting kindling or stoking the fires. It’s a style of living that has a lot of rewards, if you can ignore a little pain and sweat. They say nothing warms your bones quite like a wood fire!

The cold of winter aint so bad, really. There are always a lot of surprises. Deer come to feed outside our shop windows during the day, keeping us company. Our yellow dog, Tig, is always entertaining. Coyotes sneak through. And once in a while we get a glimse of the snowshoe hare that lives in the thicket by the shop.

It is a little sad to say goodbye to winter — but we’re always excited for the changes. Spring means working outside again, making brooms out on the shop porch. The birds are here, singing their songs. We’ll plant the garden and do some spring cleaning. Then — when the mood is right — I’ll try to fire up the old chainsaw, and see if it runs. Maybe we’ll load the tools, and try to find an easy wood log along side a skid trail up on the mountain. No rush. We have plenty of time to get ready…

http://www.americanbroomshop.com

May 6, 2025
The Stick Trip… Broomcorn Meets Diamond Willow

Blog post from January 13, 2018

The holidays are our busiest time in the shop. We fill orders from dawn to dusk, pouring candles, weaving brooms, folding boxes. Outside, snow piles up and time flies by. We have filled the wood stove countless times. Chopped the kindling. Shoveled the walks. We wake up New Year’s Day wondering what happened.

We are tired. Our shop is a mess. Our collection of cool sticks is dwindling. The grey ghost of winter we call cabin fever begins to crawl under our skin. This is surely THE best time for a Stick Trip!

The temperature in our woods is between 38 Fahrenheit down to minus 20, so we stow a few things in our packs. Hot coffee, venison sausage, dried pears, gorp, and some unfrozen water. Our pup’s name is Tig. She likes to go skiing, so we bring her special Milkbone & Vita Bone trail mix.

Our old Alaskan Camper rides pretty low, and is heavy enough to give us traction, four-wheeling up the un-plowed back road. There is a good flat spot to stop about 3 miles in. The camper has everything inside, in case of emergency. Sleeping bags. Extra food. A furnace…

We set out on skis to hunt for elusive diamond willow sticks for our brooms. These are chubby skis, built for bushwhacking by Altai Skis – Curlew, WA. Just like snowshoes, but they glide through the woods nice and easy. It sure beats post-holing through thigh-deep powder. We have a pocket handsaw with us. Some bear spray, and a six shooter — just in case. Every wild critter is hungry right now — and we’ve heard tell of grizzlies and wildcats.

The pup is a big help, actually. At her age, she is indeed a baby sitting job — but she can use her nose to an extraordinary high degree. We watch the hackles on her spine. When her Mohawk rises up, we know there’s trouble.

Sarah and I take turns breaking trail, since it’s a lot of work packing the new snow. There are a few snow flurries today. The air is fresh, but not too cold. Just a perfect day to get outside. This is the very best part of our job — getting out here to soothe our souls in God’s wilderness.

http://www.americanbroomshop.com

May 6, 2025