I spent the last week at the John C Campbell Folk School, in Brasstown NC. On a whim, I did a broom making class. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably take another broom making class. However, I did not expect broom making to be as physical as it was. The class ended four days ago, and I am still tired and still have many sore muslces. Broom making  involves a great deal of holding the cords that hold the broom corn onto the broom under tight pressure while one works.

Amazingly, I made twelve brooms in the week. Three of them appear below. From left to right, they are: a besom, or ceremonial broom; a standard floor sweeper; and a cobweb broom, designed to remove cobwebs from ceilings and other difficult-to-reach places. The cat, of course, is inspecting my work. He wants to make sure it meets his standards of quality control 😉