We had a great day on Sunday cutting birch and making brooms. The bog gods shone on us with a glorious day of clear light, bright sun and blue sky though it were a bit nippy when we were setting up. A steady flow of people, many new to Flanders dropped in to help with the cutting of the birch but the real attraction was Ian who helped the birch cutters turn their cuttings into a broom. Ian who had come from Historic Scotland for the day to help us is a self taught broom maker. Before the event he gave us a list of equipment that he would need which included the thigh bone of a goose. Luckily before any of the geese that live on the smallholding near my home disappeared he clarified this that a piece of bamboo would also do - it is used to help with the binding of the broom. He was busy virtually all day making brooms, having only a few minutes to eat lunch. As people left Flanders most of the brooms clutched in eager hands were to be used for more traditional Halloween witch purposes with only one person going down the Harry Potter route.
