🌙 Poplar Root, Spring Leaves & a Little Hope ✨🪵

Witch Wood and Wild Handles

Somewhere between Mother’s Day, broom handles, and the sound of wind moving through fresh green leaves…spring has fully settled into these Blue Ridge woods 🌿✨

Today is Mother’s Day and it’s always held a little tenderness for me 💫 A little gratitude, a little ache, a little hope all braided together. I know I’m not alone in that. Some of us celebrate with full hearts, some with complicated ones, and some are still learning how to hold both love and hope at the same time 💫

Today I spent part of the afternoon outside working on new broom handles…red maple, crepe myrtle, and poplar root…what I lovingly call “witch wood” around here. There’s something sacred about removing bark away and slowly uncovering the character underneath. Twists, scars, curves, old knots…every piece tells on itself eventually 🔮

The woods are turning wildly green now!!! The kind of green that almost glows after rain, and the sound of wind moving through the trees has become one of my favorite things about living here. It’s steady ✨ Comforting ✨Like the mountains reminding me to slow down and listen for a minute and I always do

The warmer weather also means the dye pots are bubbling again 💙💜🖤

Ready for second dip in the dye bath

I’ve been steadily filling the broom room back up with freshly dyed broomcorn…deep indigos, smoky violets, blackened blues, strange little blends that happen somewhere between intention and accident. Opening those bundles after they dry still feels like opening gifts every single time 🎁

The broom room is messy lately!!! Covered in wood dust, dye stains, half-finished ideas, and pieces waiting to become something beautiful!!!

Honestly…I think that’s a pretty good reflection of life too 💫

I’d love to know what spring looks like where you are!!! 🌿

What’s blooming around you lately?

Moon Faces & Mountain Magic 🌚

It’s been a busy week here in the Blue Ridge Mountains…

The dye pots have been rolling almost nonstop and the broomcorn hanging around the studio is currently every shade of midnight imaginable…deep purple, coal black, navy blue and rich royal blue 🤩 Honestly, it’s starting to look like the night sky exploded in my broom room and I’m not mad about it 💙✨

At the same time, I’ve been pouring a lot of energy into getting this website up and running!!! I’m ridiculously excited about all the possibilities here…a cozy little corner of the internet that feels more personal, more magical, and a little less swallowed alive by marketplace fees and astronomical shipping charges!! Etsy has been wonderful in many ways, but having a space that truly feels like mine feels really special

And then there’s the clay…

What started as “I’ll just try making one little moon face” has quickly turned into a full-blown creative rabbit hole 😂🌙

I’ve been sculpting new pieces, experimenting with mica powders, translucent clays, flowers, moons and textures…and I already have about a hundred more ideas than I have time for. Which honestly feels like a good problem to have!

And with Mother’s Day arriving this weekend, I’ve also been thinking a lot about old folklore surrounding mothers, homes and handmade things

In Appalachian tradition, handmade brooms were often gifted to new brides and mothers as symbols of protection, fresh beginnings and the tending of a peaceful home. In some mountain traditions, a broom hanging near the doorway was believed to sweep away harmful energy before it ever crossed the threshold 🚪

There’s something really beautiful about that to me…the idea that ordinary handmade objects can quietly carry love, care and intention for generations

And honestly, I think that’s why I hold onto little handmade gifts so tightly too

The photo below is something I treasure deeply…little Mother’s Day gifts my boys made for me years and years ago 💕 I’ve carried them through moves, changing homes and changing seasons…and somehow, they still feel like tiny pieces of their hearts sitting on my shelf💜

And then there’s the upcoming Blue Moon!!!

Despite the name, a Blue Moon usually doesn’t actually appear blue 🌙💙

The phrase refers to a rare extra full moon that occurs within a calendar cycle…which is where the saying “once in a blue moon” comes from!!! Because they’re uncommon, Blue Moons have long carried folklore about heightened intuition, transformation, reflection and rare opportunities

Over the next week I’ll be sharing little glimpses of what’s been brewing in the broom room…new colors, moon faces, textures, experiments and probably a little creative chaos too!!

And I’d love to hear from you…

✨ Are there certain moon themes, symbols or styles you’re drawn to lately?
✨ And if you celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend…what’s one thing you learned from the women who raised you?

I hope everyone has a beautiful weekend ahead…and thank you, truly, for being here while this little dream keeps growing

— Brooke 💜

Welcome to the Broom Room 🖤🧹

If you found your way here, welcome. Truly...
Pull up a chair by the fire for a minute.

This little corner of the internet was built from long workdays, dye stained hands, wood shavings on the porch, and quiet mountain nights under the moonlight. I’m Brooke ... nurse by day, broom maker by heart ... and Brooke & The Broomstick was born after moving to the Blue Ridge Mountains and finally feeling like I could breathe again.

Every broom you’ll find here is made by hand in my tiny broom room tucked into the mountains of Virginia. Most of the handles are foraged locally ... twisted red maple, crepe myrtle, poplar root, dogwood ... each one with its own story already living inside the wood before I ever begin weaving.

Some nights the broomcorn is drying beside the fire...
Some nights I’m outside staring at the moon trying to decide what colors feel like Beltane, or storms, or old forest magick...
And some nights it’s just me, the sound of crickets, and a cup of coffee gone cold while I weave.

That’s the thing about handmade work ... pieces of your life end up tucked into it.

I don’t mass produce these brooms. I don’t want to...
I like the crooked handles. The wild fibers. The ones that refuse to look perfect because they were never meant to.

These brooms are part folklore, part functional art, part Appalachian mountain soul.

Some are made for hearth and home...
Some for protection...
Some just because they’re beautiful and make a room feel alive.

And honestly? I still grin every single time one flies off to its new home.

This blog will be a little bit of everything...

✨ behind the scenes moments from the broom room
✨new broom drops and collections
✨folklore and old broom lore
✨dye experiments and happy accidents
✨mountain life
✨maybe a few rambling thoughts under the full moon

Mostly, I just wanted a place that felt warm, human and real 💜

So thank you for being here...
Thank you for welcoming these brooms into your homes and lives...
I hope they bring comfort, peace, protection, and a little magick wherever they land

Blessed Be,
Brooke 💜