Sweep, fly or admire. These hand crafted brooms were a hot item this summer for tourist wandering around Crawford Bay B.C. Janet Schwieger produces beautiful and practical corn brooms out of an old barn along the east shore of Kootenay Lake. In 2003 and then again in 2007 Raincoast Books approached the Schwieger's to produce 300 full size brooms to help in marketing Harry Potter's "Order of the Phoenix" and "Deathly Hallow". This small artisan shop was buzzing as people were buying an array of shapes and styles. The corn base is a variety of the species Sorghum Valgare and is an annual grass resembling Indian corn. And the unique handles are oak, manzanita, yew, fruitwood, juniper and sage. I walked out of the shop with three and think these would make wonderful Christmas gifts. But do order early as the store is only open till mid October.
