When Sam Moyer, Ph.D., 90, retired as a geneticist/biologist in 1997, he began focusing on a new hobby that centered on him putting out an annual newsletter and flourished into a business — all centered on his fondness for broom making. It’s not the actual hobby of being a broomsquire that first attracted him as much as the genetics behind the making of the broomcorn, a type of sorghum, used to make the bristles of a broom’s head. Despite its name, broomcorn is not a corn. “I was smitten by the color of the broom corn,” he said. “I was interested in the genetics of the color.” Moore, who lives in Burlington County, N.J., began growing his own broomcorn plants and began considering ways to make the stalks easier to harvest. “Normally they grow 12-feet tall, and it’s very labor-intensive,” he said. “Us geneticists can change things to make things easier.” Connecting with fellow geneticist He first began connecting with fellow geneticist, the late Henry Hadley, Ph.D., who was affiliated with the University of Illinois, in the early 1980s. Hadley did his own genetics to make machine harvestable broomcorn. “I joined him every fall and collaborated and exchanged seeds and ideas,” Moyer said. “He developed a plain green broom corn and I made mine multicolored.” By 2006, he had several varieties of different colors and mixed about 30 together and made a new gene pool that grows just 5-feet tall to make it easier for harvesting, which is done using a weed-whacker blade. “It’s usually ready in the fall and takes 120 days to be ready,” he said. Moyer works on making his brooms in a woodshop at his continuing care community, where he uses a 100-year-old machine called a broom winder that uses wire to make the broom head and another machine at the farm where he grows his broom corn that’s similar to a threshing machine that removes the seeds from the stalk. “The hard part of broomcorn is taking the seeds off,” Moyer said, adding that his entire process involves harvesting the broom corn, next is drying it and then deseeding it before trimming the stems and bundling it. Over the years, he has sold his brooms, made with handcrafted wooden handles, at artisan and craft fairs and shows. “I use wood from various sources such as black walnut, apple — whatever is available,” he said. “The handles are unique since they are handmade.” Broom-making workshops for students It was at the annual May Faire at Kimberton Waldorf School in Phoenixville, Chester County, many years ago where he struck up a relationship with the school’s gardening education program teacher, Celia Martin. She learned he was offering broom-making workshops to children, and he was receptive to offering an annual one to her students. “It’s something the students look forward to each year when they get their turn to grow the broomcorn at our school’s garden at the end of the school year and then harvest it, remove the seeds and make the brooms in the fall at the start of the new school year,” Martin said. Moyer has shared his love of the craft with students at various schools for years, where he offers instructional demonstrations for students, who go home at the end of the session with a homemade fireside-style broom that they and their family members are encouraged to put to good use. Sam Moyer with students at Kimberton Waldorf School displaying their fireside-style brooms after his workshop. (Courtney Diener-Stokes) These days, he is officially retired from teaching at schools and is now focused on making his array of broom offerings to sell at his local farmers market in the range of $15 to $50. “I make whisk brooms, children’s brooms, brooms for the kitchen, all-purpose brooms and outdoor ones,” he said, adding that some have more intricate weavings that make them a work of art. In his many years of selling brooms, Moyer has found that when it comes to brooms and a crowd, they’re contagious. “I’m in the happiness business,” he said. “People say they can’t get a good broom anymore – they can’t buy a good one.” Moore finds that people have special relationships with their brooms. “People become attached to their broom, and once they know what they are, will want another one for a gift,” he said. While selling his brooms is gratifying, Moyer has found the most rewarding part of his retirement profession has been to see the broomcorn genetics. “This is like one of my children“ he said. “It was my creation.” For more information To purchase a handcrafted broom made by Sam Moyer: WheatonArts Festival of Fine Craft, 1000 Village Drive, Millville, N.J., Oct. 5 and 6, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., rain or shine. To learn more, www.wheatonarts.org.