There are two kinds of distaff that I carry in my shop: the one made from straight, smooth, modern round dowels, and the kind made from natural wood. Said wood is either hazel or willow, both grown in our own garden.

Which means that I cut wood for distaffs occasionally, and the biggest cutting action is in late winter, when our willow fence gets set back to its basic structure.

In spring, said fence is working hard to make new branches from the latent buds, and of course sprouting from the buds left on last year's growth:

though these get less and less as the fence is getting nearer to completion of the basic structure.

Now, willows are hardy plants and quite resilient, and if you stick the cut willow shoots into the soil, they will usually take root and grow and prosper.

This year, it seems, I will have unusually vital distaffs to sell, trying to grow and prosper too, even though they've been cut weeks ago:

I'm always amazed at the vitality in plain bits of willow wood - and the enormous power that spring has!