My second attempt at making a hat.

Ben Schoenburg

Gila National Forest, NM

October 25th, 2019

I’m at it again. After the saga that was the first hat you might ask, “why”? 

That hat, which I painstakingly sewed from the leaves of the elkweed or monument plant, was meant to be my symbolic foray into the myth of the cowboy. Instead of making me tough, the process left me emotionally drained and resulted in a highly delicate hat which didn’t fit and looked nothing like John Wayne’s. 

    After my experience in Valle Vidal, the idea of making a new hat hadn’t crossed my mind. I wanted to ride my metaphorical horse West across the vast stereotypical desert as far from that episode of my life as possible. On our first day in the Gila, however, our cohort had the privilege to meet with Orion McDonald whose knowledge of the place, plants and animals helped us begin to understand where we were. He showed us how to responsibly harvest yucca leaves and process them into fibrous strips that could be woven into baskets and twined into rope. As we learned about the potential yucca has as a material I couldn’t help but notice that he was wearing a hat that looked as though it too might be made from yucca. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel just a tinge of jealousy at that moment. “Damn, his hat is sick” I thought, but I’d be darned if I opened that chapter again. As we worked (and for myself struggled) away on our baskets the idea of trying to make a hat kept following me, like a distant rider on my trail. Hoping to put an end to my curiosity, I nonchalantly asked Orion if he had made his hat. He replied in the confirmative and proceeded to demonstrate how to begin a hat by whip-stitching the yucca in a circle. His deft hands quickly turned the green blade of the yucca into four strips of woven material. The middle strip of the yucca included the pointed tip of the plant so that you had a needle on the piece you stitched with. I let on that I was impressed (which I was) but hid any indication that I might do it myself. Although I even tried to deny it to myself, deep down it was settled; I would begin a new hat.  To start the hat I had to find yuccas, specifically narrow leaf yuccas, and harvest just a few leaves from each. I was unable to find many of the narrow leaf variety where we were so I used the banana yucca instead. If you’ve ever cut a yucca leaf you’ve probably also been poked by the yucca leaf next to it. You’d think you would learn after the first time the needle-sharp spear pokes into your flesh, but it happened to me pretty much every time. My first go at whip-stitching was clunky and chunky much like my first basket. I learned that carefully preparing the yucca into uniform strips was as important as weaving it. In the morning I would cut and scrape my strips of yucca and then head out to wander around for the day with the start of my hat in hand. The process of weaving while walking was a bit difficult at first, and I often stumbled around, but slowly it became a relaxing past time while I strolled. 

    Unlike my first hat, this one should be wearable which I am excited for. And I have learned to curb my expectations that it will give me cowboy credibility. For now, I am thinking about it as a hat that is for a person that is not me, perhaps in the future, who is a water-harvester.