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Accompanying note: "Evelyn Caffee Parks, 65 years old, learned as a child to create palm braids and leaf berry baskets. She makes hats, baskets and 'novelties' out of sable palm, palmetto and coconut palm fibers. She has been teaching the craft to others since 1940. Her husband, Ira, is an expert at gathering these native materials, an exacting craft developed over the years. Ms. Parks says that 'The time to make palm hats is at dawn on a foggy day, so that the braid is pliable, but not so wet that it would later shrink.' A good place to keep the sewing machine is on the front porch, so that these humid conditions prevail. The berry basket may be used as a hat. However in tradition, the leaf berry baskets were used solely as an 'instant' carrier while picking wild berries. The 'May basket' is a traditional design woven in green palmetto. One would fill the basket with flowers and secretly hang it on a friend's door."