Ostrich Farms around Charlotte NC
We had two very busy days working on our Carnival Decoration Project.
Yesterday, we decided to continue looking for ostrich feathers... that's right I promised to tell the whole story.
Ostrich feathers are very much part of carnival and Mardi Gras, and after searching online I found a farm near Mooresville, NC; click Bird Brain Ranch for the address. On a beautiful sunny day, and after I did not hear from the owner, Carmen and I decided to go anyway and find the place.
We got there, found a grey farmhouse, windows full of spiderwebs, half broken small buildings around, no person and no dog, which was a bad sign. We got out of the car and there they were, the most beautiful birds, tall (6 to 9 feet), and curious, at least 2 dozen of them parading gorgeous huge feathers. I used my cellphone to call the person in charge, nothing... Finally we decided to visit the neighbors and they told us that the wife was working at WalMart and the husband had taken a job away from home. The helper that feeds the ostriches (they did look hungry!) had been let go...
That was the end of our expedition that day, but I found Oakridge Farm, this time in Gastonia. I called and left message asking if they indeed would be at the Farmers Market yesterday Saturday, as advertised, but again I did not hear from them. Off we went anyway to scout out the Farmers Market. While we started buying tomatoes, Amish Honey, huge zucchini the woman from the farm called, she had just left the market and promised to be there next week, BUT there are no feathers. According to her the feathers are damaged when they kill the birds and the only possibility is to buy Ostrich feathers for a price we are not willing to pay.
Still, it was interesting to learn about ostriches, emus, meat and eggs; I am planning to look at the painted and carved eggs for Easter!
The rest of the afternoon we went to Mary Jo's and had a wonderful time. We bought remnants for our head decorations, and a small piece of fabric with imitation ostrich feathers; they look fabulous on a head I made up last night. Sorry, no photo , you need to come to Carnival Charlotte in February to see that production.
Today, Carmen finished painting primer on all heads, I worked on two new projects, we had a good cup of coffee with German Christmas Stollen by candlelight and felt relaxed, and very happy unleashing our creativity...
Below is a picture of our friend tracing eyebrows, eyes, and mouth on a head. We had fun adding earrings, necklaces (thanks Ana!) and a hat. You'll see this one when you come to Carnival Charlotte 2013...
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