antibiotic or happy cows?

I was working at my mom's store Earth and Wears the other day while a lady from the local Hillside Farms stopped in. She (being the education director) informed me of some news that never ever crossed my mind and was super interesting. After doing research on organic vs. not it's not hard to digest the fact that although it may be more expensive, organic is much healthier in the long run. Everything healthy isn't marked organic though. Apparently, in Europe, if this particular farm was relocated, they would be certified but in the US, the FDA will not certify an organic farmer if it treats sick cows with antibiotics. This blows my mind! I read a few articles and it seems that the cow will hopefully have a good outcome either way. If a cow becomes sick on an organic farm, the options are to first treat it with all sorts of natural healing. In my opinion, this is the best form of medicine with any animal. I think modern medicine is an important back up though. In Europe after the cow is treated with an antibiotic the farmer must wait two weeks to sell their milk. In America, the cow can't be used at all..giving organic farmers the option to either euthenize the cow or sell to a non organic farmer. I haven't done enough research but I'm just assuming an organic calf is more expensive than not. Anyway, I found out that Hillside follows all of the organic guidelines for the FDA but they do give their cows antibiotics if they get sick. There should be another term for a farmer that practices these farming ethics because it's definitely a million steps up from factory farming and might even be more humane than organic farming. On another hand i've been feeling a little sick, probably from being around a lot of smoking... and everyone is sick this week so i'm going to share a few of my favorite getting better products......

Honey Gardens makes some of my favorite products... and they send out really informative newsletters that I look forward to reading every month. I recommend the Blueberry Rejuvination Tonic, Propolis Spray and absolutely the honey... the honey paired with Traditional Medicinals Organic Throat Coat. I definitely recommend trying to find a similar product if anyone local has a tea business but this really helps. Brewing tea according to directions is really important. Throat coat has ingredients that will only melt in super boiling water. Let it steep covered for about fifteen minutes. Then uncover it and after about 5 or 10 more minutes put in a little bit of honey. When raw honey is heated it looses a lot of its health benefits so tea must be cooled off. If you know me, you know how obsessed I am with helping out the honey bees, so buy raw honey from your local farmer! You can sneak it into more food that you cook than you'd think.
what are your favorite folk remedies for the cold and flu season?

random things

B. Moss is going out of business... one (wo)man's loss is another (wo)man's treasure... I bought a few mannequins super cheap and was able to get a few for my mom's store and Cristen's Store - Greenbeing. When my grandma fell ill this month I flew home from my tour after being out only 5 days, but I did see a bit of how lovely Colorado was, I saw how boring driving through the great planes was, but Nebraska's rolling hills was fun to see. I was only able to play two shows, my favorite being at the D-Note in Arvada, Co. There seemed to be a great art community in Omaha where we visited Hot Shops and I fell inlove with all three levels of the studios. If you're ever passing through Omaha, stop by there... as I'm listening to Catie Curtis's 'passing through' I typed the title. I've been listening to a lot of great music lately and I can't stop listening to Jolie Holland of the Be Good Tanyas.
While Vermont is still a big option for me to move to, I haven't ruled out Colorado. I think home is always where your family is and where love is and right now that is Dallas. I plan on finishing my album and releasing it before I move anywhere. I'd rather tour than worry about moving.. but I need a touring buddy! I've been working on prototypes for new items and plan to work in new mediums this year and am definitely going to take advantage of being around my parents artforms.. ceramics and woodworking. I just bought a woodburner and it's really fun!
I'm going to have my first art show in a few years in March at Green Being.. I haven't decided on a theme and I can't really keep my head straight.. so maybe that will be the theme...

Boutiques that i'll be selling in very soon include:
Young Blood Gallery and Boutique 636 N. Highland Ave Atlanta, GA 30306
Smash Records 2314 18th St. NW 2nd Floor Washington, DC 20009
and possibly international at
Molly Kulte 943 Rue Mont Royal est Montreal H2J 1X3

new winter top.. I haven't been able to do much sewing lately as my gram has been sick but I plan on starting limited editions as i'd like to venture into wholesale.. but I also started doing many more reconstructions. here is a sneek peak of what is at earth and wears for the winter..
I'm also going to start painting and will be the first friday artist featured at Green Being in Scranton in March. I'm looking for new boutiques to sell in - if you are interested drop me a line at nicoleerincarey@gmail.com

earth and wears is open!

We're open! Featuring many local artists, selling all things handmade, earth and wears' doors are now open. Stop in if you're in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. We're located at 68 Main Street Dallas, PA 18612.
Call for directions (570) 675-6868

bee kind!

I've started beein' kind.  I actually have been interested in focusing on one fundraiser, everyone has their own little niche that they like to donate their time and money to.  When I started reading about the honeybees disappearing and the phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disaster I knew I had to help somehow.  I started making pillows from purely scrap fabric.  The inside are scraps and the outside is quilted scraps.  I couldn't really envision selling them as they take so long to make and I didn't think that anyone would pay for their worth.  I decided this would be a good item to use as my donation to CCD.  25% of my pillows are donated to CCD. I really want to start to organize a few fundraisers for the bees. If anyone is interested in helping or donating things to be raffled or auctioned off, please let me know.  I hope to hold a fundraiser in February or March.

CRAFTADELPHIA!

I'll be playing around 1:30ish..ehh...whenever there are enough people to listen.  Buy from local etsy sellers! Listen to music! Yippy. New shirts should arrive at White Rabbit sometime next weekish also!

charity/project runway/vermont/tour in november

trunk show weekend!!!!!!!!!!!

This weekend is filled with trunk shows! Friday I'll be selling my goods at Magpie on Main in Carbondale.

on Saturday i'll be playing a show at Crossroads Coffee House in Roxborough..


Sunday i'll be at the Crane building selling my shirts at Art for the Cash Poor.. everything everyone is selling is priced under $199.

hope to see you out!
Afterwards i'll be posting way more things on etsy, i've really been slacking because I put my stuff in lots of boutiques including Orphelin and Art Star in Philadelphia, the Makery in Kentucky, Candy Plum in NY, and Oak in Boston!

new shirts on etsy!

i'll be selling these shirts on etsy for two weeks, then i'll take them to some kind of jam =)

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade nicolecarey.etsy.com

tonight at fuse & election 08

show tonight.. snow tomorrow

I'll be playing tonight with Sterling and Andrew at the Dive.. there is supposed to be a show tomorrow at Test Pattern with Cabinet and Sean but word on the street is that it's supposed to snow a lot, so I'm not sure if i'll be headed to Scranton.. on another note, I was interviewed today for the fixture series that i'll be playing at fuse on march 6th and look forward to playing a benefit for Mew Gallery at the North Star Bar. I'm going to be selling my clothes at Magpie in Scranton and was going to drop stuff off tomorrow but i'm not sure if that will be happening. That's all for now folks!

shows this week

My guitar flopped =( It's in the shop trying to get fixed but I ordered a new beauty.. hopefully anyway, I can't wait to get it! Tonight I was filmed for comcast on demand's local musician something or other.. interviews are just as weird as I had assumed.. I have a show tomorrow at the Dawson Street Pub, Thursday at the Dive (I think.. I haven't heard from the person who booked it in a while), Friday at Test Pattern.. that show is going to be lots of fun, Cabinet and Sean Abbott are both playing. Nikki and I plan on going back to Vermont in a few weeks... trying to find a job isn't easy right now.

Ahhh this picture looks just like Joe and Matthew... it's freaky... anyway, that's my next show coming up.  Last night I played at the Sidewalk Cafe in NYC.  Shows in New York for me are always hit or miss, sometimes I end up playing for all of my friends from Philadelphia that I'm playing with or traveled with me or sometimes it's a full house of strangers.  I'll be playing in the middle of February at Banjo Jim's in Manhattan and Goodbye Blue Monday in Brooklyn.  I find it neat yet strange that in the past few months I have played at two bars named after Kurt Vonnegut Books (the Monkey House in Vermont and Goodbye Blue Monday).  In other news I dropped off new tops at Mew Gallery and may be sending things to a few new shops, including jewelry and maybe bags.. I might try bags.. anything to use all of the s(crap) fabric.. just kidding, I just can't throw ANYTHING away.  Hope to see you at Joe and Matthew's!

back in philadelphia

Big Jar Books flier

Vermont, New York Times and Big Jar Books

I'm ready to move! Although I can't right now, I have to get a car, save some money, etc. Vermont was beautiful and I just love it there.  Bambi Boutique was featured in the New York Times yesterday and I had a name drop (exciting!) Click here to view the article.  Also, I'll be playing tomorrow at Big Jar Books with the Spinning Leaves around 8PM.  Stop by (2nd and Arch - Philadelphia) 

Neeecole's Threads on indiecollective.net

I've been selling my clothing on my bonnie and clyde's website and we were both currently featured on indiecollective's website. Click here to read about it! Also, I might be in the NY Times Monday! yay!

traveling to Vermont next week

I'm going to be taking a trip to Vermont next week to see if I'm strong enough to deal with their winter during its prime. If so, I plan on moving there next summer. I'm not sure where.. I don't want to move from one big city (Philadelphia) to live in another city (Burlington) when I'm sure I could live 10-20 minutes outside and have more space. Anyway,  I'm going to be playing a few shows, if you are in the area you should check them out: 

January 8th @ The Monkey House 30 Main Street Winooski, VT

January 9th @ The Red Square 136 Church Street Burlington, VT

January 10th @ Radio Bean 8 Winooski Ave Burlington, VT

I need a traveling partner! I'm going to drive my dad's truck there and back...if anyone is interested, get in touch!