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