Earth Commons Apothecary and Wellness Center
Earth Commons is a community wellness center offering locally produced herbal medicine, holistic consultation, herbal training, and education. Our mission is to make it easier for people to navigate their own wellness and to build a supportive community. To do this, we must first ask for community support so that we can secure our physical location and open our doors as soon as possible.
Earth Commons is a collaboration between two Austin-based Clinical Herbalists: Brandi Jo Perkins and Caroline Caswell, but Earth Commons is ultimately for the community. This space is welcome to anyone working towards wellness and connection.
We seek to curate a retail space with high quality and sustainably produced herbal medicine, foremost supporting local growers and herbalists. It is important that whoever walks into the space feels empowered by the educational material we provide. Our design is meant to be a peaceful interactive space with educational material that makes holistic medicine easily understood and accessible. We will create ongoing brochures, posters, and handouts, as well as lay routes to other health care services via our website. What we offer is based on the needs and concerns of our community.
In the Earth Commons center, Brandi and Caroline will offer private consultations. They hope to nourish the community and open the doors for other herbalists of different backgrounds to conduct their consultations as well. Our space offers a Mentorship for budding herbalists and Membership to enrich and deepen the herbal path. Continued educational meet-ups are available for those interested in being a part of this community on a regular basis.
EC will have an in-house massage therapist, Lance Weihmuller of Touch Ceremony, a group of trained herbalists who see clients, weekly Trauma & Recovery Yoga and Meditation classes, a community retail apothecary, medicine making tools, a seasonal sliding-scale clinic, and regularly scheduled specialized workshops. Our educational programming focuses on quality and accessibility, herbal medicine-making, in-depth plant studies, whole foods, lifestyle, self-care, understanding healthcare, experiencing meditation, embodiment, movement, yoga, dance, etc. The center will also have a large garden filled with medicinal plants and herbs.
Earth Commons is dedicated to offering the space to BIPOC, queer, trans, and long-time East Austin residents. While in its beginning stages, the community is invited to give their input, schedule programming, and utilize the resources of this center. We aim to change the exclusivity of "wellness" culture and open it up to those who do not always see themselves in the room.
This money goes directly toward opening our community center located in East Austin by MARCH. Initial start-up costs include materials and labor for building out the space, purchasing furniture, creating educational material, paying rent, etc. Additionally these funds will be used to insure a supportive place in the community for all who need it. All in all, we estimate needing a minimum of $50,000 to make this happen in the first year, so this is just a small chunk to dig in our roots.
We also have a WISHLIST of supply needs. Perhaps you have excess items you no longer need or know someone who does. Someone donated quality wood for our retail shelves and a refrigerator for storing food and herbal products and we are beyond grateful! Every little bit helps.
Opening a community apothecary and clinic space has been a dream of Brandi and Caroline's for years. Any support we receive touches us deeply! Whether it's a donation or sharing on social media, we appreciate your support. We are called to do this work for our community, and in turn, we need our community to make it all happen.
Please consider donating, sharing, and supporting this vision! Visit our website and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more updates. If you feel called to fill out our survey , we would love more feedback on how we can best serve our community.