Educational Opportunities
Apprenticeships
Herbal Crafter Apprenticeship
Location: This course is 100% IN-PERSON at our Windsor Terrace Workshop at 1301 Prospect Ave, Brooklyn, New York.
When: Currently we are offering a SPRING Session in 2024, running end of March to mid-June. We meet Fridays (9:30am until 1:30pm) for instruction and Herbalcrafting. Starting at our workshop with guided meditation and discussion about Brooklyn Herborium philosophy and methodology. We share in functional wisdom, learn about holistic skincare, and craft skincare products together, working with beautiful raw materials.
Our Herbal Crafter Apprenticeship focuses on the how’s and why’s of our Functional Skincare Line along with some of our Apothecary products and Herbal Infusions and Herbal Medicinals. Many people go on from this apprenticeship to found their own skincare lines, become herbal or aesthetic practitioners, or add to their offerings in adjacent fields. Depending on the composition of the group, we may focus on particular aspects of our practice and production. We share any resource you may benefit from in order to support your growth. Our mission is to disseminate this wealth of knowledge to a greater audience so more people can benefit from traditional wisdom. These secrets are not to be held, but to be shared. This apprenticeship is deeply educational. You will be learning from Emma Graves and Molly Watman, the two founders of Brooklyn Herborium, as well as our herbal crafting staff who have incredible knowledge and experience working with plants in many herbal traditions.
Products: You will get to take home each of the products we make together, (along with samples of all the trial formulation work that we do here – we love your input!), which will allow you to really get to know how to care for your skin and health with herbal goods.
Note 1: Attendance is important. Please commit to attend every session, barring illness or an emergency, as it is a wonderful benefit to you. We do not have the capacity to run a full makeup sessions for missed days, but we will provide sheets for your Apprentice Binder as well as samples of herbals goods that were crafted.
Note 2: Our apprenticeship is not a course in herbalism. There are many wonderful courses in traditional herbalism, but ours is focused on the essentials and secrets of crafting herbal skincare and medicinal products.
Note 3: We hire exclusively through this program, so please bear that in mind if you are interested in working with us as an herbal crafter. Participation in our apprenticeships is not a guarantee of employment.
Herbal Crafter Apprenticeship Program, Spring 2024
Let’s get to know each other and share some Inner Strength Tea, while answering any questions about our upcoming Apprenticeship.
Getting to know infusions: 5 Herb Infusion, Swish Oils, Red Clover & Calendula, Arnica
Topic: Preparations & Formulations: The Power of Properly Prepared Plants
Craft: Cold Infusion of Plantain in raw sesame Oil (will be decanted and made into a balm in 6 weeks)
Demo - Distillate of Herb (TBD)
Topic: Distillation of Hydrosols & Essential Oils
Craft: Crafting Essential Oil Blends
Topic: Minerals in the body and transdermal absorption
Craft: Mineral Mist
Topic: Oil + Mist (Moisture Duo) Why do we emulsify oil and water? What is the difference between a Functional Skincare Oil and a Medicinal Oil?
Craft: Functional Skincare Oil
Topic: Cleansing: Herbal, Oil, Soap, and Clay
Craft: Sow Your Wild Oats, Clay Mask
Topic: Functional Selfcare: Diet For Incredibly Good Skin
Craft: CRAFT a tea and sourdough Loaf
Topic: Balms & Practical guidance on preservation
Craft: Herbal Oil Infusion Decant: Healer Balm (with Oil we infused week 1)
Topic: Supporting the skin through hard times
Craft: Integrity Biome Mask + Fill Cow Fart Juice
Topic: 5 forgotten lessons, Discuss All Body Care + Renewal Botanical Oil
Craft: Ancient Secrets / Salt of the Earth
Topic: Learn to identify common plant helpers that grow locally: Chickweed, dandelion leaf, plantain, blue violet, red clover, lavender, field garlic, sassafras, hawthorn, elderberry
Craft: Wild Crafting: Herbal crafting with our foraged materials
Topic: Wheel of the Year, Herbs as Medicine
Craft: Tincturing with our foraged materials
Topic: Body Mind Spirit: Wisdom Connection
Learn Alignment Technique: Practice facial reflexology on self and others
Holistic Aesthetician Apprenticeship
We have been nurturing and mentoring holistic aestheticians since 2010. If our processes and methods speak to you and you want to delve deeply into the type of holistic wisdom we practice, an apprenticeship may be right for you. We work with practitioners on an in-person and remote basis. Please inquire for more details.
What does this Practitioner Apprenticeship look like?
Expect to want to stick around for years, as there is always more to learn. We dig DEEP! Sometime around your second year, we will decide if you should stay a Junior Apprentice or are ready to move on to Senior Apprentice –– there's no shame in staying a little longer as a Junior, we just know that it's a lot to learn in one year and some need to take it slower. Senior Apprentices work on a more advanced level.
Educational Resources
- Access to the Apprentice-Only pages of our Supportive Skin Care Educational Hub
- Online Lessons (webinars), Downloadable worksheets, Demonstration videos, etc
- Private Blog with updates from each of our Apprentice Circles and Regular Lessons
- Printed Resources: Over 200 Pages : Techniques & Protocols Manual, Regimen & Rituals/Product Guide, Lessons in Supportive Skin Care Binder
- Zoom Meetings: 4 one-on-one 30 minute Zoom calls with Emma or a Senior Practitioner
- Monthly Scheduled Zoom Q&A which will be recorded and distributed
- Practice Days: We schedule a few days a year (usually around another event when Out of Town Practitioners may be around) where we pull out our cots and get hands-on with one another. These are usually informal, fun, and extremely helpful.
Apprentice Circles: Apprentice circles are led by Emma (seasonally on a weekly basis) at the Windsor Terrace Location. We offer about 20 per year and try to cover each topic twice within each calendar year. The format has been arranged so that anyone who has participated in a Practitioner Orientation with us can jump in at any time (perhaps with a little pre-reading and worksheets from the classroom). The shop opens at 11am and you are invited to arrive early and chat over herbal tea with your colleagues. Apprentices may attend as many Apprentice Circles as they can get themselves to within one calendar year of their start date. Practitioners who are not current apprentices may attend an individual Apprentice Circles for $180.
Please inquire for more information
Workshop Learning Opportunities
We offer wellness workshops at our Windsor Terrace location throughout the year.
Some of our workshops will be led by Molly or Emma, the partners at Brooklyn Herborium. Other workshops will be led by Jennifer Kurdyla, who has been involved in leading our Herbal Crafter Apprenticeship and weed walks. She is a truly radiant being and we are honored to work with her.
We also offer custom workshops for larger groups according to your interest. Please inquire for more information.