Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Meghan Stalzer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Meghan , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

After my husband I were married we knew that we wanted to move down to the San Luis Valley. We also knew that we wanted to create a self-sustainable homestead but didn’t know what animals we wanted to raise in the high altitude desert. I came across an article in a magazine called Grit, that talked about Camels and Camel Milk. I was in the living room reading this article and called out to Matt in the kitchen to come see what I found. I told him that we needed to raise camels on our homestead and to offer camels milk. Instead of telling me I was crazy, he said “Sure, lets look into this,” and I was so excited! I found a camel seminar in California and in May of 2012 we were off to CA to meet camels and learn all about camels. It was the best experience and we fell in love with camels there and knew that we were on the right path. By October of 2012 we sold our house, quit our jobs in the city, and moved down to the San Luis Valley on the 35 acres that Matt had already owned. In February of 2013 we got the opportunity to move to Michigan to work and learn on an already established camel dairy. We once again said good bye to our jobs, packed up, and moved. It was there in Michigan that I met an amazing group of women in the Marion Spinning Guild. One of the women, Ann, taught be how to spin yarn. My love of spinning began there along with my love for camels. We learned how to milk camels, how to take care of them, and I learned how to spin. We moved back to CO in May of 2014, with our milking pair Big Mama and her son Niam. Matt and I knew that we wanted so much more for ourselves and we took a huge leap selling our home, quitting our jobs, and moving. We took a leap of faith and learned so much! Not only did I get to have this adventure with Matt but this adventure also led me to spinning, camels, and working with camel milk. I work with camel and sheep’s wool creating yarns that I love to make. I get to see these yarns go into my own works and into the work of others. I make camel milk soaps that people enjoy. Camel milk has so many benefits to it and I wanted to reach more people with it in a way that it would be easily enjoyed and provide healthy fuel for the body. I created my Camel Milk Fudge to meet this need and it is a super food power house that has allowed more people to enjoy camel milk. There was no net to catch us, taking that leap, but I wouldn’t change it for anything as it led me here to today. Creating things that bring me joy and bring joy to others.

Meghan , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

The Camel Chick is a woman owned and operated business out of the San Luis Valley in Colorado. The woman who is The Camel Chick is Meghan Stalzer. Meghan, her husband, and their son live with their 5 camels on their small homestead, Mudita Camels. It is here that Meghan creates her beautiful hand spun art yarns, camel milk soaps, Camel Milk Fudge, and other hand crafted inspirations. Her art yarns are full of creative spins and colors to bring pops of color and texture in her own works or the works of others. Big Mama Camel Milk Soaps are hand crafted to bring nourishing camel milk to help clean and moisturize your skin. Meghan’s Camel Milk Fudge is a super power house of four simple nutritious ingredients that fuel your body, give you energy, and satisfy your taste buds. All of her creations fall in line with the soul of their homestead, Mudita, which is a Sanskrit word that means, “our happiness comes from your happiness”. When not creating you can find her working in the garden, playing with her son, or working with Matt on their other business, Camels and a Yurt, an Air Bnb/HipCamp rental experience.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Our journey to creating our homestead has not been an easy one. When we returned from Michigan we continued to build what we needed for the homestead and relied on part time work and sales from our farm to support us. We then hit a rough patch where I experienced a miscarriage, we were not having success breeding with our camels, and began to have issues with our well. We fell down and had to climb back up. As we navigated this journey my spinning was a therapeutic outlet for me. My mom helped with making our soap for a time and my dream of getting my camel milk fudge out to others was shelved for awhile. We pivoted by deciding to sell our property and use the money to help us financially start over. We purchased land and began to build from the ground up. We also started Camels and a Yurt, an Air Bnb/HipCamp opportunity for people to stay at our farm and meet the camels. As we have got ourselves into a better situation I began to focus more on my creative outlets. I then had the amazing opportunity to be a part of the first San Luis Valley Rural Women-Led Business Entrepreneur classes offered by the First SouthWest Community Fund and Rocky Mountain Micro-Finance Institute. I gained a wealth of knowledge and a very supportive community. I pivoted this time to focusing on establishing and building The Camel Chick and the products that I offer.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The drive behind my creative journey is to create items that support other women and local entrepreneurs while also supporting my family and allowing me to be home for my son. I want to make a positive difference in other peoples’ lives with the products that I create.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.camelbnb.com
• Instagram: @thecamelchick
• Facebook: The Camel Chick

Image Credits
picture of me spinning on my spinning wheel should be credited to Alamosa First Fridays