Meet Angella Trout | Holistic Wellness Coach, Soap maker and goat rancher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Angella Trout and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Angella, what do you want your legacy to be?
In life an in business I have a strong need to help others and I hope that is my legacy. I make it a point to use local products from small businesses and local farmers so I can support them as well as helping the Environmental impact of shipping as little as possible. I want people to remember me as an innovative person who thinks outside of the box to succeed in life.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My story is long but I’ll try to keep it short and sweet. I became a single mom at a young age but I was determined to be there for my children so being self employed was important to me. I started cosmetology school because my mom always told me to get a trade so I have something to fall back on and something to earn a living while going to school for whatever I decide was going to be my career. She was the first generation to in her family to go to college so education was important in our house but so was resilience. At one point I broke my back and couldn’t work well on a schedule because of my pain and was working with Alzheimer’s patients at the time so lifting and such was out of the question with my injury, so I started a cleaning business so I could take my kids if needed. I could work my own hours and any hours as long as I kept my deadline. During that time holistic medicine is one of the only things that helped ease the pain. That got me to thinking about going to school to learn more when I could. With in a year a I had a major pulmonary embolism that hospitalized me again. This caused me to lose my house and my business and prompted a move from my native state of Colorado to New Mexico where I worked for a major airline for a short time and upon their going out of business it started my journey for holistic health care education. While going to school for my degree I started to make natural body care products for myself and had great success in my personal healing and health so I decided start producing and selling them at our local farmers market to help pay my way through school. That’s how Naturally Balanced was born. Over the years being available to my kids was even more important so once I graduated I worked even harder at growing my business and then was hospitalized yet again with another major pulmonary embolism. Shortly after we moved to our little farm and I decided I had to make a living from it because I needed to work on my own terms for my health and children. Things slowed down a bit when I met my fiancé but I’d really been focusing on growing the farm again when I had a baby at nearly 40. I had 2 grown children so I was excited to slow down and stay home to raise her. Sadly in December of 2021 my fiancé passed away and I had to figure where to go from here so I put my focus on my business. My son moved back after college and stayed to help me with the baby and my business. My friends near and far have been so incredibly supportive. My business just this year has quadrupled and I’ve added the targeted grazing with my goats to the mix. We now produce 100 meat chickens for our community a month with with the help of two other farms. I didn’t grow much this year but sell homemade bread, jelly and fruit leathers to make up for it. I usually grow a lot of my herbs, luffa and things I use in my products. I am proud to be located in 2 brick and mortar shops here in town, I’m currently in discussion with 2 more and I attend 4 farmers markets a week in the peak season 1 year around. I’ve grown my partnerships with local businesses by using their products in mine. With this year being the hardest of all my years and challenges I’d have to say that the ability to adapt and adjust with resilience is my biggest accomplishment. No it hasn’t been easy at all but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I have gained to much by living if this lifestyle and probably work harder then ever before but it’s on my own terms. My school has been important in all of this although to the average person I’m just a farmer/goat rancher but I use my experience in the medical field, my cosmetology knowledge and my background in holistic health in every bit of my businesses from my body care products to how I run my farm. Even the goat grazing is a holistic approach to vegetation control and fire mitigation. I get to express my creative side with everything I’m doing. I have long hard days but in the end I am here, strong and hopefully making my kids proud. Just a single mom doing what it takes while helping her community that helped her. Trying to keep life naturally Balanced.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
In our area I’d definitely take you to see white sands. We’d visit some of my favorite little shops in our historic downtown which include The Local Bodega and the Roadrunner Emporium. We’d have lunch at the Airport Grill or Si Sinor’s then maybe a drive to see the Scenic views of cloudcroft and finish with an evening at 575 brewing company because they have great Entertainment different food trucks in a very relaxing atmosphere. Plus I use their beer in my soap. However anytime anyone visits they also enjoy just hanging out on the farm with the animals, maybe swimming or just sitting on the patio. A lot of people enjoy learning about the luffa we grow for our products as well.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have an incredible support system so to pick one person or organization for a shout-out is hard but I’d have to first and foremost would be my parents especially my mom who thought me to be resilient, independent and strong. Then though they have passed my grandparents who taught me a lot about natural medicine and how important it is to live a life of service. I guess that’s where I get my need to help others. Most recently though I was on the verge of having to give up all my animals with the passing of my fiancé in December 2021 I was struggling. In May of 2022 I had just picked up a load of hay and was stressing if this was my last I could afford. It was important to me that my youngest baby grew up on the farm with the animals so this was a Devastating thought. I went on TikTok one day and saw a live from a gentleman named Max Wade or Cowboy Max as he goes by. Well he does targeted goat grazing. I watched, listened and slept on it overnight. The next morning I decided to reach out to see how I could get started as he’s somewhat local so he’d know the ins and outs. He was so kind and spent a good amount of time with me coaching me and guiding me. I can’t thank him enough because he played a big role in helping save my farm.

Website: Www.naturallybalancedfarms.com

Instagram: @naturallybalanced

Facebook: Www.facebook.com/naturallybalanced

Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCZ8pljBxdH-7kX0qmVUxjqw

Other: TikTok is @naturallybalanced

Image Credits
Angella Trout Anthony Trout