![\"NettleMeadow_1\"](\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/NettleMeadow_1.jpg\")
<\/a>\nSheila Flanagan (left) and Lorraine Lambiase hold kids.<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n
New Surroundings<\/h3>\n
Used as a farm sporadically since the 1700s, Nettle Meadow was in desperate need of a face-lift when the pair purchased it. The circa-1898 historic barn that initially caught Flanagan and Lambiase\u2019s attention when they were scoping out properties online was becoming more dilapidated by the day, and it was difficult for them to find someone willing to renovate\u2014not modernize\u2014the building. Today, the barn is restored to its full glory, complete with its original, cathedral-like gambrel roof and signatures scribbled by teens in the 1920s preserved on the walls. While the ground level houses an animal sanctuary, the second floor is rented for community events from weddings and concerts to local fundraisers.<\/p>\n
Settling into the community was quite an adjustment for Bay Area expats Flanagan and Lambiase. Nestled in the Adirondack Mountains and bordered by the Hudson River, Thurman is a sleepy hamlet of 1,200. And as in most small towns, locals are quick to notice new folks\u2014 especially if they\u2019re different.<\/p>\n
To wit: Eyebrows rose when the women bought guard llamas instead of rifles to protect the farm. \u201c[The residents of Thurman] don\u2019t care if you\u2019re gay,\u201d Lambiase says. \u201cBut they do care if you don\u2019t like guns.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"NettleMeadow_4\"](\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/NettleMeadow_4.jpg\")
<\/a>\nThe second floor of Nettle Meadow Farm’s circa-1898 resotred barn.<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n
A Place for Everyone\u2014Ghosts and Goats Included<\/h3>\n
Not only are Lambiase and Flanagan offbeat compared to their fellow Thurman citizens\u2014Nettle Meadow deviates from other farms, too. For one thing, employees who work in the cheese room are convinced that it\u2019s haunted. They\u2019ve heard a man talking and a small child laughing, and have smelled pipe tobacco and rose perfume. (\u201cWe think it\u2019s a whole family,\u201d says cheese room supervisor Stephanie Hitchcock.) It\u2019s not a stretch to believe, considering the cheese room is as old as the farm itself; it was originally used for buttermaking. Still, Flanagan is skeptical\u2014understandable, since her house is a mere stone\u2019s throw from the underground aging space.<\/p>\n
Haunted (or not) cheese room aside, another important factor sets Nettle Meadow apart from other creameries: It\u2019s a no-kill operation. Unwanted baby animals are a by-product of the cheesemaking process, as pregnancies are necessary to keep up a steady milk flow. Most farms auction off extra babies, and that\u2019s what Lambiase and Flanagan did at first. But it started to take an emotional toll: the stress of moving the animals and the anxiety about where they would end up was just too much. Other creameries slaughter extra animals to make artisanal meats, but that wasn\u2019t an option for Flanagan and Lambiase. \u201cWe\u2019re not criticizing how others farm\u2014those who sell goat meat do it humanely, but that\u2019s not where our heart is,\u201d Flanagan explains.<\/p>\n
Instead, the women give away surplus kids and lambs born at Nettle Meadow to new owners on the condition that the babies won\u2019t be used for meat. Once elderly animals are past their milking days, they spend the rest of their lives in comfort on the \u201cJersey Shore,\u201d Nettle Meadow\u2019s sanctuary, which is also home to rescued barnyard creatures of all stripes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter they put in their eight to 10 years, they deserve retirement like anyone else,\u201d Flanagan says. \u201cIf you treat them well, their milk will be of higher quality. Each year we have a healthier herd.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"NettleMeadow_3\"](\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/NettleMeadow_3.jpg\")
<\/a>\nInterspecies mingling is common at Nettle Meadow, especially at the sanctuary.<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n
All in the Family<\/h3>\n
Lady Gaga, K.D. Lang, Stevie Nicks\u2014no, this isn\u2019t the lineup for an upcoming music festival. Rather, the rock star names belong to residents of the \u201cJersey Shore.\u201d Most have ailments (the motley crew includes a blind sheep and a goat with crooked front legs), and all receive the care they need\u2014and then some.<\/p>\n
\u201cRetirees get the best pasture,\u201d says Flanagan, noting that \u201cbest pasture\u201d doesn\u2019t mean rolling hills and lush grass but nettle plants and thick blackberry bushes. \u201cThe nastier it is, the more they like it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The working animals (around 350 goats and 60 dairy sheep) enjoy an equally decadent diet composed of organic hay, grains, wild herbs, raspberry leaf, garlic, and kelp. Baby animals are kept on a neighboring property and are all bottle-fed by hand. It\u2019s a formidable task: One Thanksgiving, Lambiase and Flanagan were so busy tending to kids and lambs they didn\u2019t eat turkey until 1 a.m.\u2014hunched over the kitchen sink, no less.<\/p>\n
Lambiase and Flanagan stagger breeding at Nettle Meadow to provide fresh milk year-round, but try to avoid births in January and February due to the farm\u2019s northeastern, mountainous location. Females aren\u2019t bred until they are at least one year old, and they\u2019re also given plenty of time off (generally three to five months) between kiddings. These practices are part of Nettle Meadow\u2019s bottom line: animal welfare.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s better for them, but not necessarily better for us,\u201d Lambiase says. The same goes for the breeding process itself. You won\u2019t find any lab equipment or frozen semen sample\u2014it\u2019s all au naturel<\/i> at Nettle Meadow. The women often get an earful of the birds and the bees, thanks to baby monitors set up to alert them when pregnant females go into labor. \u201cIt\u2019s like goat pornography all night,\u201d Flanagan jokes.<\/p>\n
![\"NettleMeadow_6\"](\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/NettleMeadow_6.jpg\")
<\/a>\nA young kid is bottle-fed by hand.<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n
Consistency Is Key<\/h3>\n
Unsurprisingly, Lambiase and Flanagan extend the same level of concern for the welfare of their animals as they do to the quality of their cheese. Kunik<\/a>, a rich goat\u2019s milk bloomy rind made with Jersey cow\u2019s cream, is the farm\u2019s most popular offering\u2014Esquire<\/cite> dubbed it \u201cthe sexiest cheese in the USA\u201d in 2010.<\/p>\n Other aged cheeses from Nettle Meadow include Nettle Peaks, a goat\u2019s milk pyramid coagulated naturally with nettles from the farm; Crane Mountain, a firm, semi-aged che\u0300vre named after one of the highest summits in the Adirondacks; and the newest creation, Penny\u2019s Pride, a nutty, mold-ripened firm cheese produced from sheep\u2019s and cow\u2019s milk. Nettle Meadow is also revered for its fresh che\u0300vre and fromage blanc in 13 flavors.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I try to make che\u0300vre, I beat it up,\u201d Flanagan says. \u201c[It ends up being] mozzarella. Lorraine makes cheese like a baker\u2014with exact measurements and a delicate hand.\u201d Flanagan, however, relies on intuition more than math, and tweaks the recipe for each semi-aged cheese depending on the season and milk batch. \u201cIt would be hard to steal our semi-aged recipes,\u201d she says, \u201cthey\u2019re all stuck in my head.\u201d<\/p>\n Consistency is certainly a motto at Nettle Meadow, second only to animal care. For many years, Kunik was made with animal rennet, which produced a reliably delicious cheese but didn\u2019t sit well with Flanagan and Lambiase. The pair struggled with switching over to microbial rennet, as many of the vegetarian rennets they tested caused unacceptable irregularities\u2014a less creamy taste and rind discoloration, to name two. Eventually they found Kunik\u2019s organic microbial rennet soulmate, resulting in a 100 percent vegetarian cheese.<\/p>\n Nettle Meadow\u2019s cheeses are distributed in 40 states, but the largest variety is available at the source: a small shop connected to the make-room. Tours of the property are also offered on Saturdays\u2014visitors are often surprised \u201cWe\u2019re just starting to tag ears\u2014we used to know all [the animals] by name,\u201d Lambiase says of the farm\u2019s 600-strong herd. There\u2019s no pipeline to transport milk and only a small bulk storage tank. And, cheeses are made, salted, molded, and wrapped by human hands. \u201cI talk to every single piece of cheese,\u201d says Hitchcock, the cheese room supervisor.<\/p>\n This approach does limit the amount of cheese Nettle Meadow is able to produce, which is sometimes frustrating for the owners. \u201cIt\u2019s not terrible to be popular, but it is terrible to let down your customers and not be able to fill orders,\u201d Flanagan says. \u201cWe do it all by hand, for better or for worse.\u201d<\/p>\n Meeting demand means that Flanagan and Lambiase don\u2019t take vacations, but it\u2019s a sacrifice they\u2019re glad to make. \u201cHappy goats, great cheese\u2014that\u2019s what we strive for,\u201d Flanagan says. \u201cWe may not have a lot of money in our savings account, but when I look at [the animals], I feel good about what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n New York\u2019s award-winning Nettle Meadow Farm puts animals first<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26354],"tags":[],"coauthors":[70],"class_list":["post-26419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"NettleMeadow_7\"](\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/NettleMeadow_7.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nAn assortment of Nettle Meadow’s mold-ripened cheeses.<\/em><\/center>Lambiase and Flanagan split cheesemaking duties, with Lambiase taking on fresh cheeses and Flanagan responsible for semi-aged offerings.<\/p>\n![\"NettleMeadow_5\"](\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/NettleMeadow_5.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nThe sanctuary at Nettle Meadow Farm.<\/em><\/center><\/p>\nA Personal Touch<\/h3>\n
\nby Nettle Meadow\u2019s modest size and small team (just 11 full-time and 4 part-time employees, plus Flanagan and Lambiase).<\/p>\n![\"NettleMeadow_8\"](\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/NettleMeadow_8.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"