OUR STORY
2 Women, 4 Dogs, 4 Goats and 3,059 Miles
In 2005, owners Sheila Flanagan and Lorraine Lambiase made the trek from Oakland, California to Thurman, New York, with a motley crew in the back of their Honda Element. They knew that cold winters, lots (and lots!) of nettle bushes, and long nights laid ahead, but each knew it would be worth it to fulfill their animal sanctuary and cheesemaking dreams.
ABOUT NETTLE MEADOW
When we got to New York, our days blurred together as we got our life in order, still somehow managing to make cheese in a tiny kitchen the way we were doing it in Oakland. We tested recipes and flavors, eventually nailing our now award-winning chèvre recipe (we even won an award for our Honey Lavender Fromage Blanc that same year)!
​
We transformed the original farm house on the property to be cheese production facility, which grew and changed we did. We learned a lot, bumped into each other often, grew our team, bumped into each other even more, but loved being so close to our true mission: the animals.
​
Our sanctuary and our cheese business continued to grow over the next many years, and we were forced to make a tough call: what comes next? In order to keep sharing our cheese with you at the scale we were reaching, we needed to expand. When the Historic Hitching Post went up for sale, we were smitten: boasting the largest logs in all of the Adirondack region, this historically-significant building had hosted generations of cowboys and families for dances, dinners, and distinctly "upstate New York" memories.
​
In late 2019, we purchased The Hitching Post in Lake Luzerne, just 14 miles away from our Sanctuary, but closer to the action of Lake George. We finally opened our restaurant doors and our completely renovated and best-in-class cheese production facility in 2022. We can now make 8x more cheese than we could at our original facility! Yes, it's come with its own set of learnings and challenges, but we are so thrilled to welcome locals and visitors alike to taste the true flavors of Nettle Meadow Cheese and even watch it be made.
​
Now, you can visit our animal sanctuary in Thurman and dine at the Post in Lake Luzerne - we'd love to welcome you at both!
​
Thank you so much for your support - we couldn't have done it without you.
​
The Old Barn
At Nettle Meadow, the sanctuary animals are housed in six large barns and a few out buildings including a newly restored barn built in 1903 and restored in 2013.
​
The sheep and goats’ diet includes a variety of natural ingredients including hay, grains and wild herbs, raspberry leaf, garlic, and kelp for balanced nutrition.