Sitting on 45 gently rolling acres in northwest Georgia, just west of LaFayette and near the Alabama state line, is Rosemary and Thyme Creamery.
While the state Department of Agriculture estimates that there are about two dozen sheep farms in the state, Hannah Walker and Brent Smith believe they are operating the state’s only sheep’s milk creamery.
They didn’t grow up farming, but Walker spent time after college as a part of the group Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. She discovered a passion for farming and, returning home to Pennsylvania, began working at Flint Hill Farm, a dairy that produced cheese from cows, goats and sheep.
“I found I really liked working with animals,” Walker said. However, while “cows have great personalities, they’re big and if one steps on your foot, you can really get hurt. And goats, they’re just too smart for their own good. But sheep were cooperative. What interested me most was making sheep’s milk cheese.”
When she and Smith decided to go into farming together, they agreed it would be with sheep, and Walker went to Lark’s Meadow Farms in Idaho to learn how to make sheep’s milk cheese. They purchased the land for their farm in 2019.
Walker is the cheesemaker. In Pennsylvania, she learned to make chevre, a fresh cheese, and in Idaho she learned to make hard cheeses. Both approaches are reflected in the cheeses that the Georgia creamery produces today.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Each day begins with milking the farm’s 72 sheep. They are brought 12 at a time into the milking barn, where they have a meal of grain while being milked. A day’s milking will produce 20 to 25 gallons.
In hot weather, the sheep stay under shelter during the day and are turned out on grass when the temperatures cool.
Some of the sheep are St. Croix, a breed from the U.S. Virgin Islands, while others are a cross between East Friesian, native to northern Germany, and Lacaune, native to southern France. Walker and Smith chose to build their herd from these breeds because they are good milk producers. The partners are breeding their sheep with an eye to maximizing milk production.
Walker makes cheese three days a week. On Mondays, she works with the milk collected the three previous days. On Tuesdays, she makes cheese from Monday’s milk, then on Friday she works with the milk collected Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
She makes seven varieties of cheese, with the availability varying throughout the year. Fresh chevre is available during milking season, generally from April until mid-September. It is sold plain or in one of four flavors: roasted red pepper, garlic and basil, onion and chive, and one with a hint of honey.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Walker also produces several aged cheeses: Chamberlain’s Choice, a Cotswold-inspired cheese; Spice of Life, a cave-aged tomme-style cheese; feta, aged in brine for a minimum of three months; Alpine-style tomme de LaFayette; tyri, a halloumi-style cheese; and cacio ovino, a provolone-style cheese. These are seasonal and made in limited quantities.
Smith is the one who drives the four hours round trip to Atlanta to sell at the Saturday Peachtree Road and Marietta farmers markets and Sundays at the Grant Park Farmers Market. He spends a good part of his time at the market offering cheese samples. “People who like cheese are always interested in trying it,” Smith said, “and once they sample, they almost always buy from us.”
The partners welcome guests who want to tour the farm and meet Acorn the donkey and Butch and Sundance, the Anatolian shepherd-Great Pyrenees mix dogs who protect the sheep from predators. You also can see the milking barn and learn how the cheese is made. The farm plays host to families, home-school groups and those participating in the Georgia Farm Bureau’s certified farm markets passport program.
Rosemary and Thyme Creamery. 5328 Chamberlain Road, LaFayette. rosemaryandthymecreamery.com
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
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