The Long and Winding Road Leads To Meyer’s Goat Shack And A Dream

By Chuck Keller, Contributor

Interesting lives do not move in a straight line. Curves in the road add interest and intrigue. The road to where you are now was probably not the road you started on. And that’s where the story is. Route 159 is a winding road but it lead me to Meyer’s Goat Shack. 

You will find Nick Meyer at his Fort Thomas Farmers Market booth every week selling handcrafted goat milk soaps and other products. He’s an engaging conversationalist so I bought some soap on the promise that it could ease the discomfort of my eczema. It helped. 

Over the course of our conversations at the market he would reveal a bit more about how he became a goat farmer and soap maker. It was interesting so I visited Meyers Goat Shack on a warm late February day for a chat and a chance to visit goats. By the way, never pass on a visit with goats.

Nick is a 1990 Highlands graduate where he played football.  But after graduation he got a little lost. He said, “I was just kind of going nowhere” in life. His step-father saw what was going on and insisted that he join the service. It was shortly after Top Gun was released and that movie resonated with Meyer. He joined the Navy and made a career of it. After 20+ years, he retired as a Chief Petty Officer. He worked the flight deck of aircraft carriers, a demanding and precise job and he loved it. But something else was calling him. 

Over the course of his military career he saw combat, travelled the globe, married, started a family and started to think beyond retirement. He is particularly proud of his work to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. 

Back in Chesapeake, Virginia, Lynda Meyer picked up some goat soap at a farmers market to see if it would help with her skin issues. It helped and they investigated how to make their own goat soap. Their kitchen became their laboratory.  It was the perfect distraction for the frustrations and anxieties of that stage in their life. 

Nick is quick to point out that Lynda is the brains of Meyers Goat Shack and he is the brawn of the operation. She works out the chemistry for every product. At first they were  giving away their soap to friends but they made so much more. They ended up setting up an outlet in the military exchange. Their products sold well until COVID shut everything down. 

By then, they were obsessed. Nick said, “And then we got an education. We got certified. And then we got into the community.” They sold at craft shows. It was a passion project and if they made a little money, well, that was a win. Nick compares those early years to being a toddler, “That was our first big step. I’d say that we may have stood up, then you know, we’re still still wildly falling down. But that got us to stand.” Soap making looked sustainable. 

Luckily, Lynda is the Chief Financial Officer for a large company and those skills lead to the establishment of Meyers Goat Farm. They moved to Kentucky, bought a farm, and while their house was being built, they lived with family in Fort Thomas. He commuted to the farm (about a 45 minute drive) every day to take care of the goats. 

About “a year ago, she (Lynda) blew her tendon,” Nick said. She couldn’t work the farm. “It’s been a struggle with procedures and surgery.” She’s not supposed to lift anything with much weight. “We threw our bodies at it like we were 20. You can’t do that. We started breaking stuff,” he recalled. But then Nick injured himself – a tendon. He couldn’t use his left arm because he tried to do too much. He could no longer pack the daily forty gallons of water out to the barn twice a day nor carry the 50 pound sacks of feed, and till do the coop cleaning and take care of the goats. He had to make a tough decision. The chickens are gone now, but he has plans to build a smarter coop that will require less strain from him. That’s in the future for the moment. He is always busy.

A hard reality that Nick learned is that “We got to shake the city off of us. We got to get to the point we’re okay there. There’s a reason they’re [the goats] are on the farm….These boys gotta go pay for the farm.” So a male goat or two will be sold for meat. And that breaks his heart because he tends to see them more as pets. But if the goats keep breeding then he will need another barn and he has plans for a birthing barn. The day I visited, three babies were born a few days earlier and it’s easy to fall for baby goats. He is busy. 

It’a bit overwhelming when Nick explained all of the steps he takes to make a bar of soap. There are lots of steps that require attention to detail from goat healthcare, milking the goats, dehydrating the milk, following the recipe exactly, marketing, and licensing. They touch each product to make sure they are high quality. After all, their name is on the label. 

Nick’s social media posts are thoughtful, insightful, often funny, but always truthful. He has learned much since becoming a legitimate farmer. He says, “I need three things: food, oxygen, and space. If you take any of the three, I’m not happy.” I can tell he’s happy on his farm. He gets animated when he talks about their travels to this point, the joys of chatting with customers, and the pride he takes in his work. He wants things done right. “This is what I want to do in my life.I don’t want sports cars. I don’t want motorcycles. I don’t want boats.” A favorite is the Employee of the Week where he spotlights one particular goat.

This endeavor has been a test of their relationship. It is stronger. They work as a team. They share a vision. They share labor. Nick says, “I respect her opinion….She’s as good as anybody. She can run a saw. She can run a drill…She can do anything I can do. And she’s got that same determination.” 

The goats are good teachers. Nick says, “You know, more than anything I think they taught me some patience.” For instance, the goats needed a better way to get to their hay. They don’t eat off the ground so he had to elevate the feed. Nick saw them struggle with trying to bite between the wires so he cut larger holes so they could get their heads into the vertical mangers. He learns by watching them and listening to them. He says,“I love these animals….like they’re pets, you know. They’re like my dogs. Each one has a personality.” One is particularly shy. Another is quite social. Another is curious. All of them are smart.

They plan to build a farm stand along Route 159 so they can educate the public about farm life, sell some products, and try some new products like goat cheese. He is busy. Nick’s brain never rests. 

Nick Meyer learned that farm life is “not Green Acres or a TV show. It’s not part-time. You gotta want this. There’s no backing away from it. Everything here relies upon me and my wife…. but it’s a sense of freedom too.” Route 159 is a winding road but it leads to interesting places and people. 

You can find Meyer’s Goat Shack at the Fort Thomas Farmers Market every Wednesday in Tower Park.