Owner/artisan: Yellow Dog Farm jobs and careers

About Owner/artisan: Yellow Dog Farm

Yellow Dog Farm, owned by Jim Holzschuh and Ellen Thompson, is located in the town of South Hero on South Hero Island in the middle of Lake Champlain in northwestern Vermont. They started their mohair yarn operation in 2005 with the purchase of 3 bred female Angora goats. Four kids were born in May of that year and a buck, Shiloh, and his buddy, Oliver, were added in the summer of 2006. The goat shed that was built in the fall of 2004 was expanded during the fall of 2006 with the addition of a 24' by 30' two story barn with hayloft. Space was set-aside in the new barn for a woodturning wood working shop. Both Jim and Ellen are active in the local Farmer's Markets during the summer season in South Hero and Grand Isle, Vermont. Winter is devoted to washing fleece, knitting, spinning, woodturning and caring for the animals. They have developed and sell their own apple-maple hot sauce using mostly Vermont products. The Macanero Hot Sauce made from local McIntosh apples and habanero peppers is available locally as well as on the web.