Carleton Yoder is always smiling! And why shouldn’t he? He makes award-winning cheese in Vermont’s beautiful Champlain Valley–even if it is a slight detour from the path that originally brought him to Vermont.
“I moved to Vermont in 1996 to make hard cider after getting an MS in Food Science from Virginia Tech,” Carleton explained. While working for American Hard Cider, he began experimenting with cheesemaking at home, taking classes at the University of Vermont. “I eventually decided that I wanted to work for myself in food, and cheese became that thing!”
His new professional path began with a season at Shelburne Farms, after which the “work for myself” part came to fruition. In late 2003, Champlain Valley Creamery was born. “We started in Vergennes in a deli space we converted to a cheese production space. In 2012, we moved to Middlebury and worked with our landlord to build out our existing space.”
What does a typical day look like for Carleton? As a small business owner, it’s a little bit of everything. “Milk hauling, production, CLEANING, CLEANING, CLEANING, boxing for order fulfillment, accounting, regulatory, food safety, etc.” His favorite part of the work can be a double-edged sword: “I love being able to take a raw agricultural product and turn it into different cheeses, all from the same single source of milk. However, there are constant challenges to produce consistent products from varying, seasonal changes in the milk.”
When he’s away from the vat, Carleton’s two teenagers keep him busy with their various activities. “Plus we have a pontoon boat on Otter Creek that we take on Lake Champlain often.” Carleton Yoder is indeed making the most of the Vermont life, and making cheeses that spread that Carleton smile far and wide.