Career Women Trading in Offices for Kitchens
The collective recipe for success that each of these women share is a strong bond of supportive family and friends.
PASSION PRODUCTS
Battenkill Wholesome Foods
Six Ingredients of Pure Energy
Career paths often can be a series of unexpected twists and turns. An unforeseen experience might land us in a place we never anticipated. In Leslie Kielson’s case, it was a seven-day bike trip with her wife, Liz, that began with an 85-degree humid day and a 3-mile steep hill. The numerous energy bars this active duo had consumed in the past were not sustaining as they were loaded with sugar and only yielded brief energy bursts. Leslie decided it was time to create one that worked better.
By way of this fortuitous bike ride, Battenkill Brittle emerged. Through trial-and-error, Leslie developed a high-energy snack that is super low in sugar and high in protein that keeps you going no matter the rigorous activity. There are only six ingredients in this gluten-free snack, and each one is something we can all pronounce.
Leslie, her two sisters, and parents lived outside New York City and were active outdoor lovers, enjoying hiking, skiing, and biking together, mostly in western Massachusetts. She spent her early career in New York City as an administrator for the Swedish Institute for Massage Therapy and as an antiwar activist. She was a paid organizer for United for Peace and Justice, a national coalition fighting against the war in Iraq. All a far cry from the culinary world.
In 2010, Leslie moved to Vermont from New York City to be with Liz, a landscape designer, without a clue what her work might be. That changed with the birth of Brittle, the first of many products Leslie would develop in her small commercial kitchen in the basement of their log home in Arlington. Founder, owner, and baker of Battenkill Wholesome Foods, Leslie’s products now include Battenkill Crumble, two flavors of muesli, and cookies, all gluten-free and made with mostly organic ingredients
Not only has Leslie found the perfect mix of healthy ingredients to create food that sustains us, but her commitment to sustainability and maintaining the lowest carbon footprint possible informs everything she does. In 2017, Leslie and Liz added solar and are practically zero waste. Producing less than two pounds of garbage a week, they reuse, recycle, and compost. Even the leftover crumbs after packaging are used in their baked goods or donated to Grateful Hearts, an organization that makes meals for folks who need them.
Not only has Leslie found the perfect mix of healthy ingredients to create food that sustains us, but her commitment to sustainability and maintaining the lowest carbon footprint possible informs everything she does
(left)Packed-with-nutrition seeds are a vital ingredient in Battenkill Wholesome Foods products. (right)An array of Battenkill Wholesome Foods sure to please and energize all!
Leslie’s path to the food world is certainly unique and she is living her best rural life with Liz. She’s a busy woman who still manages to find time to volunteer for Bennington County Open Arms, an organization that supports refugees from Afghanistan and helps them find employment. Her deep commitment to a sustainable future inspires.
“I feel so fortunate to be living the dream with work that I love—creating healthy food that nourishes my customers and fills a need for people who need low-sugar and gluten-free choicesas well as growing lots of our own food and having a beautiful place to live, with our sweet cat, dog, and two sheep!”
All Battenkill Wholesome Foods products come in a bright yellow bag, and most of their products can be found at your local market or in their online store.
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