Kelli Winter, owner of Crust Bakery, spends most days in her Market Kitchen, dusted with flour, chopping produce as aromatics bloom in hot oil. She is best known for her flaky-crusted hand pies and hearty soups, but in the Market Kitchen, she has another often-unseen role: mentor. With over a decade in business, Kelli shared her hard-won lessons with new chefs in her kitchen, along with a deep commitment to quality ingredients and sustainable practices.

Kelli’s relationship with food began long before she stepped into a professional kitchen. “My mom and my grandma were home cooks, and so that was a family thing,” she said. “We would always get together and cook.” In her Polish household, meals like pierogi and kapusta weren’t just dinner — they were tradition, memory, and love passed down by hand.

Though Kelli studied painting and photography in college, the kitchen kept calling. “When I graduated, I got a job at a restaurant — because that’s what you do when you go to art school,” she laughs. She first worked in a tiny Indian kitchen, where a generous cook taught her the magic of curry and chai. Later, at a French bistro she learned the rhythm of seasonal cooking and the value of sourcing locally. Those early chapters became the quiet foundation of Kelli’s food philosophy.

Years later, working at a barbecue joint on the West Coast, Kelli was tasked with turning a bushel of apples into dessert. Having never made a pie before, she called her mom for a recipe. The next day, her boss raved, “That pie was amazing. What did you do?” This unexpected victory set a subtle vision in motion.

Kelli and her mother, Suzen, soon moved to Port Townsend, where the vibrant farmers market and local food culture helped bring her quiet dream to life.“That was a long and trying process, but eventually it happened,” Kelli explained.

Together, they joined the market serving up chicken pot pies and galettes featuring seasonal vegetables. Kelli baked, and Suzen kept the books. A two-woman team, they became fixtures at the Port Townsend Farmers Market.

Customer feedback sparked innovation. Kelli’s single-portion pot pies evolved into a signature rectangular shape, baked in clay pots by a local potter. Galettes morphed into her famous hand pies. “Watching somebody shove something beautiful into their market bag and throwing a pumpkin on top of it was just really sad,” recalled Kelli. “So one day, in frustration, I folded it in half and called it a hand pie.”

Kelli’s early kitchen moments infused her creations with soul and story. She crafted an Aloo Gobi hand pie with locally grown cauliflower, potatoes, onions, and spinach in curried coconut milk. Sweet pies celebrated the seasons, like tart rhubarb paired with candied ginger.

The community ate it up, and within two years, Crust Bakery outgrew its kitchen space. Serendipitously, Kelli was able to purchase Chef Arran Stark’s custom-designed commercial kitchen and opened it to renters to help cover costs. “We stuffed that kitchen as tight as we could,” she laughed. Many early renters were new farmers market vendors, and the name Market Kitchen stuck.

As the kitchen grew, so did Crust Bakery’s menu. Kelli developed fan-favorites like her shaved chocolate cookies and the squirrel bar, a vegan, sugar-free, nut-filled treat. oon she was wholesaling batches of soup to the Chimacum Corner Farmstand. “I pack my Subaru to the rafters with soup for them every other week,” she said.

Despite growth, Kelli remains committed to local sourcing and ethical practices. “Our world is so big and things travel so far,” she said. “One of the easiest ways to take care of it is to shop locally.” Most of her ingredients come from nearby farms and even her spices are sourced with care.

This ethos extends to the Market Kitchen with Kelli’s waste sorting system. Recycling is sorted, and food scraps become compost or livestock feed. Between all businesses at Market Kitchen, only one 20-gallon bag of trash is produced weekly. “Everybody I bring into the kitchen is very excited about that,” Kelli said.

When onboarding new business, Kelli ensures they are not only aligned with the kitchen culture but set up for success. “I help them with the whole process,” she explained. “It’s really cool to step back from myself and watch how that’s naturally grown out of me,” she said, reflecting on her role as mentor.

That leadership deepened in 2021, when Suzen passed away. Kelli cared for her mother while taking over the business side she once managed. “That was very challenging,” she confides. But the community rallied —offering expertise, organizing her office, even chopping vegetables. That support helped her carry on.

Now, Kelli has found a rhythm that feels sustainable. The days are still long, but she’s learned to balance effort with rest. While Crust will stay a small, market-based business rooted in quality, the renovated Market Kitchen is ready to welcome a new wave of food entrepreneurs. With every hand pie, every shared recipe, and every chef she mentors, Kelli feeds more than just her community — she nourishes a movement.

Holly Erickson of Jefferson County Farmers Markets presents an inside look at the people, histories, and passions behind the booths of our community’s vibrant marketplaces. A longer version of this story will be published on JCF’s website.