Forks in the Dirt

For our family winter means comfort food cravings are in high gear- and that means lots of soup. At least half our winter dinners are bowls of hearty, steaming soups and stews. So I’ve grown my soup making tips, techniques and repertoire over the years. Soups really have endless variety.

Soups are budget friendly vehicles for veggies, protein and help stretch meats in families where your kids (like my two teenage boys) can eat so much that we go through an entire chicken at every meal.

I’ve got some soup tips like making your own Stock, Blooming your Herbs, and making an Herb Sachet. These can all take your soups to the next level, and save you money along the way. I also link to all my favorite, modern homesteader approved (healthy + easy) soup recipes at the end.

Chicken Stock Recipe (for freezing)

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This is the ‘veggie’ best soup, a good old fashioned everything but the kitchen sink vegetable soup recipe. Most importantly, vegetable soups are the best for interchanging ingredients. I really don’t think I’ve ever made the exact same vegetable soup tice- and that’s part of the fun of cooking – making it your own every single time.

The secret to a really flavorful vegetable soup is always a Mirepoix– which is a fancy way of saying ‘flavor base’ including sweet onion, garlic, carrots and celery. That and letting the herbs you add like sage, parsley, thyme, oregano, basil, bay leaf do the flavoring for you.

I’ve got some tips on basic soup techniques in my Super Soup Tips if you’re interested in learning about layering flavors into your soups.

This recipe uses so many garden veggies that have a tendency to linger in the deep freeze-  I’m looking at you chopped and/or shredded zucchini. Frozen diced bell peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet corn, tomatoes and edamame are other usual suspects.

Root vegetables like carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes and even rutabaga and parsnip (in small amounts) are all fabulous additions.

The trick to an over the top veggie soup is to get a variety of textures and sizes all done at about the same time, so remember that you can add in veggies at different times to keep them from getting mushy on you.

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This is a more brothy and flavorful variation to thick split pea soup. This soup is my family’s favorite way to make use of that Christmas ham bone and last of the ham.

Simmer that bone for a day (or overnight in a crock pot) and enjoy the hearty flavors in this budget friendly soup.

By simmering the ham bone with meat still on it we’re technically making a broth. I go over the differences in my Super Soup Tips.

Bone Marrow in Soup

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This is a waaaaay healthier spin on the classic Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana. This hearty soup comes together with all the rich flavors you expect, but with more veggies (even a little tomato!), no bacon and less cream. And I’m happy to report that making it healthier does not make it any less fabulous.

Also, it’s a great way to use up lots of that frozen kale that’s hiding in the back of your freezer. I love freezing kale in muffin tins or silicone molds they can hold a surprising amount of kale once blanched. I go into growing and preserving kale in my article, Kale Yeah. Any variety of kale will do for this recipe, but I prefer the curly varieties like Westlander. If you’re looking for a thicker, non-Italian version, you can try my Sausage, Kale + Potato Potage.

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It is so satisfying to see a garden overflowing at the end of the season, but it can definitely get overwhelming when everything ripens all at once! Let’s get you preserving vegetables like a pro, without all the work.

Instead of letting your hard work go to waste, you can easily save that harvest for the winter. I go over the 5 most common backyard garden vegetables plus the absolute best, beginner-friendly ways for preserving vegetables.

All the various methods of preserving vegetables, from dehydrating, freezing, fermenting, water bath canning, and pressure canning, slow down respiration or deterioration in the plant cells in different ways.

And each food has its favorite way.

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Yep, we’re using zucchini in place of apples – and it works! While this is technically a mock apple crisp, I think I’ll start referring to this as Zapple Crisp. 😉

I admit, I was VERY skeptical of this recipe at first. I mean, zucchini can’t do everything… but it makes an outstanding substitute for apple chunks in this crisp. It really does come down to texture and spices. And this mock apple crisp using zucchini hits the sweet spot.

Only after I told my son it wasn’t apples and that he was in fact eating zucchini did he realize it. And as I had all my taste buds fired up, I could tell that there was a little less apple zing the first time, so I added more lemon juice the second time, and I think that this is about as close to apple crisp without the apples as you can get. Of course, all the warm fall spices MAKE this what it is, and the flavors are like coming home.

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Plant relationships have evolved together to help maintain ecosystem health, and this is especially true under the soil. We can practice companion planting to grow more resilient gardens.

At its core, companion planting is the practice of planting different plant species together for their mutual benefits. It’s all about understanding a plant’s needs and gifts so we can help them share resources and boost harvests.

*This is part of an award winning article originally published in Fall 2025
Northern Gardener Magazine*

Companion Planting Benefits

• Healthier Soil
• Suppressed Weeds
• Balanced Pests + Diseases
• Increased Beneficial Insects
• Increased Harvests

Modern companion planting focuses on planting biodiversity. Beware simple companion planting equations of A + B = C. Nature is too sophisticated and raucous a partner to play by such simple human inventions. Luckily, scientific research continues to increase and begs to be put into action in our gardens. However, each garden is made up of infinitely diverse relationships, so observation in your own space is always best.

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I know August can feel overwhelming for organic gardeners, because pests and diseases have likely found your plants, weeds are growing faster than anything else and weather can throw up roadblocks to the most dedicated gardeners.

Faced with all the August garden tasks, many of us feel like throwing in the towel – because we’re also having to harvest, cook with and preserve all the abundance that we planned for.

This time of the summer is when the pace of modern life (kids’ sports, fun events, friends and family) and trying to ‘get it all in’ before school starts again collides with spending time in the garden. It is a  reminder of how farmers ad people tied more closely to the land and seasons have probably always felt- but for them it was a matter of survival to harvest and preserve as much as possible.

For almost all of us today, that is not the case.

So, let’s take a breath and lay out a plan so that, come mid-winter we can look back on this time with pride, over a meal with veggies from the garden.

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