Soups are budget-friendly vehicles for veggies, protein, and help stretch meats in families like mine where 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)

1. Roast the Carcass First for Extra Flavor:
   If you want a deeper, golden, restaurant-style flavor, roast the chicken carcass on a sheet pan at 400°F–450°F for 20–30 minutes until browned. Deglaze the roasting pan with a splash of hot water and scrape up the browned bits (“fond”) into your pot.
2. Combine in a Pot:
   Place the chicken carcass into a large stockpot, Dutch oven, or crock pot. Add the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, herbs, and peppercorns.
3. Add Water:
   Pour in cold water until the bones and vegetables are completely submerged by about 2 inches.
4. Bring to a Boil and Skim:
   Heat the pot over medium-high heat until it reaches a low boil. As it heats, foam, fat, and impurities (“scum”) will rise to the top; use a spoon or ladle to skim and discard them for a clearer stock.
5. Simmer Low and Slow:
   On Stove: Reduce the heat to low so the liquid maintains a gentle, lazy simmer. Cover the pot partially with a lid and simmer for 3 to 4 hours (or up to 6–8 hours for maximum collagen extraction). Do not let it roll-boil, or the stock will turn cloudy.
   In Stock Pot: leave on high for a few hours, then turn to low if leaving for the day or overnight.
6. Strain:
   Remove the large bones and solids with tongs or a slotted spoon. Pour the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl or secondary pot. Do not press down hard on the mushy vegetables, or it will cloud the stock.
7. Cool and Store:
   Let the stock cool to room temperature. Refrigerate it for up to 3 to 4 days (you can skim the hardened layer of fat off the top once chilled) or freeze it in jars or freezer bags for up to 3 to 6 months.
8. Stock or Broth
9. Are they the same thing? This is a common question, with an answer of ‘not really, but…’
10. Broth is traditionally made with meat. Stock is made with bones. Also, broth is usually seasoned, salted, etc. more. If you’re buying from a store, I’d recommend stock because you can play with seasoning and sodium more.
11. But if you make your own, you don’t have to play by the rules. Just go for the most delicious liquid you can get from simmering whatever meat and bones and vegetable scraps (like carrot, onion, celery) you have and call it whatever you’d like. Usually I have a little meat left on a bone or carcass anyways; it all adds to the flavor.

I also make stock out of my ham bones. I have detailed step-by-step instructions in my Ham + Lentil Soup Recipe.

The one thing all my soups have in common is a LOT of veggies.

The only other meals that come close to the daring amounts of vegetables in my soups are stir fry or salad. And soups are simply more satisfying when the snow is deep and the nights are long.

I try to start with as many local ingredients as possible. The surest way to do this is by going to one of the many farmers markets, or even Winter Farmers Markets popping up—or grow surplus in the summer garden to freeze or can for winter use.

*Kid Tip*
The way I sell even the most vegified soup to my kids?? Pairing it with homemade biscuits/breads/grains + cheese. They will slurp every last drop to get another toasted cheesy anything!

My quitclaim: I am pretty bad at sticking to recipes. This is very possibly why I love making soup so much.

It’s like I get to play chemist with flavor layers. In my kitchen, a soup is never really ‘done’. I often add a few extra ingredients to a soup while heating it up for leftovers the next day. Ohh, I see you there, garbanzos, leftover broccoli, or peas.

Soups are massively forgiving and as simple or complex as you make them. You can feel in control of the outcome and learn so much about flavors as they mix and mingle in that big ole pot. I’m going to state loud and clear that I share RECIPE SUGGESTIONS more than exact recipes.

Just like my vegetable garden plans (that I am knee deep in right about now) you might veer off course while you’re putting it together, but end up exactly where you were supposed to be when you dig in. Make soups your own!

Trust your soup gut.

Almost every single soup starts with lots of onions and garlic…

Super Soup Tips

Bloom Your Herbs

I’m going to share a little soup starting MAGIC: Sauté the onion/garlic/leek/scallion/scapes in plenty of fat (oil/butter/bacon fat, etc.) and then add dry herbs + spices to let them ‘bloom’ (I love that term for letting the spices come to their full potential), which deepens their flavors fast. Next, add the other veggies, for a quick sizzle and spin with the oil and spices. And finally, add your tomatoes and other liquids. This is typically an Indian cooking technique (ohh curry, how I love you) that truly adds oomph to any dish you’re making.

Use an Herb Sachet

If you want to add flavor but keep the broth clear, use an herb sachet. You can either make a small pouch or tie the herbs into a bundle with cotton or linen twine, (often called butcher’s twine), or use leaves of celery or leeks as a wrapper.

• Aromatics & Herbs: Bay leaf, fresh thyme sprigs, rosemary, tarragon, marjoram, and parsley stems (use stems rather than leaves so they do not discolor or break down into the broth).
• Spices: Whole black peppercorns, crushed garlic cloves.
• Alternative: A bouquet garni wraps these herbs directly inside a folded leek leaf or celery stalk tied with kitchen twine.

How to Make and Use a Sachet

1. Cut the material: Lay out a square piece of clean cheesecloth or muslin.
2. Add ingredients: Place your herbs in the center.
3. Tie it up: Gather the corners of the cheesecloth and tie them tightly with kitchen twine, leaving a long tail of string you can anchor or hang over the edge of the soup pot.
4. Simmer and remove: Drop the sachet into the soup or stock while it cooks, then lift and discard the entire pouch before serving.

So once you get the basics down with my soup tips, the options are endless! Here are some of my tried and true favorites.

Homesteader Approved Soups

Best Healthy Broccoli Soup

Broccoli Leaf Soup

Carrot, Sweet Potato + Ginger Soup

Corn Chowder

Ham + Lentil Soup

Sausage, Kale + Potato Potage

Very Veggie Potato Leek

Very Veggie Zuppa Toscana

Very Veggie Vegetable Soup

Can’t wait to Dig In (but with spoons, not forks) to my next hearty bowl of soup.

Michelle

The post Super Soup Tips + Recipe Round Up appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

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.

Timing Guide for Cooking Vegetables in Soup

Hard & Starchy Veggies

Add early, 15–20 mins to simmer

 • Yukon Gold or red potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash or pumpkin, parsnips, and turnips.

Soft & Quick-Cooking Veggies

Add mid-to-late, 5–10 mins to simmer:

 • Zucchini or yellow squash, green beans, corn kernels, cauliflower or broccoli florets, and sliced bell peppers.

Leafy Greens

Add in the final 1–2 minutes

 • Baby spinach, Lacinato or curly kale (ribs removed), Swiss chard, or green/Savoy cabbage.

Extras for Body & Protein

Canned or cooked chickpeas, cannellini beans, kidney beans, or small pasta/rice will depend on if they are fully cooked. I am known for adding in small amounts of leftover meats, like chicken and ham on day two of the soup, just to keep changing it up.

Of course, you’ll need a broth to add another layer of flavor, your choice—broth or stock. And I go into the differences in my Souper Soup Tips.

Very Veggie Soup Recipe

You can keep the broth clear by adding an herb sachet and not add tomatoes, and making sure to rinse any beans you add.

Ingredients:
1-2 onions or leeks (white only for soups) diced
2-3 cloves garlic crushed
2 Tbsp dried (or 4 fresh) herbs combined sage, parsley, thyme, oregano, basil, bay leaf
(add cayenne if you want a kick)
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
Up to 2 cups shredded zucchini
8 cups veggies total:
Up to 2 cups each chopped potatoes, carrots, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli
Up to 1 cup each peas, sweet corn, tomatoes, celery
1-2 tsp salt (start with 1 and taste)

Directions:
Sauté onions and garlic, and then use the “Bloom” method from above with your choice of dried herbs/spices. Sizzle any veggies that won’t get too overdone, add your broth/stock and tomatoes, potatoes and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add remaining veggies (green beans broccoli etc.) and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

If you want to bulk up this soup even more, add in some barley, quinoa, brown rice, or even noodles. Or save your carbs for a slice of toast.

This soup lasts in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, can be frozen. I especially like the 1 cup Souper Cubes for this.

Get your Slurp on,
Michelle

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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

Bone marrow is something many of us have forgotten about, but it is rich in nutrients like collagen and glucosamine. The fat tissue in bone marrow contains a hormone called adiponectin. This hormone helps break down fats. It can help maintain insulin sensitivity, and it has been linked to lower risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other obesity-associated cancers. But this is an ingredient that is best in moderation. And even though it has been showing up in high-end restaurants as its own menu item, it’s easier for most of us to incorporate in soups.

How Ham Bone Marrow Affects Soup

• Richer Broth: Simmering the bone melts the marrow and extracts collagen, turning a simple water or broth base into a velvety, full-bodied stock.
• Smoky and Savory Depth: The marrow carries residual curing salts, smoke, and pork flavor that season the entire pot, often reducing the need for extra salt.

Best Practices for Cooking to Release Bone Marrow

• Low and Slow: Simmer the ham bone on low heat for at least 3 hours (or up to 10–12 hours in a slow cooker) to fully extract the flavor and collagen without boiling away all the liquid.
• Skim the Fat: If the broth looks overly greasy after chilling or long simmering, let it cool so the rendered fat solidifies at the top and can be easily scooped away.
• Pair with Hearty Ingredients: Marrow-infused ham stock works best with staple base ingredients beans, potatoes, and leafy greens.

This can be a salty soup depending on the saltiness of the ham, so be sure to taste before adding any salt. This is a version of my mother-in-law’s family recipe- Hi Claudia!

I’ve made this with both brown and red lentils. Did you know the red lentils are really just brown lentils that they’ve removed the hull and usually split in half. That’s why red lentils tend to get mushy, they don’t have any skin to hold them together. I prefer brown lentils for this recipe, but you can use other lentils, beans, and/or peas- just make sure to simmer them long enough to way be past al dente.

Ham + Lentil Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
Ham bone with some ham still on it
1 diced onion
3-4 garlic cloves, sliced
2 cups dry lentils, rinsed (brown or red)
2 cups shredded zucchini (frozen or fresh)
1 diced green pepper (frozen works too)
4-5 celery ribs sliced (frozen works too)
1 Tbsp mustard- (prepared yellow or dry mustard + vinegar- 1 Tbsp each)

Directions:
*If there’s any good white fat on your leftover ham, save a bit before you simmer the ham bone to sauté the onions and garlic later.

• In a large stock pot, cover with water and simmer that ham bone as long as you can; MANY hours, like most of a day. Just give yourself time to let the meat left on it cool off before trying to pull off the bone (ask me how I know).
• Run the broth through a fine sieve to catch the unappealing bits, like cartilage, set aside.
• With the juice in a bowl and the ham on a plate waiting to be picked clean, start the onions and garlic sauteing for 5 minutes.
• Then add in the rinsed lentils, adding back in the broth and mustard
• Simmer until lentils are soft, 30-40 minutes.
• Add the celery and green peppers for the last 10-15 minutes.
• Pull off any remaining ham from the bone and add in to heat fully.

This is killer with a toasted rustic multi grain bread and Swiss cheese!

Slurp it up!
Michelle

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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.

I love using locally raised pork sausage in this recipe. And luckily I know two farmers that meet my standards for raising high quality meats. I usually buy from either  Gilbertson’s Farm or Pampered Pork. Raised with love, and hormone and antibiotic free. You really can taste the difference.

I prefer getting the pre-seasoned Italian sausage from my farmers because they skip a lot of the unwanted preservatives and MSG. But in a pinch I’ll use some of their regular pork sausage and add my own seasoning.

DIY Italian Sausage Seasoning Mix (per 1 to 2 pounds of pork)

• Fennel seed: 1/2 to 1 teaspoon (crushed or coarsely ground—this is the key spice that defines Italian sausage)
• Garlic powder: 1 teaspoon
• Dried oregano: 1 teaspoon
• Dried basil: 1 teaspoon
• Black pepper: 1 teaspoon
• Paprika: 1/2 to 1 teaspoon
• Salt: 1/2 to 1 teaspoon (adjust depending on whether your regular sausage is already salted)
• Red wine vinegar: 1 to 2 tablespoons (optional, adds an authentic tang)
• 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes to make it hotter

So now that we have the meat and veggies figured out, let’s put it all together and serve up big flavor for a small bill.

Very Veggie Zuppa Toscana Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
16 oz Italian pork sausage
1 onion diced
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
3 medium russet potatoes sliced thin
½-1 bell pepper chopped
1 C cooked white beans (Cannellini, navy or even chickpeas work)
½ -1 zucchini chopped or shredded (frozen works)
1-2 tomatoes chopped (frozen works)
1 big bunch of kale (frozen works)
24 oz stock or broth
1 C milk
Cream to drizzle into bowls
Parmesan to garnish
Salt + white pepper/red pepper flakes

Directions:

• In a large stock pot sauté onion and sausage, adding minced or crushed garlic towards the end.
• Remove and set aside onion and sausage draining most of the fat.
• Add stock or broth and boil potatoes until for 5-10 minutes.
• Add in remaining veggies and beans (use whatever veggies you have, still fabulous without all of them too) simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add in sausage/onion mix and kale- simmer for 5+ minutes.
• Add milk/cream as you like. (If I’m adding cheese I often skip the dairy.)

I don’t need to add many spices to this one; a little salt + white pepper or red pepper flakes usually does it, to taste after cooking.

This keeps in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. If you want to freeze some of it, keep the dairy out until you are ready to eat.

Sprinkling with parmesan is a delicious bonus. Or try a toasted crusty whole grain loaf and gouda. Or kick it up and add some pesto to your toast.

I’ve got some basics to making the best soups in my Super Soup Tips.

Dig In, this time with a spoon
Michelle

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As always, Nature is in charge. Sometimes weather patterns shift wildly and your first frost dates are weeks earlier or later than last year. Nature loves to keep us guessing.

So, since dates don’t really work for me, but phases of what comes in first, second and third has proved more helpful for me—I’ve gathered my best practices here.

I hope it helps you tackle the end of the season vegetable garden cleanup as well.

Protect Your Potted Plants

Usually, if you’re starting to wonder about what should come in, you should stop what you’re doing and head to the garden to bring in any tender potted plants right away. I have a lemon tree, bay laurel, and some larger rosemary plants all in pots, so they come in once the temps start dropping to 50°F.

Fall is also a great time to build a Hügelkultur or No Dig garden bed!

*As you clean up, consider planting a cover crop if you have 4-6 weeks before your first expected frost.

*All the fall prep that I do considers No Dig Garden Clean Up practices.

Phase 1: Harvest + Remove
(Long Before the First Frost)

Temperature Guide: Consistent nighttime lows around 40°F.

Cut these crops at the soil level completely or harvest all remaining fruit immediately. They have zero frost tolerance and will show damage to plant and fruit/veg overnight if exposed to anything below 35°F.

Tender Herbs:

I usually do a major last harvest of herbs like Basil, Thai Basil, Lemongrass, and Marjoram before the temps drop to below 40°F.

Tender Veggies:

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, green beans, and summer squash/zucchini. Tip: Pull green tomatoes and let them ripen indoors on your counter. Or make fermented Green Tomato Salsa…

Vines & Melons:

Pumpkins, watermelons, summer and winter squash. A light frost will kill the vine, but not usually harm the squash. However, you’re probably not going to get much more growth out of them with lower light levels. Cut with a few inches of stem left. Remember to cure winter squash indoors in a sunny, warm (80°F), well-ventilated space for long-term storage.

Invasive/Diseased Debris:

Pull any weeds that have gone to seed so they don’t sprout next spring. If any tomato or vine crops suffered from blight or powdery mildew, burn or bag them up and discard them. Do not compost diseased plants in home compost bins unless you really keep your compost cooking (over 140°F for 3 days), which is hard to do as winter temperatures are setting in here.

Phase 2: Leave & Protect
(During Hard Frost/ Light Freeze)

Temperature Guide: Nighttime lows dipping to 28°F to 32°F.

Many cool-season vegetables actually taste better after a light frost. The cold triggers a defense mechanism where starches convert into sugars, acting as natural antifreeze and leaving your cold hardy plants sweeter for the experience.

What to Leave Without Protection:

Kale, Swiss chard, collard greens, leeks, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and broccoli. Kale can easily survive down to 20°F without protection.

Root Vegetables:

Carrots, beets, parsnips, rutabagas, and turnips can be kept in the ground; they will hold beautifully as long as the soil itself isn’t frozen.

How to Protect:

If you want to keep harvesting salad greens (spinach, lettuce, arugula), cover them with a floating row cover, or pop up low tunnels on nights when temperatures drop below 32°F. Full how to information in my article Season Extension: Garden + Harvest into Winter.

Phase 3: Final Dig & Soil Prep
(Before the Ground Freezes)

Temperature Guide: Before a Hard Freeze (below 25°F) solidifies the soil.

Dig or Insulate:

Harvest all remaining root vegetables (carrots, parsnips) unless you want to try to overwinter them. I have successfully done this by adding around a foot of dry straw over carrots, then adding some garden plastic (same as I use for low tunnels) over that and securing it in. This way I get amazingly sweet and crunchy carrots just as the ground thaws in spring, usually March in my Zone 4 area. If left to freeze in the ground without additional insulation, they will become impossible to dig out and will rot during the spring thaw.

Plant Next Year’s Garlic:

Mid- to late-October is the perfect window to plant your hardneck garlic cloves in Minnesota. Read more in my full article on Growing Great Garlic.

Place Next Spring’s Structures:

If you plan to get a jump start on planting next spring, place your hoops this fall. Being able to pound in stakes and maybe even place the PVC hoops for next year’s low tunnels now will get you a step ahead. I do not recommend putting plastic up over the PVC as our winter usually has lots of snow, melting ice, etc. that will destroy the plastic and hoops.

Feed and Tuck In the Soil:

Try not to leave Zone 4 soil bare over winter—the harsh winter winds and snowmelt cause major erosion and nutrient loss. You have a few options here. Spread a 2- to 3-inch layer of compost over your cleaned beds. Or, top it with a thick blanket of shredded leaves or clean straw mulch. Or, if you have 4-6 weeks before freezing plant a cover crop to keep living roots in the ground, feeding the soil life longer into the winter.

Hoses & Irrigation:

Disconnect, drain, and roll up all garden hoses. Turn off the outdoor water valve and drain the spigots to prevent burst pipes.

Containers:

Empty ceramic, terra-cotta, and fabric pots. You can toss extra soil on top of garden beds that didn’t get a layer of compost, mulch or cover crops too. Freezing soil expands and will likely crack rigid pots. Store them upside down in a garage or shed.

FAQs for Fall Garden Cleanup

Q: When should I start my fall garden cleanup?
A: Depend on what you’re growing and how frost tolerant the plants are. I have a great guide for low temps plants can handle on Pinterest.

Q: What is typically included in a fall cleanup?
A: Everything from cutting away dead annuals and raking leaves (but keep on site to give overwintering insects a habitat) to adding compost and mulch to increase soil health.

Q: What plants should not be cut down in the fall?
A: Perennials do not need to be cut down in the fall, but annuals should be. Even though we used to clean up a lot more perennials in the fall, now we know that many of our pollinator friends use the stems of perennials to overwinter in.

Taking these fall garden cleanup steps in the right order will help you tackle jobs as needed, and set you up for a great start to next spring.

Plus you’ll be able to enjoy those latest of fall harvests—maybe even into winter!

Peas, Michelle

The post Fall Garden Cleanup: A Phase-by-Phase Schedule for Your Vegetable Garden appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

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.

Preserving Zucchini & Summer Squash

We’ve all been gifted a baseball-bat-sized zucchini that we didn’t know what to do with, or have that one plant that just won’t stop…

The Best Way to Preserve: Shredding and Freezing

• How to do it: Grate your zucchini using a box grater or food processor. Squeeze out the excess moisture with a clean kitchen towel, measure it out into portions you use for baking or cooking, and freeze it in bags. As winter drags on, you will have the perfect pre-measured amounts ready for baking zucchini bread, dropping into soups, or mixing into pasta sauces. This is my favorite way to thicken soups and sauces.

Preserving Bell Peppers

Peppers are fantastic because they require almost zero effort to save before the first frost hits.

The Best Way to Preserve: Freezing

• How to do it: Unlike most vegetables, bell peppers don’t need to be blanched (scalded in boiling water) before freezing. Just wash them, chop them into fajita strips or dice them, spread them on a baking sheet to freeze solid (called IQF or Individual Quick Frozen), and then dump them into a freezer bag. They are perfect for winter stir-fries, soups, and fajitas. If you’re feeling fancy, roast them first for extra flavor.

Preserving Tomatoes

Tomatoes are the crown jewel of the summer garden, but they turn mushy fast. The method to preserve tomatoes depends on how much time you have.

The Best Ways to Preserve: Freezing or Canning

Preserving Cucumbers

When cucumbers start producing, they don’t stop. Since they are mostly water, they do not usually freeze well; however, my friend Crystal has cracked the code on freezer pickles.

The Best Way to Preserve: Pickling

• How to do it: You don’t even need special canning equipment for this. You can make “refrigerator pickles” by slicing them up and packing them into jars. Here’s a basic recipe: 1 cup water, 1 cup vinegar, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar + spices. Bring to a simmer, then pour over sliced cucumbers and refrigerate. They will stay crunchy and delicious in the fridge for months. If you want them to last on a pantry shelf, you will need to give them a hot water canning session; follow trusted recipes from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
• Fermenting pickles is another way to preserve cucumbers while adding to the nutrient value. For this kind of pickling, you’ll mix salt and water (always about 2 cups water to 1 Tbsp of kosher/sea salt. Here’s a link to my basic fermented pickle recipe.
• Freezer pickles from Crystal at Wholefed Homestead – this recipe is only available in her book, Freeze Fresh, and it is so worth it!

Preserving Green Beans

Green beans give you a massive yield. Because they are a low-acid vegetable, you can’t safely can them in a regular water bath without a pressure canner.

*Remember, you can leave them on the vine to fully mature and dry, giving you dried beans and/or seeds for the next season too.

The Best Way to Preserve: Blanching and Freezing, Water Bath Canning, or Pressure Canning
*Sorry, I couldn’t choose just one way.

• How to do it:
• Freezing: The easiest is freezing! Snap the ends off, leave them whole, or chop them into bite-sized pieces, and steam or boil them for just 3 minutes. Immediately dunk them in ice water to stop the cooking, dry them off, and freeze them in freezer bags. This keeps them bright green and snappy.
  
• Water Bath Canning: Dilly beans are a great option. Adding vinegar and pickling green beans adds enough acidity to make water bath canning a safe and shelf stable option. Follow my recipe for delicious crunchy dilly beans.
  
• Pressure Canning: You’ll want to have a LOT of green beans to make presure canning green beans worth it. But the result is shelf-stable beans that last for years and taste like my childhood. They are a little softer than frozen, but also keep more of their flavor this way.

Other Options for Preserving Vegetables

Some vegetables do well with cold storage in your refrigerator or in a cool pantry once cured. For root crops, just make sure to let them dry enough to brush off most of the dirt, then cure them for long-term storage.

Curing + Storing

Potatoes:

Place potatoes in a dark, cool, and well-ventilated area (45 to 60°F) with high humidity for 1 to 2 weeks. Store them in complete darkness inside breathable containers like burlap sacks, paper bags, or ventilated boxes in a cold, dark basement or root cellar, or sometimes an attached garage, kept at 38°F to 45°F while using over winter. These want the coolest and dampest of the root crops.

Onions:

Spread onions in a single layer in a warm, dry, and well-ventilated spot out of direct sunlight for 2 to 3 weeks. Then cut off withered tops and store in breathable containers like mesh bags, wire baskets, or wooden crates in a cool, dark, and dry area around 45°F to 55°F.

Squash:

Leaving at least 1 inch of stem while harvesting, lay them out in a warm, dry, and well-ventilated location (75 to 85°F) for 1 to 2 weeks. Store in a cool, dry, and well-ventilated space like a basement or cool spare room between 50°F and 55°F.

Cold Storage

Finding the right spot in your refrigerator for carrots, beets, apples, and cabbages can help you keep them for months rather than weeks.

Preserve Vegetables Your Way

By understanding how different foods lose freshness, we can reduce food waste and eat more food we preserved ourselves! But preserve vegetables the way you know you and your family will enjoy them the most. I hope these ideas for preserving vegetables help you enjoy more local food all year long!

Enjoy!
Michelle

The post The Best Ways to Preserve Garden Vegetables: My Top 5 appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

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.

This is a recipe that exists to fill a very specific time frame: when the garden is still giving you boatloads of zucchini, but fall is in the air… you haven’t made it to an apple orchard yet, and those first apples are so perfectly crisp and crunchy you couldn’t imagine baking them… that is when this recipe is perfection.

I’ve also baked mock apple crisp in my Ninja tabletop toaster oven so it didn’t heat up the house. Fabulous for end-of-summer transitioning to fall flavors.

Mock Apple Crisp Recipe

Ingredients

Zucchini Filling

• 6 cups chopped zucchini
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1+½ Tbsp lemon juice
• ¼  tsp nutmeg
• ¼  tsp ginger
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1+½ tsp cream of tartar
• 1 pinch of salt
• ¾ C granulated sugar (can use up to half brown sugar)

Crisp Topping

• ¾ C packed brown sugar
• ¾ C flour
• ¾ C oats (can grind in blender for smoother consistency)
• ½ C cold butter

Instructions

Prepare zucchini. For all but the smallest zucchini, peel and remove seeds, chop into apple-sized chunks.

Place the 6 cups of chopped zucchini with a dash of water into a deep skillet and cook for 10 minutes, letting chucks start to turn translucent. Drain completely; I usually pour it into a strainer. Then add the cooked zucchini back into the skillet (or a bowl) and add flour, lemon juice, and the rest of the filling ingredients and mix well.

Pour into your pan of choice. A 9” pie pan or a 2 quart (7”x11”) baking dish work great.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix together crisp topping ingredients. Cutting in the butter with a pastry cutter/blender makes this step easier.

Add crisp topping to cover the mock apple filling.

Bake for 45 minutes until the zucchini is cooked and the top is golden and bubbly.

Wait for it to cool, and dig in. I mean, it resembles apple crisp so closely that there are literally no hints in the appearance that this is actually zucchini!

Happy hanging onto summer, friends!

Dig In,
Michelle

The post Mock Apple Crisp Recipe: Using Zucchini appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

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.

Planting biodiversity leads to beauty above ground along with welcoming diversity below ground. Plants release different chemicals in the soil around the roots (the rhizosphere) specifically to attract different microorganisms—thus shaping their surrounding soil ecosystem. Diverse planting also grows the most beautiful gardens, so it’s a win-win.

I have you covered too, if you want to focus on flowers for companion planting.

Stronger Soil

Soil health depends on a long history combined with what’s currently growing and decomposing in any area. But when we treat it well, the health of the soil continues to improve, becoming truly resilient. One of the big players in plant health are mycorrhizae, you may have seen these fine white webbing threads under wood chips, they’re the fungal hyphae that connect plant roots to more nutrients in the soil.

They form symbiotic relationships with plants, responding to their requests for specific nutrients. Mycorrhizae mine these nutrients from much further away than plant roots can, bringing the nutrients back to the plant in return for carbohydrates—thanks to plants’ ability to photosynthesize. Knowing these yards of networked fungi are gathering nutrients under the soil is another reason to minimize soil disturbance with No Dig practices.

But fungi aren’t the only biology living in the soil. There are over 10,000 identified species including fungi, bacteria, algae, nematodes, protozoa, algae, spring tails and earth worms. They each have their own jobs to do while working together in way more eloquent way than our understanding of NPK comprehends.

The soil ecosystem is a busy place, teeming with around 1 billion of these microscopic organisms per teaspoon. Most of these microbes are also in constant communication, releasing and absorbing chemicals and electrical impulses to convey needs and distress signals.

Dr. Suzanne Simard’s research of carbon exchange between Fir and Birch trees was published in Nature. And the editor’s of Nature magazine coined the term, “wood wide web.”

Weed Suppression

Keeping the soil covered is one of the basic tenets of good soil health. Covering it in specific ways can also greatly reduce weed pressure. You can use natural resource competition to drown out weeds. Try planting a little more densely to encourage shading and crowding out of weed seedlings. You can also cover the soil surface with mulch to keep weed seeds from ever seeing the light of the sun, and therefore never germinating. You can also use specific cover crops like oats that inhibit seed germination to build healthy soil and keep those weeds from sprouting.

Keeping the soil covered with more food plants once the first are harvested is another strategy called succession planting. You can also look at living mulches to stack functions of soil building, bringing in pollinators, carbon sequestration and water management.

Nutrient Accumulators

Vegetables are notorious for being heavy feeders, requiring lots of nutrients from the soil. We’ve been told to add the nutrients back to our soils with bags of specific processed chemicals. But many plants naturally collect more than enough to share with their neighbors.

Using the nitrogen accumulating abilities of legumes like peas, beans and clovers is a good place to start. Through a symbiotic relationship between bacteria (rhizobium) and nodules in the roots they convert atmospheric nitrogen into an ammonia. The roots of legumes form special nodules that collect this converted gas. Next, nitrates are formed, which is then ready to be absorbed by plants.

Accumulating Plant Options

• Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) collects potassium, calcium, and magnesium
• Lambsquarters (Chenopodium album) collects potassium
• Comfrey (Symphytum peregrinum) collects calcium
• Common Nettle (Urtica dioica) collects calcium

Some plants are good at gathering nutrients from deep underground. These are called ‘dynamic accumulators’ because they reach down into the subsoil and draw nutrients up into their stems and leaves. We can then ‘chop + drop’ these stems and leaves, letting them decompose on the soil’s surface, re-releasing the nutrients to other plants.

A Planting Plan

I know I said to be wary of any easy equations for companion planting, but sometimes all this information can get overwhelming. So, I wanted to end with a layered plan to get you thinking in real terms about how this companion planting idea could look in you garden. But remember each space, soil, and gardener is unique, so let your own ideas and favorite plants take center stage.

• Plant tomatoes and half runner beans along a sturdy trellis.
• Plant celery and basil alternately at the base of the beans and tomatoes.
• In front of the celery and basil, plant a thick row of carrots.
• In front of the carrots plant sweet alyssum.
• Add marigolds to the corners of the planting area.

The more we understand plant relationships, the more we can see the genius of nature on display—even without a microscope. The results show in our garden spaces buzzing with life, beautiful harvests, and resilient plants.

Hoping these ideas invite you to plant more companionably.

*Originally published part of this in an article in the Fall 2025 issue of Northern Gardener Magazine. Now awarded the Gold Laurel from Garden Communicators International.

Dig In,
Michelle

The post Companion Planting for Soil Health appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

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.

1. Harvest Often (Almost Every Day!)

August is one of the busiest—and most rewarding—months in the garden. Chances are, you’re picking fresh produce almost every day!

Keep an eye out for:

• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini / summer squash
• Beans
• Peppers
• Basil
• Dill
• Parsley

The more often you harvest, the more many plants will produce. Herbs along with zucchini and beans especially appreciate regular picking, so try not to let them sit too long.

2. Water Deeply and Consistently for a Thriving Garden 

Hot August days can be tough on your garden, so keeping plants well-watered is essential. In normal conditions (not a heat wave) most garden veggies want about an inch of water per week. Having a rain gauge in my garden (ok, like 4 of them) helps me with watering.

A few simple tips:

• Water deeply 2–3 times a week rather than giving plants a little water every day.
• Water early in the morning whenever possible.
• Add or refresh mulch (straw/dried grass clippings) to help the soil stay cool and hold moisture.

If you’re growing in containers, be prepared for daily watering, and don’t forget to add mulch to your containers too.

3. Watch for Garden Pests and Disease

Warm weather means your plants aren’t the only ones enjoying the garden! Warm and humid weather means more chance of early blight, powdery mildew and anthracnose. But catching these early can save some plants, and more harvests for you.

Take a quick look every few days for:

• Aphids on peppers and leafy greens
• Squash bugs and vine borers
• Cabbage loopers and moth larvae on brassicas (those little green guys)
• Cucumber beetles on cucumbers and squash
• Powdery mildew on cucumbers and squash
• Tomato hornworms

Catching problems early makes them much easier to handle before they spread.  For an in depth read look at how I deal with pests in the garden organically.

4. Do a Mid-Season Garden Cleanup

Your garden will be healthier if you clear out finished plants. Most early-season crops are reaching the end of their life. Pruning any yellowing or diseased leaves, especially lower tomato and squash leaves improves airflow. But instead of yanking plants out, roots and all, cut at the soil surface to keep roots in place. Practicing No Dig Gardening at the clean-up stage keeps your soil more active.

Go ahead and cut these spent plants at the soil surface:

• Bolting lettuce
• Peas
• Bush Beans
• Early brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages)

In general, clearing out spent plants makes room for fall crops and helps reduce pests and disease.

Your plants have been working hard all season, and a little extra nourishment can go a long way. Consider adding compost around heavy feeders like tomatoes and squash. Or apply a balanced organic fertilizer if your plants need it, I always like getting a soil test every few years to see where my nutrient levels are at.

5. Plan for Fall: Vegetables to Plant in August

It may still feel like summer, but even in Minnesota there’s still time now to start a few veggies for your fall garden. While I start many of my fall brassicas around the summer solstice (we have a shorter rowing season up here in MN) there’s still time for some quick maturing veggies.

In our zone 4/5 growing zones, at the beginning of August you can still direct sow:

• Lettuce
• Arugula
• Spinach
• Turnips
• Radishes
• Cilantro
• Beets

All of these can be directly sown. The greens you can starts them indoors for transplanting later if you prefer, or start them in pots in the shade outside.

6. Enjoy and Preserve Your Harvest

This is the month when your hard work really starts paying off—and sometimes there’s more produce than you can eat fresh. You can always give to neighbors or food shelves, but preserving the harvest is part of the fun of growing your own food. And don’t forget that seeds for next year are part of the harvest as well!

A few ideas:

• Freeze tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and berries – these do not need to be blanched first
• Freeze, beans, corn, kale – after blanching.
• Pickle using water bath canning is a great way to make zucchini relish, dilly beans and so many other treats that make great gifts.
• Preserving herbs by drying, freezing and other ways keeps you enjoying them all winter long.
• Saving flower seeds and vegetable seeds

Preserving just a little now means you’ll get to enjoy your garden long after the growing season ends.

August is all about finding the balance between harvesting today’s bounty and getting ready for the fall garden, and even next season. With a list of August garden tasks like regular harvesting, consistent watering, and a little TLC, your garden can keep producing well into fall.

Most importantly, take a moment to savor your garden, weeds and all. When I take a moment to remember that a few months ago, this was mostly bare, frozen soil, it helps me appreciate it, weeds and all.

After months of planting, watering, and tending your garden, this is the time to revel in all that hard work—and maybe savor a few sun-warmed tomatoes right off the vine, too.

Peas,
Michelle

The post August Organic Garden Checklist: Keep Your Garden Thriving appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) sometimes called catmint as it is in the mint family, is probably best known as a stimulant for cats, inducing euphoria and friskiness. Interestingly, its action in humans is exactly the opposite.

While I’ll add a few flowers to a general calming tea, or an herbal bath sachet, one of my favorite uses for this plant, flowers and all is in an Herbal Bug Spray.

The herbal bug spray recipe is detailed below.

Growing Catnip in Your Garden

Easily grown in a sunny garden (if safe from free-roaming cats who will roll over it and kinda trample it into submission), catnip is a perennial in the mint family that produces a considerable harvest in just one season with flowers that attract butterflies and other important pollinators. Harvest leaves and flowers just when they begin to bloom, shade-dry thoroughly, and store away from light and heat for upcoming cold and flu seasons.

Catnip’s Herbal Properties

Lemony-minty tasting and smelling something of ‘ditch weed’ but in the best possible way… catnip is a cooling, gentle, and relaxing herbal nervine, mellow enough for children. It has been shown to soothe things like hyperactivity, colic, fever, constipation, stomachache, and insomnia.

Catnip also helps relax the smooth muscles of the intestines and is an anti-catarrhal (which dissolves and prevents formation of mucus and prevents mucus membrane inflammation).

Is Catnip an Effective Natural Mosquito Repellent?

Catnip contains a naturally occurring compound called nepetalactone. Instead of merely masking your scent, nepetalactone actively irritates insect receptors upon contact, which causes them to flee.

Researchers in Uganda, where malaria poses life threatening risks, tested lotions containing either 2% or 6% catnip oil against a commercially available lotion containing 15% DEET. During evening field trials in, volunteers applied one of the lotions to their skin before researchers counted the number of mosquitoes that landed on their legs.

The 6% catnip lotion performed as well as the DEET product, while the 2% formula offered nearly the same level of protection.

The project was designed with affordability in mind. Commercial mosquito repellents are often too expensive for many rural families in Uganda, making regular use unrealistic despite the risk of malaria.

I like that something I’ve seen work is being tested and proven effective, and that we can make this ourselves. Harvesting time can affect potency so do pay attention to some basic harvesting tips.

The Uganda research team developed a lotion that can be produced locally using catnip grown in the region.

You too can make your own HIGHLY effective bug spray with wild catnip growing in your yard or foraged nearby.

When I start noticing mosquitoes in the garden, I’ll just rip off a few leaves from the nearest catnip plant and rub some onto my exposed skin. This works great for a short time, but when I don’t have a catnip plant nearby, like when at the baseball or football field or for a longer lasting effect, I make the spray below.

How to Make Catnip Bug Spray

Step 1: Make the Catnip Tincture

Just like with making herbal salves, making this bug spray is a two-part process: making the catnip tincture, and then making the full bug spray by adding to the tincture.

Crafting herbal tinctures makes me feel a little witchy in the very best way. I learned ages ago from a wonderful neighbor (thanks Tory), and then many library books –remember when we had to go to the library to check out books to learn things!?

Funny Memory* I had to get special permission from my parents to play with Vodka as a teenager!

When I want to reference herbal concoction making today, I go to the Mountain Rose herbs or Herbal Academy websites.

Making tinctures is simple, but a specific process. And you have to wait for the alcohol to draw out the goodness from the herbs. Waiting is always the hardest part.

Step 2: Make the Natural Bug Spray

1. Gather your herbs, and let them wilt overnight to avoid any possibility of extra moisture in the leaves or blooms, it also gives any tiny bugs some time to move on out
2. Then I remove flowers and leaves from the stems, chop and add to a glass jar.
   Fill 2/3 full
   Cover with 80-90 proof Vodka. You can use a different alcohol; I just find Vodka easy and consistent to work with.

Make sure the herbs are fully submerged, tightly cover and give the bottle a good shake.

• Keep it in a cool dark place and shake daily/regularly for 4-8 weeks. (But sometimes you forget that jar in the pantry for an extra month… it happens).

• Then you can strain out the now infused alcohol. You’ll want to get a cheesecloth or jelly bag set over a glass jar set with a funnel. Then pour into the cloth, let drip through and then to get all the remaining goodness out, squeeze away!
  
  
• You can then move this into a smaller glass bottle and you, my friend, have made a tincture.

I prefer to keep tinctures in amber/dark colored glass. I have found these amber glass spray bottles work great.

Homegrown Bug Spray Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 oz catnip tincture
2 oz witch hazel

You can stop there and find big relief from bug bites. But if you want wider protection, or a better smell you can add essential oils.

Adding roughly 10-20 drops of lemon eucalyptus, lemongrass, lavender, citronella or lemon essential oil is adequate for the 4 oz. of bug spray mixture.

Catnip FAQ

Does catnip come back every year?

Catnip is a perennial so yes, it does come back ever year. Most stands of Nepata will last for many years, and it does spread via seeds if you leave the seed heads to fully ripen.

Does catnip repel mosquitoes?

Some really intense research has been done in Uganda and has proven it to be as effective as Deet.

Give This Catnip Bug Spray a Try

Growing catnip is one of the easiest wins in the garden. It comes back year after year, the pollinators love it, and it does double duty as a natural mosquito repellent. Between the science backing up nepetalactone and my own experience of ripping off a leaf and rubbing it on before I head outside, I’m convinced this is one of those old-school remedies that actually holds up.

If you’ve already got catnip growing (or spot some wild patches nearby), you’ve got everything you need to make your own tincture and bug spray. And if you’re new to growing it, it’s a forgiving plant to start with. Check your yard first before buying starts, because it has a habit of showing up uninvited once it’s happy somewhere.

Catnip isn’t the only plant in my garden doing  pest control duty, either. Lemongrass, lavender, and citronella all pull similar weight. There are so many other benefits to the common herbs growing all around us. Read more about my favorite plant friends in Harvesting, Preserving + Using Herbs.

Let me know if you try this DIY insect repellent or have other favorite ways to use catnip!

Peas, Michelle

The post Growing Catnip: Natural Mosquito Repellent + DIY Bug Spray appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.