“Only the pure of heart can make good soup.” Beethoven once said.
“So Beethoven, You Want Cheese on Your Chili?” I once said.
I love soup. Love, Love, Love it.
I love Halloween. Love, Love, Love it.
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Debbie Bosworth
is a certified farmgirl at heart. She’s happily married to her beach bum Yankee husband of 20 years. She went from career gal to being a creative homeschooling mom for two of her biggest blessings and hasn’t looked back since. Debbie left her lifelong home in the high desert of Northern Nevada 10 years ago and washed up on the shore of America’s hometown, Plymouth, MA, where she and her family are now firmly planted. They spend part of each summer in a tiny, off–grid beach cottage named “The Sea Horse.”
“I found a piece of my farmgirl heart when I discovered MaryJanesFarm. Suddenly, everything I loved just made more sense! I enjoy unwinding at the beach, writing, gardening, and turning yard-sale furniture into ‘Painted Ladies’ I’m passionate about living a creative life and encouraging others to ‘make each day their masterpiece.’”
Rebekah Teal
is a “MaryJane Farmgirl” who lives in a large metropolitan area. She is a lawyer who has worked in both criminal defense and prosecution. She has been a judge, a business woman and a stay-at-home mom. In addition to her law degree, she has a Masters of Theological Studies.
“Mustering up the courage to do the things you dream about,” she says, “is the essence of being a MaryJane Farmgirl.” Learning to live more organically and closer to nature is Rebekah’s current pursuit. She finds strength and encouragement through MaryJane’s writings, life, and products. And MaryJane’s Farmgirl Connection provides her a wealth of knowledge from true-blue farmgirls.
Cathi Belcher
an old-fashioned farmgirl with a pioneer spirit, lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. As a “lifelong learner” in the “Live-Free-or-Die” state, she fiercely values self-reliance, independence, freedom, and fresh mountain air. Married to her childhood sweetheart of 40+ years (a few of them “uphill climbs”), she’s had plenty of time to reinvent herself. From museum curator, restaurant owner, homeschool mom/conference speaker, to post-and-beam house builder and entrepreneur, she’s also a multi-media artist, with an obsession for off-grid living and alternative housing. Cathi owns and operates a 32-room mountain lodge. Her specialty has evolved to include “hermit hospitality” at her rustic cabin in the mountains, where she offers weekend workshops of special interest to women.
“Mountains speak to my soul, and farming is an important part of my heritage. I want to pass on my love of these things to others through my writing. Living in the mountains has its own particular challenges, but I delight in turning them into opportunities from which we can all learn and grow.”
Dori Troutman
Dori Troutman is the daughter of second generation cattle ranchers in New Mexico. She grew up working and playing on the ranch that her grandparents homesteaded in 1928. That ranch, with the old adobe home, is still in the family today. Dori and her husband always yearned for a ranch of their own. That dream came true when they retired to the beautiful green rolling hills of Tennessee. Truly a cattleman’s paradise!
Dori loves all things farmgirl and actually has known no other life but that. She loves to cook, craft, garden, and help with any and all things on their cattle farm.
Mary Murray
describes herself as a goat charmer, chicken whisperer, bee maven, and farmers’ market baker renovating an 1864 farmhouse on an Ohio farm. With a degree in Design, Mary says small-town auctions and country road barn sales "always make my heart skip a beat thinking about what I could create or design out of what I’ve seen.”
Rooted in the countryside, she likes simple things and old ways … gardening, preserving the harvest, cooking, baking, and all things home. While you might find her selling baked goods from the farm’s milkhouse, teaching herself to play the fiddle, or sprucing up a vintage camper named Maizy, you will always find her in an apron!
Mary says, “I’m happiest with the simple country pleasures … an old farmhouse, too many animals, a crackling fire, books to read, and the sound of laughter … these make life just perfect.”
Alexandra Wilson
is a budding rural farmgirl living in Palmer, the agricultural seat of Alaska. Alex is a graduate student at Alaska Pacific University pursuing an M.S. in Outdoor and Environmental Education. She lives and works on the university’s 700 acre environmental education center, Spring Creek Farm. When Alex has time outside of school, she loves to rock climb, repurpose found objects, cross-country ski on the hay fields, travel, practice yoga, and cook with new-fangled ingredients.
Alex grew up near the Twin Cities and went to college in Madison, Wisconsin—both places where perfectly painted barns and rolling green farmland are just a short drive away. After college, she taught at a rural middle school in South Korea where she biked past verdant rice paddies and old women selling home-grown produce from sidewalk stoops. She was introduced to MaryJanesFarm after returning, and found in it what she’d been searching for—a group of incredible women living their lives in ways that benefit their families, their communities, and the greater environment. What an amazing group of farmgirls to be a part of!
Nicole Christensen
Suburban Farmgirl Nicole Christensen calls herself a “vintage enthusiast”. Born and raised in Texas, she has lived most of her life in the picturesque New England suburbs of Connecticut, just a stone’s throw from New York State. An Advanced Master Gardener, she has gardened since childhood, in several states and across numerous planting zones. In addition, she teaches knitting classes, loves to preserve, and raises backyard chickens.
Married over thirty years to her Danish-born sweetheart, Nicole has worked in various fields, been a world-traveler, an entrepreneur and a homemaker, but considers being mom to her now-adult daughter her greatest accomplishment. Loving all things creative, Nicole considers her life’s motto to be “Bloom where you are planted”.
Hey Rebekah! Your vampire soup looks de-lish… might be too pretty to eat! I love your tradition of creating home spun memories of your own with SOUP!I share your love of making soup for certain occasions. When ever we have a guest fly in from various points of the world, I always put on a big pot of homemade chicken soup, complete with honey cornbread and a salad…Our guests always enjoy a warm bowl of soup after a long day of traveling and it’s light on the tummy too! I put on a pot of Chili or we make meat ball subs on Halloween! I’m looking forward to seeing what your farmgirl readers dish up in the way of soup recipes!
Happy Halloween!
Deb
hi,I love Holloween too,its my favorite,Love it that you added all of the beets for color.The Square dancers had a party last fri at Wheatland Mo,witch is about 100 miles from Lamar,but I went and it was simply awsome.They had a hudge iron caldron outdoors that they cooked stew in,and bales of hay all around and paper sacks filled with sand and candles for lights.All of the ladies tryed to out do each other on deserts,and their outfits were dancing outfits made out of Holloween fabrics.with extra ruffles and aprons of different colors of Holloween fabric.It was a fun evening.My favorite childhood memory of Holloween was recieving Betsy McCall paper dolls instead of candy.I don,t have any vegan recipies,but Momma always used a soup bone in her soup,and added barley.There was not much meat in her soup.Have a great day!Carol Branum,themofarmersdaughter.blogspot.com
Rebekah, Thanks so much for sharing the harvest soup recipe. I bought a beautiful pumpkin tureen recently and I’ve been looking for just the right recipe to ‘make & take’ for our Thanksgiving get-together.
In regards to your request for soup recipe suggestions, many folks love potato soup and there are gobs of good recipes. The addition of yummy dumplings or ‘fat’ noodles takes potato soup from being a "comfort food" to much more interesting. I like the firm sort of dumpling…chewy, Spaetzle style. VERY easy to do too – eggs, flour, salt – then drop them in teaspoon size ‘glops’ in the hot soup for about 10 minutes before serving. My mother prefers the soft kind that are like floating raft of biscuits. You drop larger glops of biscuit dough into hot soup until you cannot see liquid. Cover the pot and let the biscuits cook for about 15 minutes – until the tops are dry and done looking. These are good with just about ANY soup or stew. You’ve got your bread and soup in the same pot. Serve it up with a large ladle and include a couple of biscuits in each bowl.
I look forward to checking back to see the other recipes that are sure to come. LOVE soup!
Shery
Funny, just yesterday I was posting about my weekend full of soup making. I had just about the book 400 Soups from Borders and am in LOVE with all the photos. This past weekend’s soup fiesta started with a monster pot of chicken stock, into which I threw all sorts of "exotic" spices. This stock was then turned into a Thai chicken coconut soup that everyone raved about and a huge pot of cream of cauliflower soup, which I am still savoring several days later. I don’t know if I’m allowed to repost the recipes, as they are copyrighted, but they certainly were delish and great options for a Halloween soup party. Enjoy
How about a pumpkin or butternut squash soup? There are many great recipes online. Allrecipes.com has some good ones. Enjoy your party!
Try pumpkin soup. It is rich and almost like a cheese based soup, delicious!
I just made an amazing Potato Leek soup. Here’s the link:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/potato-and-leek-soup-recipe2/index.html.
It does have a little bacon which gives it a great smoky flavor, but I suppose you could omit that. Happy Halloween!
You should do a pumpkin soup for your party. Pretty color and great flavor. I’ve got such an easy recipe too. Saute a chopped onion in 2 tbsp butter. Add 10-oz frozen corn, cook 2-3 minutes. Stir in a 16-oz can of pumpkin, 2 c water, 2 chicken bouillon cubes, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 1/2 tsp salt, a pinch of cinnamon. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook 5 minutes. Add 2 cups half and half. Happy Halloween!
Sounds like a wonderful tradition! My little one is five, so I have the pleasure of being totally into halloween this year. I love your soup idea, and i make a mean chili that goes great with grilled cheese ‘sammiches’ so I think I will borrow your idea so there is a nice hot pot to come home to after all that walking and candy-getting.
Another idea for a soup is a brunswick stew. I am from Brunswick co., VA, and I KNOW how to make a mean stew. I even have a variation that doesn’t require i knife and fork to get through it. Just email me if you’d like the recipe. And thanks again for such a great tradion idea.
Happy Halloween!
Two of MY groups of friends are now making "Group Soup". Each person brings a can of soup (their choice) and we open and heat ALL of them TOGETHER!…sounds awful; tastes terrific!
Cream of Mushroom and cream of turkey with Wild Rice. yum.
Tomato Basil soup or creamy potato soup are the favorites at my house. I usually serve crunchy bread sticks with them. Yum!
My kids are grown but on Halloween we get together for scary movies,not the blood guts and gore kind, but old classics,or scary funny types. We sit and make up dialogue( No, don’t go into the water! for Creature from the Black Lagoon comes to mind.)We have a lot of fun.
The soup and recipe look great!
There’s one I enjoy making for a crowd that is so easy. Brown some smoked sausage (turkey should work fine) and add onion. Put in slower cooker with cans of broth (I use beef, but use what you like) and cans of drained Great Northern beans. Cook on high for one hour, then on low until you are ready to serve. Everyone loves that soup!
Happy Halloween!
Pumpkin puree, of course!!!! As long as the Grand Pumpkin from the Simpsons Halloween Charlie Brown spoof doesn’t find out! Yoiks!
I was about to suggest White Chili, but I agree with the Pumpkin Soup. Since the party is for Halloween, do the Pumpkin Soup and top it with toasted seeds from the pumpkin. Serve it in hollowed out little pumpkins. Have fun!
Good Morning! I am about to make the soup recipe you posted. The ingredients are very unusual I can’t wait to try it. I have a question. What are the greens I see in the picture? Is it the herbs?
Minestrone! I have a family recipe that is out of this world. I’d share, but don’t have time to type it. Perhaps I can email it with an attachment? You’ll do it again and again.
This sounds wonderfully yummy and I will probably be making it before the winter is through. Which here in Michigan is many months of soup. I have just started making a different soup every Monday. Its just myself and hubs and we have to eat it for at least two days if not a little longer and I am using my cookbooks instead of just asking hubs what he wants. Right now I am working my way through every soup in the The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen cookbook. I am saving the Turkey and Wild Rice for the week after Thanksgiving of course. It is too late for a suggestion for your Halloween soup but if your love soup there are a handful of really great ones in the book. I myself am planning on posting some pictures of the soups I have been making in a week or so but of course I cannot post the recipes from such a new book.
Patty, I hope your soup turned out delicious! Those were the beet greens. I chopped them up and added them to the soup. Yum! And so good for you!
I’m way late on this post, but I LOVE split pea soup made from YELLOW split peas. Yes, golden yellow. I found them at our local organic store and I’m in love. It makes the soup less gross-looking to my kids and looks cool with the carrots. 😉
Delicious! I made the soup. So GOOD!