How to Make Stone Soup

Remember the tale of stone soup? A hungry traveler boils up some water with nothing but a rock in it, arousing curiosity with claims that it will soon be a delicious pot of stone soup. One by one, townspeople come by and offer up soup-worthy items (a carrot, a potato, a handful of parsley) to improve this dubious meal. In the end, there is good soup indeed, as well as a whole community gathered to share it.

My friend Gretchen introduced me to the "stone soup potluck" while I was living in DC. It's a communally-concocted pot of soup: Each guest brings a favorite soup ingredient, everyone gets busy chopping and tossing things into the pot, and it always turns out different but delicious. Gretchen had brought the idea with her from Seattle and has since moved on to Austin; now that I'm settled in TC, it seemed the right time to introduce it to yet another state. With winter on the way, soup season here already, and my house put back together sufficiently for guests, I just needed to find out if I know enough people in Traverse City to pull off a potluck.

Turns out I do! And here's the recipe for this particular pot-o-soup, which I will dub Friday the 13th Stone Soup and be thankful that no severed fingers or blenders-gone-mad were involved. (Anyone present for the post-soup conversation is thankful, too.)

1) An hour or so before folks are due to arrive, finish madly mopping floors, vacuuming rugs, and cleaning up the mess left after the plumber's visit earlier in the day. Take stock of what's in the frig. Make stock out of the results: onion, garlic, carrots, celery root greens, parsley and thyme. Dash to Oryana for cornbread ingredients while the stock is simmering.

2) After Robin and Paul arrive with rutabagas and a side of spicy lime coleslaw, and Jon bikes in with some carrots and a potato, head out to the garden with Robin to harvest salad greens in the dark. By moonlight (or garage-light), pick a bowlful of lettuce, arugula, mustard, and mizuna. Return inside to greet Sarah, who has arrived with a basket of bread.

3) Gather the crew of willing workers and equip them with knives. Chop some onions and start them sauteing. Employ Sarah washing salad greens in the just-installed-today laundry sink, while in the kitchen Robin preps carrots and Jon dices his potato.

4) Pile in more veggies - celery root and garlic and, when Colleen and Chris arrive with mushrooms, those too. Add salt. Plop in a few dollops of tomato paste.

5) Strain and add the aforementioned stock. Throw in a few handfuls of Chris and Colleen's barley and set it all a-simmering.

6) Migrate from the kitchen, filled to max capacity, out to the living room to sit by the fire. Say hi to Marty, who has just arrived with an array of farm-fresh veggies from Birch Point CSA.

7) While chopping up some beautiful radishes and turnips for the salad, taste the soup and contemplate what else it might need. Throw in some kale-and-chard balls from the freezer. Snip in a goodly mix of garden herbs (parsley, thyme, oregano). Season with more salt and pepper and cumin and a bit of cayenne.

8) Declare it done and serve it up!

9) Before dinner is quite complete, add some late-arriving heirloom beans from neighbor Michael. And look out as the snoozing Maisie transforms instantly into crazy Maisie with the arrival of her best pal Powell.

10) Conclude with a delicious pumpkin pie, made from scratch with a pumpkin that also hailed from the fields of Birch Point Farm. (Nice work, Marty!) Transition from disturbing talk of mangled body parts to heartening talk of Traverse City politics with our just-sworn-in-this-week mayor. But hold on to your wine glass - here come the dogs, tongues hanging down to their knees after careening around the backyard nonstop since step #9. And throw another log on the fire for one last warm-up before everybody heads out into the chilly night.

Less than a year ago, I was the stranger from the tale, newly arrived in town with a big empty pot. This evening, I sat in a circle of family and friends - cousin plus incipient new family member (arriving in April - stay tuned!), staff from the Conservation District where I volunteer, a local CSA farmer (from the farm where I also volunteer), a mariner who travels the Great Lakes for weeks at a time, a good neighbor and his canine sidekick, and yes, even the mayor! Thanks, everyone, for coming along and adding interesting things to the evolving soup. And I hope there will be many more opportunities to make something terrific out of the chance assortment of ingredients tossed together by the universe!