WOODSPLITTER SOUP

Back in nineteen eighty something on the little family farm in the back woods of Embden, Maine, I hit the age of twelve and started growing at an alarming rate. I shot up six inches that year and shot out that much at the shoulders. My Granddad, strong, wiry, and comparatively small, looked at me one day and said something along the lines of, "Bobby, you're done splitting wood with an axe." Sounded great. But he continued. "We're going to get you an eight-pound maul."

Doh.

In my later teens, I could split a cord of wood with a maul in an afternoon. By hand. I know what it's like to split wood by hand all day, though, to be fair, I didn't do it every day. In fact, mostly I split wood after school from time to time. Don't let me make it sound worse than it was. Heck, I even liked splitting wood. Not so much anymore.

This soup I invented is in honor of splitting wood with my dad and my granddad. I learned a lot with them at the splitting block and would give most anything to spend that kind of time with them again. Except I'd let my own sons do the splitting.

Ingredients

• Two quarts chicken broth

• A few large potatoes

• 1# of carrots

• 1 onion

• 1 tbsp of your favorite meat rub. I use pork rub.

• A sprinkle of thyme

• Dab of bacon fat (or butter, if you prefer.)

• 1# butternut squash, peeled and diced.

• 1# kielbasa

• 1 can kidney beans

• 1 can corn

I cut the kielbasa into 1 inch chunks and then cut the slices the long way, like you're splitting wood. I do that only because it's called Woodsplitter Soup. Cut it however you want.

Put everything from the broth to the bacon fat in a slow cooker on high until veggies start to get softer. Mine takes a couple hours. Add the butternut squash. Continue on high until everything is cooked. Took mine another 30 minutes. Then add kielbasa, beans, and corn. Let go another 5-10 minutes until those last ingredients get hot. Serve.

Better yet, let the kids serve themselves.