Spring is the season for regeneration, but it is also the season for she who generates. In April, we honor Mother Earth on Earth Day, then come May, we honor our own respective mothers on Mother’s Day. Gotta love ’em both because without the planet and without your mom, you wouldn’t be here.

The World’s Greatest Mom: Mother Earth

Every year on Earth Day, we suddenly remember, oh, right, the earth is our home, where we’ve been getting room and board. For free. We feel guilty, so we throw parties, and they’re fabulous; but the presents are even better, with people launching new green initiatives every year.

The thing is, whether your community starts a composting program or you make your own pledge to buy and eat local produce at least twice a week, the earth gets it. She doesn’t nag and say why haven’t you called. She’s the world’s greatest mom. You don’t need to take her out for brunch, just show some appreciation, make a little effort.

Making Soup from Stones: It's a Miracle

Jesus, it is said, made wine from water and fashioned loaves and fishes from thin air. The rest of us usually acquire foodstuffs by more conventional means. But for Earth Day, miracles are on the menu. You can help heal the planet, save money, and get a head start on dinner all in one go. I’ll even throw in a story.

One brisk spring morning, a stranger appears in a village (one of your classic plotlines, by the way). The stranger’s looking a little worse for wear and the village not much better. There’s been war, famine, poverty; in fact, all the horsemen of the apocalypse have ridden through, and it’s made the townsfolk a little less than friendly. They suggest the man move along.

“Right away,” he says, “but I’d like to stop for something to eat first.”

“Good luck,” they say. “You won’t be finding any food here.”

He smiles. “No problem. Got everything I need right here. I’m in the mood for stone soup.” He builds a small fire, fills a beat-up pot with water, and drops in what he says is his magic soup stone.

Magic and soup — these are both appealing things to those suffering hardship, and within minutes, the whole ragtag village has assembled to watch.

The man stirs the pot and smiles. “Love a good stone soup,” he says. “But, you know, what really makes it special is a bit of cabbage.”

“Is that right?” One of the villagers produced a sorry-looking head of it.

“Great,” the stranger says. He chops up the cabbage and adds it to the pot. “Thanks for helping me. You’ll have some soup with me when it’s ready, won’t you?”

The villager is thrilled, also hungry.

Another villager asks what else goes into stone soup.

“Carrots are lovely, perhaps an onion, a potato, and I always like to add some greens — just like the kind growing around here.”

Pretty soon the whole village has ponied up a vegetable or two to be chopped up and added to the pot with the magic soup stone. It all comes together to be a rich, life-sustaining soup the entire village can enjoy.

The moral is, we are capable of change, but only by working together. One twirly compact fluorescent bulb will not change the world. But if we all use them, they can help, and create a glow besides. So here is a stone soup for a Mother’s Day for the mother of all.

Mother Earth Day's Special: Stone Soup (No Rocks Required)

Rather than tossing scraps and the odd bits of vegetables left over from cooking, throw them all in a bag – like a gallon-size plastic one. Extra points if you use environmentally friendly reusable bags, available at most natural food stores.

Throw the bag in the freezer. Add scraps to the bag every time you chop fresh herbs, peel an onion, or tear up greens for a salad. Carrot, tomato, and potato peels, green bean tops and tails, stemmy bits of parsley and cilantro, cabbage cores, woody broccoli stems -- everything goes in the bag.

When it’s full and you’ve got an hour or so, it’s broth-making time:

Dump the veggie bits into a soup pot – two gallons or larger.

Add four cups of water, a cup or two more if you’ve reached vegetable scraps mother lode.

Put the lid on the pot, set the burner on high, and let the water come to a boil. Turn off the heat, leave the pot in place for half an hour (or longer), and you are done.

Meanwhile, the veggie bits and hot water will coalesce, producing gorgeous vegetable broth, Known as passive cooking, it may look like you’re doing nothing, but you’re making broth and saving energy, both yours and the electricity or gas necessary to heat the soup. Keeping the lid on means the heat doesn’t escape and does the work for you.

Let the mixture cook, then strain the broth through a sieve or colander into a waiting pot. Vegetable broth can be frozen until you’re ready to use it. Compost cooked and cooled scraps.

Magical Stone Soup (a.k.a. Vegetable Broth): Love, Nutrients, Flavor

Taste varies based on whatever goes into the broth. However, it’s always better than the purchased stuff. There’s no salt unless/until you add it. And you never had to lay out another penny for prepared vegetable broth again.

It’s not a recipe to serve to guests, but you’ll make it a lot, I hope. Use it instead of water to cook whole grains – vegetable broth infuses them with both nutrients and flavor.

Use it as the base for soups and stews, and as the base for a home-cooked Mother’s Day celebration.

©2013 by Ellen Kanner. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher,
New World Library, Novato, CA 94949. www.newworldlibrary.com.

This article is adapted with permission from the book:

Feeding the Hungry Ghost: Life, Faith, and What to Eat for Dinner - A Satisfying Diet for Unsatisfying Times
by Ellen Kanner.

Ellen Kanner believes that if we put in a little thought and preparation, every meal can feed not only our bodies but our souls and our communities as well. Warm, wicked, and one-of-a-kind, Ellen offers an irreverent approach to bringing reverence into daily living — and eating. She presents global vegan recipes that call you to the table, stories that make you stand up and cheer, and gentle nudges that aim to serve up what we’re hungry for: a more vital self, more loving and meaningful connections, a nourished and nourishing world, and great food, too.

About the Author

Ellen Kanner is an award-winning food writer, Huffington Post’s Meatless Monday blogger, and the syndicated columnist the Edgy Veggie. Her work has been published in Bon Appétit, Eating Well, Vegetarian Times, Every Day with Rachael Ray, and Culinate, as well as other online and print publications. An advocate for sustainable, accessible food, she has served on the Miami boards of Slow Food and Common Threads. Visit her website at http://ellen-ink.com/