Why we all need a wonderful, magic soup stone

Crafting, cooking, homemaking - those things that help to make your house a home - are all about the power of attitude and love, combined with seeing the possibilities that exist to make something out of nothing....in other words, having your own wonderful, magic soup stone.  I love the idea of sharing things I have concocted with my soup stone over the years - from recipes to repurposing, from making dinner with whatever I can find in the kitchen to 'making do' with style.


As a child, I remember hearing a wonderful story called Stone Soup; years later, I fell in love with this song by Dr. Hook...written, as so many of their lyrics were, by the brilliant Shel Silverstein......telling a more modern version of that story:


"Hanging from a string in my mama's kitchen, back in the hard time days
Was a little ol' stone 'bout the size of an apple, it was smooth and worn and grey
There wasn't much food in my mama's kitchen, so whenever things got tight
Mama boiled up some water, put in the stone and said "Let's have some soup tonight"


And I swear you could taste the chicken and tomatoes
And the noodles and the marrowbone
But it really wasn't nothing but some water and potatoes
And the wonderful, wonderful soupstone


It had been in the family for a whole lotta years, so we knew it was a nourishing thing
And I remember mama, as she stirred it in the water, and we could all hear her sing
"Its a magical stone and as long as we got it, we'll never have a hungry night
Just add a little love to the wonderful soupstone and everything will be alright"


So it carried us all through the darkening days, 'til finally the sunshine came
And the soupstone started into gathering dust, but it hung there just the same
And ever since then the food's been plenty, but every now and then I find
That mama in the kitchen with the wonderful soupstone, drifts across my mind


And again I can taste the chicken and tomatoes
And the noodles and the marrowbone
But it really wasn't nothing but some water and potatoes
And the wonderful, wonderful soupstone."