Vegetable soup recipe, politics and baby lambs

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: We've had a wicked cold snap, down in the single digits, and Lord knows why but that's when the lambs want to be born. Every morning a new mom that needs a little extra love. I take her to the stall with the best bedding...I call it "the spa." And this is also when the General Assembly files all it's bills, when the new D.C. administration seeks solutions and when classes start at my college. So that's what the last couple of days have been about. For the eaters on the place, we've survived on greens from the greenhouse, bread from the freezer, and vegetable soup. My personal recipe depends on tomatoes canned last summer, but you can use tomatoes from the store if you promise to do some canning next year. THE BEST VEGETABLE SOUP YOU'VE EVER HAD: 1 quart home-canned tomatoes 1 quart broth--from roasting a chicken, turkey, beef, ham, lamb. If you don't have any broth available, you can mix up some bullion or use 1/2 cup soy sauce and 3 and a half cups water. 1 and 1/2 quart of vegetables. You'll need 16 kinds of vegetables in any proportion, cut up into soup-size pieces 1/8 cup fresh herbs of any kind, snipped into small pieces No salt or pepper--let the eaters add that if they want it, but they probably won't. This cooks pretty fast, like in about a half hour on simmer. BUT when I say 16 vegetables, that's the law. You can use potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, beans of any kind, onions, corn, okra, cooked grains, spinach or other greens (beet tops, turnip greens and so forth), any leftovers, dehydrated veggies or bits from the freezer. Every summer, I freeze any odds and ends that come my way, including a few weeds--purslane, henbit, chickweed, dandelion greens, and I sneak them into the soup. If it looks a little sparse when you're ready to eat, toss in 1/4 cup of noodles or macaroni for the last 15 minutes of cooking. This recipe makes 8 to 10 servings, depending on who shows up at the table.