Design 001 and Stone Soup

We all know the story, ESPECIALLY if you are like me and grew up in the 70's when Marcia Brown's Stone Soup was first published.

Stone Soup, a story long told around Europe, Africa, and finally, America, is basically a story about making something out of nothing.  Typically, the story starts with a beggar who comes into a village where no one wants to feed him, so he declares that he will make " stone soup"....curiosity gets the best of the townspeople, and bit-by-bit, they add their own contributions of carrots, onions, celery,etc., until the whole town, including the clever beggar, is eating.

In Marcia Brown's Stone Soup, the American Civil War version, it is 3 soldiers who come into the village and the story is essentially the same: a feast for all out of nothing.

And thast is exactly what we had today....A feast for all out of nothing.  Dr. Housefield, fearless leader of Design 001 and beyond, challenged us to all bring "stone soup" items: non-food, old, discarded, recycled...whatever.  It just had to be our own ingredients to add to a design challenge soup.

We arrived at class today, everyone holding their media in hand, and headed to the great outdoors with the assignment of creating a 3-dimensional art project that incorporated all of our team's materials.  The challenge was to look at, collectively, what we had to work with, and see what form took shape.

Here, my fabulous team's results:

The ingredients in our stone soup were of delicious varieties: I provided the copper wire, maps, sheet music and frames, and my team members Jenny, Rebeka, Marisa, Ashley, Emily, and Yes brought such treasures as jute, buttons, bottlecaps, construction paper, paint, empty bottles, silly strings, embroidery thread, and a lot of creative energy......

Just for fun, YOU try the real thing.......

Ingredients

• 1 stone, big enough that it won't get lost in the soup (quartz is a good choice because it won't break down in cooking)
• 1 tbsp. butter or vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped fine
• 1 large carrot, cut into coins
• 3 medium red-skinned potatoes (unpeeled, and cut into halves)
• 1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, pressed

• 6 cups chicken broth (or a combination of broth and water)
• 1 medium zucchini, diced large
• 1 medium yellow squash, diced large
• 1/2 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
• 2 cups cooked tubettini or ditalini, or other soup pasta (optional)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Croutons

Instructions

1. The first step is for your child to scrub and wash the stone thoroughly. Then, for an extra cleaning, she can drop it in a pot of water to boil while you prepare the rest of the soup together.
2. In another large pot, melt the butter or heat the oil, then sauté the onion on medium-high for 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in the celery, carrot, potatoes and red pepper, sautéing for 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds, then add in the broth. Using a spoon, fish the stone out of the other pot, add it to the soup and bring to a boil. Add the zucchini, squash, corn and pasta, cooking another 8 minutes or until the zucchini is the desired softness. Season to taste with the salt and pepper. Before serving, sprinkle on the cheese and croutons, then ladle--minus the stone--into individual bowls. Serves 6 to 8.