Warm Potato Soup from the Pantry

Cold settles differently on a farm. It doesn’t stop when you step indoors. After tending animals, checking fences, and walking past sleeping lavender fields, you can still feel it deep inside. That’s when soup matters.

This potato soup comes from how we live and cook at Garden Gate Farms. It’s built around what we already have stored - potatoes and onions kept in the pantry, milk we always have on hand, and our own Garden Gate Lavender seasoning salt. No store run is needed.

This is a thick, warming soup. It’s the kind you make when it’s cold outside and you need something that actually carries heat through you.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup butter

• 1 medium sweet onion, chopped

• 2 large garlic cloves, minced

• 6 large potatoes, peeled

• 5 cups milk

• 1 teaspoon Garden Gate Lavender Seasoning Salt

• A small pinch of dried thyme

• 1 cup sour cream
  

Optional toppings: Chopped green onions, shredded cheese, or cooked chopped green beans

How I Make It

I cut bacon or ham into small pieces with kitchen scissors and fry them in a pan with the chopped onion. Cook until the onion is soft. Add the garlic and stir just long enough to release the aroma, then set the pan aside.

Peel the potatoes and boil them in water until they’re cooked through but still holding their shape. Drain and discard the water.

Add the onion mixture to the pot with the potatoes. Stir in the milk, seasoning salt, and thyme. Bring it to a gentle simmer and stir now and then so nothing sticks.

Once everything is hot, use a potato masher to thicken the soup. I like it chunky, not smooth. Stir in the sour cream, let it steam for a minute, and it’s ready to serve.

Top with cheese and green onions if you like.

Potatoes usually need extra salt, so feel free to add salt to taste.

On my farm, potatoes don’t sit on a store shelf - they live in the pantry all winter. This soup comes from that mindset. You use what you’ve grown and stored, and you season it simply. The lavender salt adds warmth without overpowering the soup. It’s steady food for cold days, the kind that makes you feel settled after being outside too long.

Good soup doesn’t need tricks. It needs solid ingredients, a little care, and time at the stove. This one does its job well and that’s why it stays in our kitchen every winter.