I love chicken soup. In the winter, I break my “I hate to cook” rule to make CS about twice a month, a big, big pot of it that will last about a week. It’s a simple recipe I got from some Web site almost a decade ago. When I’m feeling particularly ambitious, I go all the way and make the matzoh balls, too. (The picture at right is just representative: In fact, I hate cooked carrots, so they never go into the pot.)

Today I wasn’t feeling that ambitious, so no matzoh balls. To start with, I had to finish two of our syndicated pet-care pages today so I can go out of town later this week. And then, I started the day early with a trip to the farmer’s market, where I got all kinds of really wonderful fresh food for me and for the animals.

The farmers market is best in the fall. The greens they have now are my favorites, because they remind me of my time living in the South. All winter long there you see people with their pick-up beds on the roadsides, full of fresh greens, cheap as can be. And they’re good for you! (Unless you cook them in lard, that is.)

Many of the greens I buy end up in my diet “second-hand,” since I give them to the chickens and they come back to me as fresh eggs. Today, I left the market with great big bunches — mustard, collard, even sweet potato greens — enough for the whole week for less than $5. And I got sweet potatoes, too, which the dogs and I eat a lot. (Favorite dog dinner: mashed sweet potatoes, steamed kale/dandelion greens and either canned salmon or fresh cottage cheese.) I also got some lovely winter squash!

Summer veggies, too, the last of the corn and tomatoes. I think I hurt myself getting it all back to the car, and I didn’t spend more than $30 for all.

Some of it went into the soup. Some of it went straight out to the chickens. Some of it to the dogs and the rest into the fridge. Tonight it was a bit of a mash-up for the dogs: Steamed, mashed sweet potatoes and yams, some leftover chicken and beef, steamed greens, barley and some blueberries, with fresh chicken broth to mix. Oh yeah, and some water-packed sardines, which they shared with the cats. Everyone ate well.

And me … I’m having some of that soup, in just a few minutes.

But not before I mention Maureen, one of those people I “know” through the Internet. She has a wonderful dog named Sam, who helped raise her children and is now approaching his 20th birthday. You read that right — 20! Maureen has fed him her own dog-food recipe all his life — Sam’s Healthwise Raw Food Cakes, she calls them — and although it’s just one dog and one dog’s life, you can’t argue with how well it has all worked out. Today on Twitter, she mentioned she was preparing her Sam recipe, and graciously again shared it with everyone. Check it out.