Wild Rice and Barley Soup Mix

December came in cold and I was grateful for it. After a fall that felt emotionally complicated at every turn, there's something clarifying about the cold—it asks you to do simple, practical things. Bring in firewood. Check the seals on the windows. Make soup.

I've been making a lot of soup. This week it was a venison and dried corn soup with dried wild onions I'd put up in the fall—a combination that exists somewhere in the long history of what people in this part of the world ate before anyone was writing it down. There's no single recipe for it. You make it the way you were shown, which is the way someone else was shown, which is the way the landscape taught people to use what it offered. I think about that sometimes while I'm cooking it. The lineage of a pot of soup.

Kai has been spending more time at our house lately. His school year is going well—he's reading ahead of his class, which no one is surprised by, and he's made a close friend named Marcus who comes over sometimes on weekends. Kai told me very seriously last week that Marcus had never eaten fry bread before and that he had fixed this problem. I said good work. He nodded like a man who had accomplished something important, which he had.

I'm trying to be more present this winter. Last winter was survival mode. This winter I want to actually be here—for Kai, for Hannah, for the ordinary daily things that matter more than they get credit for. Cook dinner. Take walks. Stay awake past nine for once. The pipeline schedule has me on a stretch of day shifts through January, which helps.

The soup filled the house with warmth and it was enough.

The venison soup carried us through most of the week, but when it was gone I found myself wanting to make something that could live in the pantry — something with the same earthy, slow-cooked spirit that I could reach for on a hard day without much thought. This wild rice and barley soup mix is that kind of thing. Wild rice has always felt like it belongs to the same conversation as the dried corn and wild onions I put up in the fall — grains and greens that come from paying attention to what’s around you. I put a jar of this together for Kai’s teacher too, because December asks us to give what we can.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 1 hr | Total Time: 1 hr 15 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
1/2 cup pearl barley
1/4 cup dried split peas
1/4 cup dried lentils
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
8 cups water or low-sodium chicken broth (when preparing)
1 cup diced carrots (when preparing)
1 cup diced celery (when preparing)

Instructions

Assemble the dry mix. Layer the wild rice, pearl barley, split peas, lentils, dried minced onion, bouillon granules, parsley, garlic powder, thyme, pepper, and celery seed in a clean pint jar. Seal tightly. The mix keeps in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months.
Rinse and soak. When ready to cook, pour the dry mix into a colander and rinse under cold water. For faster cooking, soak in 4 cups of water for 30 minutes, then drain.
Build the soup. In a large pot or Dutch oven, combine the rinsed soup mix with 8 cups of water or chicken broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Add vegetables. Stir in the diced carrots and celery. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 50—60 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the wild rice and barley are tender and the split peas have softened into the broth.
Taste and adjust. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. If the soup thickens more than you like as it sits, add water or broth to loosen it. Serve hot with crusty bread or fry bread alongside.

Nutrition (per serving)

Wild Rice and Barley Soup Mix — The Warmth That Fills a House