Split Pea With Ham Soup

Why I Love This Recipe
This is possibly my FAV soup ever. I make it when I have a smoked ham bone leftover. It's creepy looking from a distance, but you move in and it smells like LOVE and SUNSHINE and tastes like really good pea soup. And Sunshine.
Ingredients You'll Need
Olive oil
1 med onion, chopped
1-2 ribs celery, sliced
2-3 carrots, sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt & Black pepper to taste
1 ea fresh sage, marjoram and rosemary sprig, or 1/2tsp dried crushed
Smoked ham bone w/meat, or fresh diced ham meat
1pkg dried split peas
6+c chicken stock
Directions
Sauté onion, celery and carrot in good amount of olive oil in heavy Dutch oven over med heat til sweating and becoming soft, 7-9min. Add garlic and sauté another 3-5min. Salt & pepper to taste, and add herbs. Sauté til aromatic and veggies are beginning to cook through. Add ham bone, peas and 5-6c stock, and stir to blend. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 45min to 1hr, adding stock as needed to keep to your preferred consistency, til peas and carrots are very tender. Remove sprigs and bone (scraping off any Klingons back into soup) before serving.