Split pea soup with potatoes and dill

Wow!  This might be one of my favorite recipes that I've posted yet.  As I started describing in the last post, this soup was born because I just wanted to cook all the veggies in my fridge at the same time and couldn't focus on one thing.  The potatoes and dill were just begging to be cooked, and with the first chill of fall, they ended up in soup.  I didn't know exactly where it was going while I was making it (so unfortunately, the amount on the liquids and potatoes might be a little off, cause I didn't measure, but they're close.  You'll notice copious tilde use in the ingredient list.)  The flavors are really great, so I encourage you to make this one, especially if you have good potatoes, dill, and parsley hanging around.  It works best if you are completely distracted by cooking other things.

Makes about 1 gallon of soup (8 big servings)

1 T. olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
~3 qts. water
1 lb. of yellow split peas (green would be okay too)
~2 bay leaves
~1 T. Better than Bouillon veggie base 
~1/2 lb. small Yukon gold potatoes, cut up in bite sized pieces (other kinds would be okay, but I LOVED the creamy sweetness of the Yukes)
~1/2 bunch parsley
~4-5 T. fresh dill
~1 c. buttermilk
Salt to taste
optional: chopped chives or green onion to garnish and for extra flavors

1.  Heat olive oil over medium, add in the onion and sautee till soft and just starting to brown (6-8 minutes or so). 
2.  Add water, split peas, bay leaves, BTB.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.  Cook for ~15 minutes.  
3.  Add the potatoes.  Continue to simmer for about another 30 minutes.  Check occasionally towards the end.  You don't want to cook it for so long that the potatoes start to disintegrate.
4.  While simmering, chop up the parsley and dill; I used the food processor to get it quite small, but process the two separately so you can add the right amount of dill for your liking. 
5.  When the soup is done, stir in the parsley, dill, and buttermilk.  Go easy on these and taste as you go.  You don't want the dill to be overpowering (and I think people have pretty different levels of dill tolerance, I tend to prefer it on the light side), but you definitely want to taste it.  For the buttermilk, I would suggest that you don't even want to really be able to identify it.  Using just a small amount - a cup or so (compared to the 3 qts water) - gives the soup a creamy body and a very slight tang, but I wouldn't describe it as sour or acidic at all.  6.  Add some salt if necessary (for once, I think I didn't add any extra at all!).  Serve with chives or green onions if desired.