• Soak beans overnight, or do a quick soak.
  
• Drain and rinse soaked beans.
  
• Combine drained, soaked beans with diced celery, grated carrot, and chopped onions in slow cooker.
  

Using pan juices in your soup

• If you are using pan juices (i.e.,ham juice from the bottom of the roasting pan):

  Refrigerate pan juices for at least four hours, until very cold.

  Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the pan juices to filter out any fat solids and other bits you might not want in your soup.

  Use 16-24 ounces of pan juices in your soup; less if your ham was particularly salty or the juices very thick.

  Add enough water to the pan juices to make a total of 1½ to 2 quarts of liquid, depending upon how thick you like your soup. (i.e., more liquid = thinner soup)

  Add liquid to the ingredients in the slow cooker.

  If you DO use pan juices as part of your liquid: Hold off on adding any additional seasoning until after the first 4 hours.

  If you DO NOT use pan juices as part of your liquid: Add the brown sugar and black pepper at this time.

  DO NOT add any salt to your Navy Bean Soup at this time. Ham bones are notoriously salty, and it is easier to know how much salt to add once the ham bone has cooked out into the soup. 
  

Cooking the Soup

• Give everything in the slow cooker a quick stir. Add the crushed chili peppers at this time if you are using them.

  Set slow cooker to HIGH and cook for 5 hours. I usually stir the soup a couple of times during the cooking time.
  
• After cooking for 5 hours, the meat on the ham-bone should be falling apart. Using tongs or an extra-large serving spoon, carefully remove ham bone to a plate and set aside to cool.

  Reduce the slow cooker to LOW. 

  After you have removed the ham bone, taste the soup broth, and then season with salt and pepper to taste.
  
• Add fresh thyme if desired. (Or any other fresh herbs you choose to use.)

  Allow soup to continue to simmer on low while ham bone cools, checking every 30 minutes until the beans are done to your liking. Beans are usually done in 6 to 8 hours. 

  For a creamier bean soup, when the beans are fully cooked, use an emersion blender to blend some of the beans a bit. (Be sure to do this BEFORE you add any ham back into the soup.)
  
• When the ham bone is cool enough to handle, separate the meat from the bone.
  
• Stir ham from bone into soup. Add any additional reserved ham at this time.

  Discard the ham bone.
  
• Season to taste.