Recommended- soak beans overnight in 8 cups of water. Discard water and then add to the recipe below. You don't have to soak the beans though, you can just increase the cooking time if need be.
Add the beans, onion, celery, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and ham bone into crock pot.
Cover mixture with broth or water by one inch. You may need to add more as soup cooks.
Cover and cook on low for 6 hours for SOAKED beans. Or cover and cook on low for 9 hours for UNSOAKED beans.
When there is just one hour of cooking time left, add in the chopped carrots.
After soup is done cooking, remove ham bone and get any extra ham off of it and add back to soup. Make sure there are no bones or gristle left.
For a creamier soup, you can use a potato masher to mash some of the beans with. Or an immersion blender as well.
Cool to room temperature and place in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Or you can freeze the soup for up to 3 months as well. Enjoy!