Jonah Lisa Land

Just Make it!

2011-10-19T07:00:00-06:00

I've got a new post up on Unplugged Sunday called Just Make It!

Go read it, then start thinking about how you can turn some of those lists and likes and pins into actual completed projects this weekend!

Tomorrow I'll post a tutorial about the felt and yarn wreath I made that was featured in the post.

Conversations with a 5 year old :: 10

2011-10-12T06:00:00-06:00

We were all snuggling in bed a few mornings ago...

Huck: You're mine Mom. I'm not letting you hug or kiss Daddy anymore. Only me.

Stephen: Nice. I think it's time for LIttle Oedipus to get ready for school.

Huck: Hey! I'm not a platypus.

Pumpkin Recipe Round-up

2011-10-11T13:56:36-06:00

I love a good pumpkin recipe! Who doesn't? In fact, over the years I've posted several of my favorites right here. Today I want to recycle a few of my family's top pumpkin recipes and add a few new ones I've found online and plan to try soon. Enjoy!

Oldies from my archives...

Pumpkin Apple Butter

Curried Pumpkin Soup (we're having this tonight!)

Pumpkin Cheddar Grits

Pumpkin Penne with Rosemary

New stuff I can't wait to try...

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Scones

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

You know, I could go on and on, but I think I'll stop there. Too much of a good thing could leave you feeling poorly.

{this moment}

2011-10-07T06:00:00-06:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Conversations with a 5 year old :: 9

2011-10-06T09:02:24-06:00

Huck 2 best buddies from the neighborhood, Jon & Finn, go to a different school. Not a big deal for Huck but I've been curious about who he's gravitating toward in Kindergarten this year.

Me: So are Jacob and Austin your new best friends at school?

Huck: No. They're my minons.

Guess I don't need to worry about that friend thing since apparently he's on his way to becoming an evil genius.

A Moosey Morning

2011-09-30T06:00:00-06:00

Tuesday morning Huck was late to school, Jemima was late to daycare and Stephen and I got a late start on our writing work.

Why?

A family of moose, a Mama and her 2 babies, decided to come over for breakfast. We couldn't very welll rush off without showing them some hospitality now could we?

They spent some time munching around in the front yard, then moved into the trees and around to the back. They breakfasted on aspens and mountain ash berries but never went after my garden. I'm kind of sorry, too since I'm just about to hoe it all down and turn it into the ground. It would have been a big help.

Then again, I don't guess I want them to learn that my garden is a good place to snack or next year might not turn out as well as this year.

From the upstairs guestroom window, we were about 15 feet from them. It's probably the closest any of us will ever be to a wild animal that big. At least I kinda hope so.

It was nearly impossible to get a picture of all 3 of them together. This was my best shot.

We finally peeled ourselves away from the action and they moved on to make someone else's morning. They spent the day wandering around our neighborhood.

Such a wonderful place to live.

Braiding Onions

2011-09-29T06:00:00-06:00

Well, as I said, onions were one of my big garden success stories. I didn't plant too few, or too many, they grew well and didn't get any little buggies. I harvested 26 nicely sized medium yellow onions. Of course, then I had to figure out how to store them. Enter Google...

I brushed off most of the dirt, trimmed the root ends to about 1 inch, pulled off lots of the outer shoots, and left them in the sun to dry for a few days. Then I used this tutorial to braid the the onions. It was very simple and makes for a really lovely way to store them.

Don't you think?

Works with Garlic, too!

They'll stay out in the sunshine for a few days longer, then go down in the basement for a while since it's the coolest place in our house.

In a few weeks, when temperatures start to stay low during the day, they'll go into the garage for the winter. The two braids of 13 onions each won't last the whole winter but we'll certainly get to enjoy eating from our garden even as the snow is piling up outside! And that's pretty cool.

Recap of Hysteria's Toronto Film Festival premier

2011-09-28T10:20:56-06:00

For starters, it was AWESOME!

There were a few bumps along the roadin the days leading up--A self-tanner accident that required 3 days of scrubbing my legs with lemon juice, and some anxious over-plucking of my eyebrows--but in the end, we made it to Toronto to enjoy the fruits of our labors.

There were press conferences with lots of talk about vibrator collections...

Director, Tanya Wexler, Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal & Jonathan Pryce

My bestie from high school and her husband, Amy and Tim, arrived the day before the premier. On the day of we hit the salon together to get our hair done and then on to a nail place for mani-pedis. So not me, but so very fun. Especially with her.

There was a big swanky dinner before the event and we received an award for social relevance from The Creative Coalition.

Then...the red carpet!

Then we went into the green room to hobnob and watch the actors and director (pictured in the background) as they were all interviewed on the red carpet.

Just before the show I got a picture with my favorite cast member, Jonathan Pryce. He is a wonderful, and very funny person. Said he didn't recognize me at first because I wasn't wearing jeans and dragging a couple kids around, like I always was during the shoot.

He's fabulous, as are Maggie & Hugh, in the movie.

I got my popcorn...

I probably should have taken a pass on the popcorn since, after the big dinner, I was sorta bustin' out of my dress. YIKES!

Note to self: No tight button downs at next premiere.

And then...it was time!!!!

Jonathan got the first laugh of the night with a rock-'n'roll inspired "Hello Toronto!" during the intros.

It was a truly surreal feeling seeing the film on a GIANT digital screen with a paying audience of 2500 people! They laughed at every joke, even missing a few because they were still laughing at the one before. They even laughed at things we didn't know were funny when we wrote them. It felt like a friends and family audience. But it wasn't. It was off the hook, as they say.

And afterwards we just soaked up the joy and relief that it actually worked.

There was a big party afterwards with lots of congraulations, free booze (I didn't drink) and free Magnum bars (I ate 2) and even some nice party favors (no comment).

And the next day we did it all again, without the dinner and the afterparty and in a 1500 seat theatre, and it was just as crazy and successful.

How Did My Garden Grow?

2011-09-27T06:00:00-06:00

Pretty well, thank you very much.

This is my first garden bigger than a kitchen window sized thing. It took us almost 3 years to get the area ready.

Year one Stephen did most of the hard work of prepping the area...

...but I'm proud to say that I built the 3 raised beds all my myself.

We went with raised beds within an area of gravel over weedmat. Voles digging up under gardens is a big problem here so this was our attempt to thwart the little buggars. And to get a few weeks jump on planting by being a little above ground.

Last year, year two, we finally got around to spreading the gravel. Then we dug down into each bed about 18 inches and I stapled a very fine chicken wire down into each bed to keep the voles from coming through. Then we put the topsoil and compost in the beds.

Then we found out we'd be going to London to shoot the film and work stopped again. Everything always takes us longer than we expect.

But finally this, year three, was THE year. This happened about 3 days after I planted my first starts. I think it was the first week of June.

They were all hardy local varieties so I'm happy to report that nothing died.

And the weedmat, gravel & chicken wire combo have worked wonderfully against the voles. The deer generally don't come this close to the house because our dog goes balistic when they do but I planted marigolds at the corners, just in case.

It took forever, but we're finally enjoying the fruits of out labors. The Vegetable Gardener's Bible was my, well, Bible.

For my first year of gardening at altitude I did pretty well.

Photo by Kate Djupe

My downfall was in how much of different things I planted at one time. Too much head lettuce, fabulous but not nearly enough radishes or potatoes, too much broccoli all at once and I was out of town and missed harvesting the cauliflower on time.

Photo by Kate Djupe

My major successes all around were kale and onions. I harvested 26 yellow onions! But more on that tomorrow. A though I only put in 3 kale starts, we ate fresh kale all summer until they were finally overtaken by aphids in September.

Next year we'll get a jump on that and buy ladybugs. I'll have the kids build a little lady bug house to mount out there.

Besides more potatoes and radishes and less broccoli, next year I'll also add carrots, parsnips, peas, bush beans, beets, spinach and squash. And we might just add a small pumpkin patch out in the meadow and see what happens. I'll also do a better job of spacing my plantings to have things coming up at different times instead of all at once. Holy Lettuce Batman!

Learning to garden in this environment is challenging but I'm pretty happy with my first endeavors. Even if it did take me 3 years!

Saying Yes

2011-09-23T09:34:59-06:00

I've got a new post up over at Unplugged Sunday today. Go have a look and I'll be back to regular posting here next week. It always takes longer than I expect to catch up after a trip.