Author Archives: Greg Thames

Animal update

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How about a little farm update.  Our three little piggies.  These pictures were taken in June.

Such characters.  Left to right we have Chard, Smoked, and Mr. Pork Chop.

Love the camera.

 

These next pictures were taken just this month.

Still characters.

Getting fat.

 

And lets not forget our sheep.  Shaun and Shannon.  Shannon’s mom Lilly went back to auction.  So we just have to two now.  Hopefully in the spring we will have a new baby lamb on the farm.

Shaun is just now loosing his baby/winter hair.  He better hurry up before winter sets in again. 

The Best Burgers

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It’s no secret we like good food at the Thames house.  So here’s the start to sharing recipes.  Given that summer has finally reached us and you never know how long it will last I thought it quite important to share an awesome burger recipe with you.  The cream cheese makes these patties really moist.  We have talked about adding feta to them also because after all, it is feta.  We have been enjoying this one at home and on camping trips.  Greg found it on Allrecipes…here.

Mix together the following:

  • 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 pound bulk pork sausage

This will make 8 patties.  Cook them up as you would any patty.  Enjoy!

Love those Smiles!

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Oliver has one of the best smiles around. 

How could you be grumpy with this guy grinning at you?

And boy does he love the camera.  He pours on the charm when the camera is spotted.

 

And he LOVES his baby sister.  Abigail looks like she could care less but Oliver has enough joy for the both of them.

But, even the best of them crash…anywhere, anytime.

Winthrop Camping

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I know I’ve mentioned it before but we love camping in Winthrop.  This year, like many places in Washington, they have had much cooler temperatures and more rain.  We were amazed to see so much green!  By the time we make it there all the hills fields have turned brown but this year, even in July, things were green and beautiful.

Greg and I head to Winthrop for the heat but Zoe likes Winthrop for two specific reasons.  The ice cream…

…and the swimming.

The boys didn’t care much about the water but they loved the sand.  Zeke made friends with anyone that had a bucket and shovel.

Just another memorable trip to Winthrop.

 

Fetch?

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Yep.  And we have proof.  Toby actually playing fetch and enjoying it! 

So far the only thing he’ll fetch are his bones and eventually it turns into more chase than fetch but, we’re enjoying it!

The boys love to throw the bone for him but when Toby actually chases it they (especially Oliver) change thier minds and scream.

So they stand on the sidelines holding their bones as Zoe throws one for Toby.

Flying High

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That was Greg and Zoe last week as they went on an intro to flying class.  Zoe was in charge of photos.  I’ll share with you a few of the many, many pictures that were taken.  It was so much fun to see all the places they were able to fly over.   Let’s start off with the irresistible self portrait.

Zoe’s view from the back seat.

This is the plane they were flying in. 

And a view of our house.  The blue roof is us.  I got a call from Greg just as they were approaching the house.  Zeke and I ran outside to see them circling us.  He didn’t quite believe that dad was in the plane.  When asked where dad was he would point to the plan but then get a funny smile on his face and say “No.”  Although now when we hear a plane outside and dad is gone he asks “Daddy?”

And here’s Zoe with the instructor Miss April.  With the exception of a little motion sickness from some tight circles Greg and Zoe had a blast.  The ladies at the terminal even brought up some cookies for Zoe before they landed to help settle her stomach.

GM Chicken Coop 7.0

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I can’t believe I haven’t shared about this awesome coop Greg made.  We have constructed our share of chicken coops.  I am happy to report that after a few months of use I think we finally have the perfect coop.  The inside is about the same size as their last but this one is made of “real” wood.  You know, the kind from an actual store that is all the same size.  No make-shifting on this one.  We have two real doors with windows!  The door to the run area even has a doggie door which should help with heat in the winter.  It even has lanolium flooring! 

The other great addition to this one is the large storage area on the side.  This houses all the food we need for the animals close at hand.  It is now full of pig, chicken and sheep food.  The last thing that makes this my favorite doesn’t have anything to do with the house itself (sorry honey!) but with bedding.  We used to use straw but it gets smelly and disgusting really fast.  We switched over to wood pellets and absolutely LOVE it!  It pretty much just smells like wood shavings.  It seldom needs to be cleaned out.  You just kick the pellets around a bit and it freshens up.  If you have chickens you need to use pellets…hands down.  And of course painted Barn Red with white trim because my husband loves me.

 

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We have two climbing/play structures in the back yard.  The yellow slide is for smaller toddlers while the green slide is for Big Kids.  Our rule…You’re not allowed on the green one unless you can make it up there on your own power.    This slide is a bit steep.  When we were constructing it we didn’t pay too much attention to how high the platform was.  If anything we wanted to be sure it wasn’t too short.  Not a problem.  It’s a good two feet taller than it should be with the length of the slide.  But that’s OK.  It just makes for a great ride.   

Zeke has been working hard and is finally able to make it up the Big Kid side!  Way to Go!

How About Those Chickens!

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Lets finish up with the chickens (since they are now in our freezer).

Warning:  If you have any aversion to butchering chickens or blood do not read further.  This is life on a farm folks.

 A little about their short life.  Broiler chickens are only around for about 2 months before they are ready for butchering.  It is crazy they grow so fast.  The chicken tractor Greg made worked wonderfully.  We moved them each day to a fresh plot of grass.  It’s funny to look at our back yard now as a super green line zig-zags through it.  Great fertilizer!  This year was so wet and cold we lost more chickens than we were expecting.  They were looking so miserable we ended up putting their heat light back in.  They immediately looked better and although it seemed silly to be babying these chickens they needed to stop dying and use their energy to get fat.

Our chickens were a little smaller than we were hoping for.  Some of it was due to the weather I’m sure and we had a little bit of a time crunch with vacations and only had a small window to get it done.  

 

This is the first year we have done chickens.  We were so extremely blessed to have so many wonderful helpers.  Even a family we had only really met a week before (if that).  They are the professionals butchering more than 300 chickens each year.  Talk about experience!  The Lord provides our every need…even when it comes to butchering chickens.  And given the fact our camera was (still is) missing we were also fortunate to have our very own photographer (Thank you Ruth!)

 

 

I loved how interested the kids were with the whole process.  Eager to help.

These are the best things ever.  Well, maybe not ever but they are so helpful.  Properly called Kill Cones these babies contain the blood that would otherwise be splattered everywhere.

 

Then off comes they head.  It takes a bit of muscle apparently.

We chose to skin them this year instead of trying to pluck them all.  Much faster and cleaner.

Homeschool at it’s best. 

 

At each step there was teaching and learning.  The sharing of knowledge was in full swing.

Then the REAL professional showed up 🙂  A real live butcher to show us how it’s done.

Some of the meals may be a little surprise.

Lets not forget the broth.  All in all we had a great butchering day.  One of the best things…because of all the help I was able to hang back and “manage” the happenings.  That and run errands as needed.  And let me tell you, I was SO thankful for that.  Thanks again to all the friends that made this day go so smoothly.  You are wonderful!