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Madison Vining Blog

Daughter of a Good Good Father. Wife. Mama of 6. Adoption advocate. Choosing to live out hope in heartache as we wait for Heaven with our Harbor..

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Coloring Pages

Come color with us!

We hear from mamas & teachers often than your children love watching our animals on instagram! We wanted to make something fun and educational for them to be able to connect in another fun way with our farm, and we came up with these coloring pages! We hope you love them. They’re an instant download that you can print immediately, as many copies as you want.

GRAB THEM HERE

And please tag us in your kiddos’ creations! We’d love to see them and re-share them!

 

 

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Easy Banana Bread

When you have brown bananas, make this!

Easy recipe that requires no bread machine:

2-3 brown bananas
1/3 c butter
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c all purpose flour

Grease pan (I use glass) & bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes

Yum!

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Why I got a freeze dryer!

I feel like this post will apply to a very small niche of people… and y’all are my people.

If 2020-2021 didn’t get preparedness and self-sufficiency on your mind… well… then… we are gonna have to move on without ya.  (kidding mostly)

But really, it’s a good time to be prepared. If you had to go without power, water, a grocery store, Amazon… how long could your family thrive? It can be a sobering question. It’s one we asked ourselves quite awhile ago, and we didn’t love the answer, so we got to work!

We have been working on our family’s preparedness for about 8 years now, long before we moved to land and began to grow our own food. There is so much that can be done in the city and so much that can be done on stretched resources, and to stretch resources even further. When we prepare, we are able to not only help ourselves but also others in times of crisis.

We recently added a new tool to our preparedness/self-suffiency arsenal: a freeze dryer!

It’s been on my maybe list for a little bit, but felt overwhelming so it got put off. A friend showed me that it’s so much easier than it seems, and also laid a few facts on me, and I was sold.

The facts she shared with me:

-Freeze drying retains 97% of the original nutritional value, while dehydrating only retains 60% and canning retains 40%!
-The process of freeze drying removes 98% of food’s water content, hence reducing the weight of the food by 90%
-Freeze-dried foods are faster to prepare. You just need to add some boiling hot water to it, wait for some time, and you are ready to go.
-The shelf life of freeze dried foods is 25-30 years.

^ That last one was my tipping point!

Freeze dryers are an initial investment, but come with HUGE long-term savings & sustainability.

I can’t wait to freeze dry:

raw milk
colostrum
eggs
fruit
vegetables
sourdough starter
herbs
ice cream
beef liver

I even heard of a few women who freeze dry their breastmilk and sell it to other moms… making it as convenient as powdered formula, but with ALL the original nutrients of breastmilk, and a shelf life of 25 YEARS. INSANE! (And a dang good business idea!)

A peek at my DMs when I mentioned freeze drying:

I grabbed the large freeze dryer from HARVEST RIGHT. It comes with a guide that makes it all so easy. It is absolutely phenomenal and I can’t wait to share with you guys as I learn how to use it! Join me, fellow homemaking prepper weirdos.

M

 

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Far & Wild | my favorite essential oils

I’ve had the best time this year perfecting my own oil blends with Far & Wild.

First came Wildflower, which was my way of sharing a little bit of spring on the homestead with y’all.

Y’all loved it SO MUCH and asked for a roll-on version, so we released that shortly after!

This pretty little lady never leaves my bag.

A few months later came Sunshine, which was my ideal summer aroma and all the benefits that come along with each oil in the blend, perfect for this time of year. It is so uplifting, bright, clean, and happy.

We released a roll-on version of Sunshine also!

You can grab it solo or in tons of bundle options which are discounted 20%.

And then I have a discount code that I’m able to share with y’all *which stacks ON TOP OF that* and works on anything on the entire site (my blends, other blends — even diffusers)

You can shop Far & Wild HERE. Be sure to use code MADISON20 for 20% off, always.

Thank you for loving these oils as much as I do! It’s been so fun sharing them with the world.

More to come!

M

 

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AIR DOCTOR

Heading into fall, this is one of my wellness secret weapons.

Here’s why:

 

It literally zaps so many of the things we don’t want to deal with right out of the air. The filters are easy to clean (we vacuum them which extends their life so long) and hardly ever need it. It’s quiet, and just runs 24/7 without you even knowing it’s there. It truly is such a wellness easy button.

If you are just grabbing one, my suggestion is keeping it in the main living space where you spend the most time, and then bringing it into a bedroom at night. Their website is super helpful and will tell you how many square feet each model covers.

HERE is where you can grab one. Seriously mamas… you’ll be glad you did!

M

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