Pioneering Today

By Melissa K Norris

Education

What's Pioneering Today about?

Pioneering Today is all about getting back to basics, simple living, and self-sufficiency with old-fashioned skills and wisdom in a modern world. With heirloom gardening, canning, preserving the harvest, from scratch cooking, raising your own food, including livestock (backyard chickens, pigs, and cattle), natural medicine, herbs, DIY like soap making along with living a simple self-sufficient life, no matter where you live. Hosted by 5th generation homesteader, Melissa K. Norris, author of The Made-from-Scratch Life. This podcast brings you the conversation from MelissaKNorris.com and The Pioneering Today Academy, with Q&A's, teaching, tutorials, and always giving you practical ways and tips to live the simple and self-sufficient life.

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Decision-Making Processes a...

05.26.2023

Join me for today’s Pioneering Today Podcast as I catch you up on all the happenings around here, including some of the decision-making processes we go through to determine the livestock we'll raise each year and whether or not we’re ...

Pioneering Today episodes:

05.26.2023 Decision-Making Processes and New Happenings on the Farm Join me for today’s Pioneering Today Podcast as I catch you up on all the happenings around here, including some of the decision-making processes we go through to determine the livestock we'll raise each year and whether or not we’re ...
05.18.2023 Decoding mRNA in Meat: Essential Insights and Unleashing the Secrets to Budget-Free Meat Marketing Join me for today’s podcast with guest Joel Salatin as we discuss mRNA in livestock and how that translates into our food supply. Learn how “organic” doesn’t mean you’re safe from vaccines in your food. Plus hear Joels top two ...
05.12.2023 The A2 Advantage: Unpacking the Health Benefits of A2 Milk In today’s podcast, my guest Katie Millhorn from Millhorn Farmstead in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho is sharing her knowledge of A2 raw milk and it’s healing and transformative power. She’s seen first hand the healing it can have on a person ...
05.05.2023 Unlocking Beef Liver: How to Mask the Taste and Reap the Nutritional Benefits In today’s podcast, my guest Stephanie Haglund from The Rancher’s Homestead and I are discussing the various ways to consume beef liver and mask the taste to reap the amazing health and nutritional benefits. Both Stephanie and I had to ...
04.28.2023 Essential Skills for the Modern Homesteader One of the most commonly asked questions I get is how does someone start homesteading. I get this question from people who already have their forever homestead, and from people who don’t yet have that property. Truth be told, there’s ...
04.21.2023 The Freedom to Learn: Finding Common Ground Between Homeschooling and Public Schooling for Homesteading Families featuring Kodi Hanner Homeschooling, though once a very unconventional method of schooling, has seen a comeback in the past few years. Join me in today’s podcast episode with Kody Hanner, from The Homestead Education, where we discuss the various methods of schooling our ...
04.14.2023 Surviving and Thriving: How to Create a Survival Garden That Feeds Your Family Have you ever heard of a “survival garden?” For some, this term evokes fear and a sense of doom and gloom… but in reality, survival gardens are simply what the majority of people grew in the backyard just a few ...
04.07.2023 How America's Lost Apples Are Being Saved for Future Generations If you've ever wanted to grow heirloom apple varieties in an apple orchard or even learn how to graft your own apple trees on your homestead, this podcast episode is for you! Join me with Nikki Conley from Athol Orchards ...
03.31.2023 The Case for Natural Cheese Making & Clabber w/ Robyn Jackson Have you wondered what natural cheese making is and how it differs from making cheese with store-bought cultures? Have you ever heard of “clabber”? And have you ever thought cheese-making to be similar to making sourdough bread? Join me in ...
03.24.2023 Orchard Planning to Keep Pests Out (Live Coaching Call) Today’s podcast is another live coaching call with Michelle, a member of the Pioneering Today Academy. When planning to put in a fruit or berry orchard, there are some tips you'll want to know about ahead of time. Join me ...
03.17.2023 Creating a Simple & Effective Medicinal Herb Garden in Limited Space Today’s podcast is another live coaching call with Maddie, a member of the Pioneering Today Academy. We’re discussing how to plan which herbs to grow in a medicinal herb garden as well as the properties of different herbs that match ...
03.10.2023 Homesteading With Special Needs Children Though not all of us are homesteading with special needs children, it's likely that many of us know someone who is. In this podcast, my good friend Rachel is sharing her tips on raising a special needs child on the ...
03.03.2023 Land Sabbaths and Baking Consistently Good Bread (Live Coaching Call) You may be wondering how baking consistently good bread and land sabbaths come together into one episode of a podcast. That's the beauty of a live coaching call! Today I’m interviewing Britnay, a member of the Pioneering Today Academy. We’re ...
02.24.2023 9 Simple Steps to Grow an Abundance! Learn to grow your best garden ever with these nine simple steps for growing an abundance of food. If you’re new to gardening, or just need to take your gardening skills and knowledge to the next level, this podcast is ...
02.17.2023 Troubleshooting Chicken Health & Best Herbs for Chickens (Live Coaching Call) Today’s podcast is a live coaching call with Pioneering Today Academy member, Joan. Joan is fairly new to raising a flock of 12 backyard egg-laying chickens. She’s looking for tips on how to protect her flock from “bully” chickens. What ...
02.10.2023 How to Homestead On Imperfect Land While Commuting (Live Coaching Call) Today’s podcast is a live coaching call with Pioneering Today Academy member, Briana-Jo, and we’re discussing real-life problems she’s facing on her homestead. Briana-Jo works a full-time job (commuting 30 miles each way), lives on 1.3 acres with much of ...
02.03.2023 Time-Saving Tips for Cooking From Scratch If you want to cook from scratch and eliminate (or reduce) the amount of processed or fast foods in your home, these time saving tips are for you. These are the same tips I’ve used for years to eat real ...
01.27.2023 Yearly Planning WITHOUT the Overwhelm When we sit down and start to plan out our year, it can be very easy to quickly get overwhelmed and feel like there's no way we'll be able to get everything done. But that's usually because we haven't made ...
01.20.2023 Losing Clover and Rebel’s Birth Story This might be the hardest podcast I've had to record. As many of you already know, we lost our dairy cow Clover after she delivered a beautiful bull calf (who we named Rebel). We still aren't certain of the cause ...
01.13.2023 One Year of NO Internet With Rory Feek Could you (or would you) go without the internet for an ENTIRE year? Rory Feek encourages us to look deeper at finding those connections with the faith, family and friends in our lives. If you were fortunate enough to be ...
12.23.2022 Your Questions Answered Part #4 - Ask Me Anything! Welcome to part four of my four part series where I’m answering YOUR questions! This week it’s ask me anything! I’m answering all the remaining questions from my Instagram poll. I’m covering topics from how to get started homesteading, how ...
12.16.2022 Your Questions Answered Part #3 Preserving (w/ BONUS Sourdough) Welcome to part three of my four part series where I’m answering YOUR questions! This week it’s all about preserving! From dehydrating, pressure canning, steam canning, and water bath canning, I’m covering all of your questions. I’ve even got some ...
12.09.2022 Your Questions Answered Part #2 Livestock A few weeks ago I took to social media and told you to ask me anything! This is the second of a four-part series where I’ll be breaking those questions up into categories and answering your questions! Today’s topic is ...
12.02.2022 Your Questions Answered Part #1 Gardening A few weeks ago I took to social media and told you to ask me anything! This is the first of a three or four part series where I’ll be breaking those questions up into categories and answering your questions! ...
11.25.2022 Favorite Must Have Homestead Items It’s that time of year again when we’re all searching for that perfect holiday gift for the ones we love. If you have a homesteader in your life (or someone who loves quality gifts), this is THE holiday gift guide ...
11.17.2022 How to Find & Buy Land Beyond the Usual Routes In this podcast episode, we're talking to land-buying expert Dave Denniston from Generation Family Properties. He’s sharing all about purchasing land for on or off-grid living, ensuring a clean title and affordable options. If you've ever wanted to buy land, ...
11.11.2022 What you don't know about the USDA & Canning Safety Rules Let's talk about the truth behind the USDA in America and its home canning industry regulations and recommendations. The USDA has guidelines for each different food to preserve as well as for different canning methods. Food preservation safety is crucial ...
11.04.2022 The One Thing You Didn't Know Your Homestead Needed Trust me when I say you’re in for a treat with today’s podcast. I'm chatting with Beth from Crowley House Flower Farm about how she earns a living doing what she loves… growing cut flowers. If you’re thinking, "I don't ...
10.21.2022 Tips to Get Your Homestead Ready for Winter There's no better time to prepare for winter. In this podcast I’m sharing my best tips for how to prepare for winter, including every area of the homestead. We’re talking about the animals, their shelter and their feed. The gardens, ...
10.07.2022 Supporting Small Farms Cost Vs. Benefit I was recently posed a question by one of my listeners regarding the issue of the conflict between supporting local farmers and trying to get the most for your money when it comes to our food. This is a topic ...
09.30.2022 The First Time Homesteader & Things I’d Do Differently w/ Jess Sowards Learn the three most common homesteading mistakes people make when embarking on their homesteading journey. And learn a few tips to keep your focus where it will have the best impact. In this episode, I’m talking with Jess Sowards from ...
09.23.2022 A Military Wife's Look on Homestead Preparedness What are the basic supplies and knowledge we should all have to live a prepared lifestyle? Join me on this podcast with Malori from Black Rifle Homestead as she shares her experience as a military wife. We’re discussing what it’s ...
09.16.2022 Farm Update & What You Need to Do NOW for Next Year's Food Production Have you reached a point where you've been homesteading long enough to consider offering something to your community? So have we! As a family and a business, we've maximized the space we're in and we've reached the limit as to ...
09.09.2022 Essential Skill Sets Homesteaders Need Part 2 This homesteading lifestyle means we are ever learning, and that’s part of the excitement and joy we find in it. Learning new homestead skills or how to utilize old skills in a more modern, efficient way is one of my ...
08.26.2022 What You Need to Know On Herbal Use for Pets and Livestock Learn how to use herbs safely, effectively and in the appropriate dosage for your pets and livestock with Doc Jones from HomeGrown Herbalist. We’re discussing mastitis in dairy cows, de-worming animals, even snake and spider bites in this episode. Plus ...
08.19.2022 Learn How to Cook Meat Rabbit from Two Chicks Homestead Nate and Erin live on a ½-acre homestead in Illinois where they raise chickens and rabbits for meat. Join us for this podcast where they’re sharing their tips for how to cook rabbit so it tastes incredible (like a cross ...
08.12.2022 Essential Skill Sets Homesteaders Need Part 1 This homesteading lifestyle means we are ever learning, and that’s part of the excitement and joy we find in it. Learning new homestead skills or how to utilize old skills in a more modern, efficient way is one of my ...
08.05.2022 10 Ways to Preserve & Cook Zuchini It’s that time of year again where we have zucchini coming out our ears! So how do we preserve and cook all of the zucchini to enjoy throughout the year? You won’t want to miss this episode of the Pioneering ...
07.29.2022 How to Prepare Tender & Delicious Wild Game w/ Tammy Trayer If you're a hunter or have the desire to cook wild game, then you won’t want to miss this episode. Learning these tips and tricks to cooking with wild game is a process, but Tammy Trayer can help us avoid ...
07.22.2022 How to Cure & Store Pork Without a Fridge w/ Brandon Sheard This podcast is all about raising meat, specifically pork, and learning how to cure and store that pork without refrigeration. Brandon Sheard from Farmstead Meatsmith is joining us to share his many years of wisdom, especially the three methods of ...
07.15.2022 Botulism Prevention and Safety Preservation Tips Botulism is a real and deadly form of food poisoning that makes many home canners nervous. And for good reason! However, there are food preservation techniques and safety tips you can follow to ensure you and your family are safe. ...
07.08.2022 Soil Remediation - How to Fix Your Soil If you suspect you've purchased contaminated soil, you'll want to know about the tips I’m sharing in today’s podcast for soil remediation and how to fix your soil. The number of issues of contaminated soil is increasing and people are ...
07.01.2022 We Bought Our Dream Homestead BUT It's Not For Us! We bought a 40-acre homestead but it’s not for us! That may sound strange, but we’ve had a dream to host large events and teach real life homesteading classes for a long time now, and this property, just ½ mile ...
06.24.2022 Thyroid, Adrenal Glands, and Hormones w/ Dr. Shannyn I’ve been going through my own hormone health journey since January 2022 and have been working with Dr. Shannyn. I’m so excited to have her on today’s episode of the podcast as she shares her wisdom and knowledge on how ...
06.10.2022 Breeding Your Own Meat Birds, Hatcheries & Avian Flu with Tom McMurray If you're looking to raise meat chickens, the next natural step for us modern-day Pioneers is to consider breeding chickens for a sustainable flock. Join me for this podcast with Tom McMurray from Murray McMurray Hatchery to learn what it ...
05.27.2022 Seed Starting Problems (Troubleshooting & Solutions) Sometimes you can do everything right, follow all the correct steps, and still have seed starting problems with your vegetables and flowers. In this post, we're troubleshooting seed starting issues and giving solutions to hopefully kick those seeds starts off ...
05.20.2022 Self-Sufficiency vs. Community Sufficiency For years I have talked about how to become more self-sufficient, but that’s no longer what I’m teaching! Sure, there are still ways to become less reliant on the grocery store, or other stores for our well-being, but I’ve come ...
05.13.2022 Dairy Cow 101: Everything You Need to Know - With Kate from Venison for Dinner My family is five weeks into owning our own dairy cow and I’m so excited to have Kate from Venison for Dinner on the podcast today. We’re chatting all things dairy cows from the best way to feed them, the ...
04.29.2022 Stock Up to Save $$$ NOW How Much Feed Per Animal Per Day I’m not an alarmist, but I am hearing from some very reliable sources that feed costs are expected to double, maybe even triple by the end of summer. When you hear information like this, it’s important, if you’re able, to ...
04.22.2022 Rebekah Rhodes' Journey with Auto-Immune Disease In this episode of the Pioneering Today Podcast, Rebekah Rhodes and I are discussing all things thyroid health. We both share our individual thyroid journeys as well as some of the things we've done to help heal, as well as ...

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