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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EP: 411 My Health Update an...

11.17.2023

As promised, in today’s episode I’m spilling the beans on the health issues I’ve been having for the past few years. Turns out, what I thought was a damaged muscle turned out to be a tumor. By the time you’re ...

Pioneering Today episodes:

11.17.2023 EP: 411 My Health Update and Need for Surgery As promised, in today’s episode I’m spilling the beans on the health issues I’ve been having for the past few years. Turns out, what I thought was a damaged muscle turned out to be a tumor. By the time you’re ...
11.10.2023 EP: 410 Our Broken Food System I’ve been traveling for the past two weeks. In fact, in about a 14 day period, I was only home a few of those days. What I noticed was the huge lack of healthy food available in many parts of ...
10.27.2023 EP 409: How Much $$ Can YOU REALLY Make Homesteading Welcome back to part two of my series on answering your questions. In today’s episode, I’m sharing a bit more of the “behind-the-scenes” of what it takes to run my business. From how much time per day I spend on ...
10.19.2023 EP: 408 - Answering Your Questions: Homesteading Edition Welcome back to another episode of the Pioneering Today Podcast. In today’s episode, I’ll be answering your questions from social media. All these questions pertain to homesteading, so we’re calling this the “Homesteading Edition” and I’ll be back next week ...
10.13.2023 EP: 407 - Creating a No-Waste Kitchen w/ Mary's Nest Have you ever wondered how people manage to grocery shop, cook from-scratch meals for their family, and have no waste coming out of their homes? They make it look so easy! Though it might not be easy, it is simple. ...
10.06.2023 EP: 406 Can You SAFELY Can Previously Frozen Foods? Have you ever wondered if it’s safe to can previously frozen foods? I’m here to tell you it is, but with a few caveats. There are certain foods I wouldn’t feel comfortable canning after it has been frozen (and I’ll ...
09.15.2023 EP: 405 Medicinal Herbs & Their Uses with Kaylee Richardson Come hang out with me and Kaylee Richardson (from The Honeystead) as we discuss our favorite medicinal herbs and their uses. For more information and any links mentioned in this episode, visit melissaknorris.com/405.
09.08.2023 EP: 404 Herbal Secret - Do this Daily to Reduce Stress & Overwhelm What is an adaptogen and why should you consider incorporating them into your daily routine? Learn about adaptogen herbs and how they can be used to help support your body on a daily basis, including what adaptogens to use, where ...
08.25.2023 EP: 402 Bridging Heritage and Health: Hunting 101 Join me for today’s episode of the Pioneering Today Podcast with hunting expert Chris Gilmour. For many, hunting brings up negative connotations or even sadness. My guest can completely understand that as he wasn't raised with hunting as I was. ...
08.18.2023 EP: 401 Preserving Food When it's Too Hot to Can Today’s episode of the Pioneering Today Podcast is all about how to preserve food when it’s too hot to can (even canning outdoors). For many of us, August comes with some extreme heat. This isn’t always great for our garden, ...
08.11.2023 What is a Working Bee & How it's Relevant in Our Lives Today Today’s episode of the Pioneering Today Podcast is a special one with a local friend of mine, Andrea. Andrea is co-host of the Ancestral Kitchen Podcast and is shedding light on a very interesting topic of a “working bee.” In ...
08.04.2023 EP: 403 Foraging for Wild Medicinal Herbs with Dr. Patrick Jones Join me for today’s episode of the Pioneering Today Podcast with Dr. Patrick Jones. He’s sharing his wisdom for harvesting, preserving and using wild medicinal herbs that can be found right in our own backyard. If you’re interested in herbal ...
08.04.2023 Truth Behind Seed Oils & Pressing Your Own Today’s episode of the Pioneering Today Podcast is with author Bevin Cohen. He’s spearheaded the movement for at home pressing of seed and nut oils and loves to share his years of knowledge and experience with us. If you’ve ever ...
07.28.2023 Lid Reuse, Sugar Secrets & More: Candid Conversations with Canning Pros Today’s episode of the Pioneering Today Podcast is with master canning expert Georgia Varozza. She and I are discussing the ins and outs of safe canning, including questions such as reusing canning lids, sugar secrets, how to know if a ...
07.21.2023 Behind the Scenes of the Modern Homesteading Conference Join me for today’s Pioneering Today Podcast as I share some behind the scenes from the Modern Homesteading Conference. There were some crazy events that took place, and more than one miracle to share about. If you want to snag ...
06.30.2023 How to Take a Vacation From the Homestead Join me for today’s Pioneering Today Podcast as I discuss how to set yourself up for the possibility of taking a vacation from the homestead. This doesn’t happen overnight, and there are some systems you may need to get in ...
06.23.2023 Freeze Dried vs. Dehydrated Food (Benefits and Drawbacks of Each) Join me for today’s Pioneering Today Podcast as I discuss the benefits and drawbacks of freeze dried vs. dehydrated food. What exactly are the differences between freeze-drying and dehydrating. Are there benefits that outweigh one from the other? Are there ...
06.15.2023 Electric Fence Netting (Everything You Need to Know) With Premier 1 Join me for today’s Pioneering Today Podcast as I’m joined by Joe from Premier 1. We’re talking about everything you need to know to get started with electric fence netting. If you’ve been using netting for years, you’ll still want ...
06.09.2023 Pros & Cons of Electric Canners (Water Bath & Pressure) Join me for today’s Pioneering Today Podcast as I discuss the pros and cons of home electric pressure and water bath canners. Are they safe? Should we trust them? How do we know whether to pressure or water bath can ...
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 ...

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