Pioneering Today with Melissa K. Norris

By Melissa K. Norris 5th Generation Homesteader

Arts Natural Sciences Science & Medicine Education Health Alternative Health Religion & Spirituality Food Training Christianity

What's Pioneering Today with Melissa K. Norris about?

Pioneering Today focuses on inspiring your faith and pioneer roots with Melissa K. Norris and all aspects of old-fashioned living from heirloom gardening, preserving the harvest, cooking from scratch, raising livestock, traditional kitchen and skills, faith, family, frugal living, and modern homesteading.

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Easy Crop Rotation in the G...

01.22.2020

Crop rotation is one of the easiest ways to make a big difference in your garden's health and decreasing disease, but people often get confused on how to implement it. I walk you through the 4 main vegetable families so ...

Pioneering Today with Melissa K. Norris episodes:

01.22.2020 Easy Crop Rotation in the Garden Based on Plant Families Crop rotation is one of the easiest ways to make a big difference in your garden's health and decreasing disease, but people often get confused on how to implement it. I walk you through the 4 main vegetable families so ...
01.17.2020 No Till Gardening benefit's & Getting Started + Growing Tomatoes in Containers Learn how to get started with no-till gardening (including the pro's to this method) with Jo Lamp'l. Why you should consider no-till gardening methods for healthier soil, including less weeds, and easy tips to transition existing beds to this method. ...
01.15.2020 How to Plan Your Homestead Year with Budget & Time Restrictions I share how we plan our homestead year based on what we need to produce from the homestead and how that works into the calendar year. How we evaluate what and how much to raise for meat and adding in ...
01.10.2020 How Many Fruit & Berry Plants Per Person Do You Need for a Year's Worth of Food Just how many fruit and berry plants do you need to grow a year's worth per person in your family? I break down how many fruit and berry plants we have per person, how to choose which options are best ...
01.09.2020 List of Heirloom Varieties to Grow in the Garden This Year The exact list of heirloom varieties I grow in our garden each year. These are my tried and true must-have every year. I also share how much of each variety I plant to take us through an entire year. Get ...
01.03.2020 Where I Buy Heirloom Seeds & Why You Should Use Heirloom Seeds Too Find out where I buy heirloom seeds and why you should be using some heirloom seeds in your garden if you're not. I also break down the difference in heirloom, hybrid and what GMO means for backyard gardeners as I ...
01.01.2020 Seed Packet Information - How to Read Seed Packets for Gardening Success Learn how to read seed packet information to help you pick the best varieties for your garden. What you must know about days to harvest and germination, spacing, and descriptions that turn in to your secret weapon to growing more ...
12.27.2019 Biggest Garden Planning Mistakes & How to Avoid Them The biggest garden planning mistakes & how to avoid them. Common advice is to start planning your garden with where you're going to put your plants but that is NOT where your gardening should start. I walk you through how ...
12.21.2019 Top Takeaways for Vegetable Gardeners from Last Season's Garden Get the top takeaways from this year's vegetable garden so you can make next year's garden better and increase the harvest based on this year's experience. I walk you through my biggest takeaways, what I won't be planting again, what ...
12.18.2019 From Scratch Christmas Dinner Menu - From the Garden It doesn't get much better than a from-scratch Christmas dinner menu based on what was raised in the garden. I share what we're serving this year for Christmas dinner along with recipes. Get ideas for your meals and what crops ...
12.13.2019 Urban Farming: 80 Fruit Trees on 1/3 Acre with Vegetables Think you can't grow much on just 1/3 of an acre in the middle of the city? We talk about how Greg is growing 80 fruit trees, vegetables and herbs on 1/3 acre in the middle of Phoenix and how ...
12.11.2019 My Top 9 Homestead Gifts to Make Life Easier & Fun Over the past 20 years of homesteading I've compiled my top favorite homestead related gifts I've received as a gift. Some of these are surprisingly small but will give you ideas for either your own gift giving, sharing with your ...
12.06.2019 Living Like it's the 1800's - Wood Stove Cooking & Frugal Living Tips Living like it's the 1800's in a modern world, seems like a contradiction, but even with electricity and running water, there are valuable tips that can help you save money now and if you do decide to go off-grid, help ...
12.04.2019 A Week in the Life - Tips for Freezing Temps & Winter Storms on the Homestead A week in the life on the homestead, what it looks like on our homestead in a week, especially when freezing temps and storms are rolling in. How we prep the garden, livestock and house when temps are supposed to ...
11.29.2019 Does Homesteading Really Save Money? An honest discussion about money Does homesteading really save money when you take into account the items you need to buy, livestock, supplies, and the time required? Today we dive into this not often talked about subject with Amy Dingham on when you may or ...
11.22.2019 How to Use Homesteading Skills to Make Money ESPECIALLY during the holidays Your homesteading skills will not only save you money but they can help you MAKE money. I share how I'm using our homesteading skills during this holiday season to raise money fast for a fundraiser and how you can do ...
11.20.2019 Sheet Mulching: the Easy Way to Compost with Layers This is my favorite "lazy" way to compost and build up our vegetable garden soil. If you didn't get to cover crops or a traditional compost pile, you're going to love my sheet mulching method. Learn which manures are best ...
11.15.2019 When Butchering a Cow the Best Cuts of Meat to Get What you need to know to get the best cuts of meat on your cut and wrap order, what to tell the butcher, and the cuts you MUST ask for that the butcher won't offer unless you do. Learn how ...
11.13.2019 Baking Hacks & Tips for Busy Nights: How to Freeze Dough These baking hacks and tips show you how to freeze dough for delicious and easy homemade baked goods during busy nights and times without sacrificing any time or flavor! It can be a struggle to always get homemade food served, ...
11.08.2019 Grass Fed Beef - What You Need to Know on Butcher Day When raising grass fed beef there are key things you need to know on butcher day to get the most out of your cow. What to do before the butcher arrives and what cuts to ask for, and some are ...
11.06.2019 How to Grow Vegetables All Year: Plant Covers for Cold Weather Gardening How to have vegetables growing all year long (or as close as possible), including which plants will still grow during frosts and hard freezes, which ones can be left in the ground, and for those more tender veggies, how to ...
11.01.2019 6 Tips for Hygge Style Living on the Homestead Learn what hygge means and 6 tips for implementing it on the homestead (and why you should!). Melissa talks with Kathie from seasonal homespun living on why embracing hygge during the winter months is good for both the body and ...
10.30.2019 Bread Baking Tips for the Perfect Loaf (including sourdough) Snag these tips for bread baking to help you get the perfect homemade loaf. If you've ever had bread turn out too dense and heavy or your sandwich loaves are crumbly or too dry, these tips will help you turn ...
10.25.2019 Cheap Garden Ideas for Your Homestead that Make a Big Impact These cheap (or free) garden ideas will save you money and have a big impact on your garden and homestead success. Melissa dives in with Amy from the Sow Edible Podcast on how to improve red clay soil, an easy ...
10.23.2019 How to Improve Soil Health- the single BIGGEST factor on garden success Almost all of your garden success comes back to the health of your soil & learning how to improve soil health is the answer to virtually every gardening issue. Plants not producing food, stunted growth, lots of green growth but ...
10.18.2019 7 Health Benefits of Maple Syrup & Ways to Use It Learn the surprising health benefits of maple syrup, an old-fashioned sweetener with wonderful properties beyond the flavor, that no other sweetener has, from antioxidants, essential vitamins and minerals, immune boosting, prebiotic and more. Plus using this old time sweetener at ...
10.16.2019 How to Treat Fruit Trees Organically: When to Spray for Disease 6 tips on how to treat fruit trees organically and when to spray for disease and pests. Learn what steps to take now in the fall for your fruit trees to decrease pest and disease load, what times of year ...
10.11.2019 Self Sufficient Homesteading Tips for the Long Haul Self sufficient homesteading tips for the long haul from beginning your homestead journey to more experienced. Melissa talks with Anna who started her homesteading journey in a city apartment and in just four years has moved out of the city ...
10.09.2019 How to Care for Berry Plants in the Fall (to increase next year's harvest) Learn what to do with your berry plants in the fall to increase your harvest next year. How to evaluate overall health and location of the plants, when to move the plants if need be, fertilize and mulching, and more ...
10.04.2019 Raised Bed Gardening Tips - 9 Things You Need to Know Raised bed gardening tips, we'll discuss the pros and cons of raised beds, which type of soil and crops are best for raised beds, what you need to consider before constructing, weed management and pest/animal solutions with raised beds with ...
10.02.2019 5 Tips for Organic Pest Control for Vegetable Gardens Learn organic pest control for vegetable gardens. Melissa shares how to identify which organic options is the right one, preventative vs infestation use, plus her two favorite options, one is a powder and one is a spray that work for ...
09.28.2019 Best Herbal Home Remedies for Cold and Flu Learn how to choose the best herbal home remedies during the cold and flu season for your body. Melissa interviews clinical herbalist Rosalee De La Foret on the 4 components of energetics to determine which herb will serve you best. ...
09.25.2019 What is Organic Gardening & How to Start Using Organic Practices at Home What is organic gardening and how to incorporate these practices into a home garden. Learn what organic gardening actually means, tips on how identify if your soil is organic and steps to take if it's not to get it there. ...
09.20.2019 How to Improve Soil for Gardening *Win my families 100-year-old strain of bean seed Healthy garden soil is the foundation of your entire garden. If you get this right, you'll drastically improve your harvest and health of your plants. These tips break down what you need to look at in your soil, where to ...
09.18.2019 Plant these Herbal Flowers from Seed Now for Spring A few quick time saving tips on getting your medicinal herbal flowers ready now for next spring. What to do with the flowers you have in the garden this year and how to get a jump start on next spring's ...
09.13.2019 9 Garden Hacks to do This Fall for a Better Garden Next Year These 9 garden hacks will help you assess this year's garden to increase next year's harvest and give you a clear plan of action to improve your garden to fit you and your families needs. Melissa walks you through how ...
09.11.2019 5 Tips to Harvest Herbal Flowers for Medicinal Purposes Learn the best time to harvest your herbal flowers for medicinal purposes. Melissa walks you through how to use all 3 parts of the echinacea, lavender, chamomile, and calendula. You'll get a detailed explanation of what signs to avoid on ...
09.06.2019 9 Tips How to Prepare for Emergencies and Winter on the Homestead Learn these 9 tips on how to prepare for winter and emergencies on the homestead now. Melissa walks you through where to start if you're beginning, how to do so without being overwhelmed, and where to build once you have ...
09.04.2019 5 Tips to Reduce Liquid Loss in Canning Jars Siphoning, or liquid loss after canning, is common among canning problems. Learn these 5 easy steps to help prevent it and the guidelines for safety (when is too much liquid loss unsafe). What you need to know about headspace, temps, ...
08.29.2019 8 Tips on How to Cure Onions for Winter Storage Learn how to cure onions for long term winter storage, how to pick the best spot for drying, two methods to use for drying your onions (pro's and con's of each) and how long to cure onions before bringing them ...
08.28.2019 How to Harvest Onions for Long Term Storage Learn how to harvest onions at the right time for best long term storage, what to do if onions have bolted (flowered), and best type of onions for winter storage on the pantry shelf. For video and full blog post ...
08.23.2019 Pole Bean Growing Guide When to Pick for Eating, Shelling & Seed Your pole bean growing guide, we'll go over when to pick pole beans based on the different stages for eating, shelling and seed saving. Troubleshoot common pole bean problems, like blossoms but no beans, hot weather and frosts, and benefits ...
08.22.2019 14 Vegetables to Plant in August for Fall Garden Crops Learn what to plant in August for fall and winter garden crops. Melissa breaks how to tailor planting time for your gardening zone and climate, what to plant from seed & what as seedlings. Grab the full list and video ...
08.15.2019 Canning in Electric Pressure Cookers & Other Pressure Canning Questions What you NEED to know about using electric pressure cookers as a pressure canner (despite what the manual may say), what to do if the pressure falls, using well water in canners, double stacking jars inside a pressure canner, which ...
08.09.2019 5 Tips on How to Avoid Overwhelm on the Homestead 5 tips on how to avoid overwhelm on the homestead, because let's face it, this old-fashioned way of life, it adds another layer of work and tasks. It's worth it, oh is it worth it, but it's important to make ...
08.02.2019 Best Way to Water Your Vegetable Garden to Increase Harvest & Eliminate Disease The best ways to water your vegetable garden to help organically increase your harvest yield and eliminate disease, all in the way you water your vegetables! Melissa shares how often to water your vegetables in summer and best techniques for ...
07.26.2019 How to Make Money Homesteading How one makes money homesteading, they went from the suburbs to their homestead and earning their living on their homestead in three years time. Melissa talks to Todd from Sustainable Simple Living Family about their main forms of income from ...
07.11.2019 How to Design a Cottage Garden Learn how to design a cottage garden or pull elements of one into your own yard. Melissa interviews Carolyn Thomas of Homesteading Family for a close up look of creating a cottage garden with plants that have forgotten medicinal and ...
06.27.2019 How to Store Home Canned Food Safely Learn how to store you home canned foods safely, what the official sources actually say about storing jars with the canning rings (bands) on or off and what you need to know about jar stacking. Which practices Melissa uses on ...
06.21.2019 Tips for Home Food Preservation - Seasonal Preserving Each Month Use these pro tips for home food preservation- know which foods are ready seasonally by the month, best ways to handle & preserve it so you aren't overwhelmed. Melissa shares her summer preserving plan & how to use the same ...

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