Melissa K. Norris inspires people's faith and pioneer roots with her books, podcast, and blog. Melissa lives with her husband and two children in their own little house in the big woods in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains. When she's not wrangling chickens and cattle, you can find her stuffing Mason jars with homegrown food and playing with flour and sugar in the kitchen.
By Melissa Norris | Gardening , Podcast , Raising Your Own Food
Grow more food next year with these 5 fall gardening tips, yes please. These tips apply if you are doing raised garden beds, container gardening, regular in the ground gardening, or any type of growing your own food, aka, universal no matter where or how you’re growing. Learn how to analyze this year’s garden for […]
Read MoreBy Melissa Norris | Homestead Life , Podcast
Seasonal living is about as old-fashioned and pioneer as you can get, where families are in touch and plan their lives (and kitchen) around the seasons. Even if you don’t live on a full homestead or have distinct seasons, you can use these tips as we move into the fall and winter season. Specifically today […]
Read MoreBy Melissa Norris | DIY Recipes & Tutorials , essential oils , Natural Medicine Cabinet
A homemade wound healing salve is something everyone should have a recipe for and on hand, and this is the perfect all purpose healing salve to fit the bill. One of the beautiful things about a homemade natural salve recipe is you can customize it for your specific needs (anyone else a bit of a […]
Read MoreBy Melissa Norris | Podcast , Preparedness/Survival , Skills
Today I am going over one of my favorite things and that is cooking with cast iron. We are going to go over the aspects of primitive outdoor cooking using cast iron. If you’ve been curious or timid about cooking with cast iron and how to use this pioneering method of cooking, then you my friend […]
Read MoreBy Melissa Norris | Podcast
Homemade freezer meals and real food batch cooking should have a place in your meal planning, especially if you struggle to find the time to make everything from scratch but don’t want to sacrifice your families health with processed convenience food. Today we are talking about freezer meals and batch cooking. For some of you who […]
Read MoreBy Melissa Norris | Canning , Food Preservation , Fruit, Jam and Jelly
Learning how to can apple pie filling means you never have to buy apples out of season, when they cost an arm and a leg, and it also means you can have pie whenever you want. Which makes it one of my favorite pantry staples. Nothing says fall like a good crisp apple. I love […]
Read MoreBy Melissa Norris | Homestead Life , Podcast
I often get asked for advice on what to look for when purchasing homesteading property. What are the top things to look for, how do you analyze, how do you make the decision on where you’re moving? If you’ve been curious about this yourself, then you my friend are in for a treat today. I’ve […]
Read MoreBy Melissa Norris | Food Preservation , Podcast
How do you know if a canning recipe is safe? Or what do you do when someone isn’t following canning safety? Is there a way to tell if a jar of home canned food someone has given you is safe? These are legit questions and concerns. I’m thrilled there are so many people getting back […]
Read MoreBy Melissa Norris | Homestead Life , Podcast
Learn how my 6 tips to create a successful homestead business. This is Part 2 of our series, you can catch part 1 of How to Make Money Homesteading here You’ve chosen how you’re going to make an income and are ready to start bringing in the money honey. But creating a true and profitable […]
Read MoreBy Melissa Norris | Homestead Life , Podcast
How to make money homesteading, because let’s face it, most of us could use some extra cash and there’s not much more homesteady (did I just create a new word) than having your land and homestead create your income. You can find lots of lists online on how to make money homesteading, but most of […]
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