I Mentored on a Homesteading TV Show—Here’s What Happened

Pioneering Today Podcast - Homesteading in a Modern World

Melissa K Norris

Cookingfromscratch, Oldfashionedliving, Selfsufficiency, Home & Garden, Gardening, Heirloomseeds, Homesteading, Growyourownfood, Education, Survival, Pioneeringtoday, Leisure, How To

4.9 • 931 Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of the Pioneering Today Podcast, I’m sharing all about my experience as a mentor and homesteading expert on the new show Back to the Frontier. It was such a privilege to help guide modern families as they learned old-fashioned skills and stepped into a simpler, more self-sufficient way of life.

I’m giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what it was really like on set—the challenges, the surprises, and the moments that reminded me why I’m so passionate about preserving these traditional skills and passing them on to the next generation.

For more information and any links mentioned in today’s podcast, visit https://melissaknorris.com/474

This podcast is sponsored by Azure Standard. For first-time Azure customers, you can get 15% off your first order of $100 or more by using coupon code "MELISSA15" at checkout: https://melissaknorris.com/azure-standard

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, pioneers. Welcome to episode number 474. Today's episode, I'm going to be walking you guys through my experience of going on back to the frontier, what that process looked like, as well as my reaction to the first episode.
0:26.8	So I wasn't really able to talk about anything when it was happening because I had to sign
0:34.5	non-disclosures.
0:36.6	So that meant, and I still have to be careful with what I share
0:40.7	so that I don't accidentally share anything before it airs, so that I don't spoil any episodes
0:47.1	or anything like that. So I was first contacted back at the beginning, actually, of 2024.
0:56.1	So it was, I think around January of February, I got an email and asked if I had any
1:01.6	type of interest that they were doing a show.
1:06.1	And it was a bit vague even at that point on just the very light premise of the show and if I
1:13.2	would, you know, was any interest at all.
1:15.3	And I said, sure, like I'd love to hear a little bit more about it.
1:20.6	I thought the premise was intriguing of having families go back and live like it was in
1:26.2	the 1880s.
1:27.3	So there was quite a few different emails back and live like it was in the 1880s. So there was quite a few different
1:29.3	emails back and forth as of the timing of when the filming was going to begin, got shifted a little
1:36.7	bit. It got pushed back a little bit later into the summer. And so there was a lot of Zoom meetings
1:43.2	of meeting with the producers.
1:45.9	I never had any personal interactions with Chip and Joanna Gays.
1:49.7	That's been something people have asked me quite a few times.
1:52.5	They did visit set once, but it was not when I was there during filming, and everything
1:57.0	else was with the production company.
2:00.1	So I was, you know, looking at the times that I would have to be on set if it met at all
	...

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