She Competed on Back to the Frontier — What She Learned Will Inspire Every Homesteader | Stacey Loper Interview

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

🗓️ 11 July 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it really take to live off the land in today’s world—and could you do it under pressure? In this special episode, I sit down with Stacey Loper, one of the brave contestants from the brand-new TV series Back to the Frontier, where modern families are challenged to survive like the pioneers.

I share my behind-the-scenes experience giving advice to the show's cast, while Stacey opens up about the hardest parts of filming, how faith and grit carried her through, and what lessons she’s bringing home to her real-life homestead.

Whether you’re a seasoned homesteader or just starting out, this conversation will inspire you to get back to basics and trust that you can do hard things.

Tune in for a heartfelt, down-to-earth chat about community, resilience, and living intentionally—on and off screen.

For more information and any links mentioned in today’s podcast, visit https://melissaknorris.com/473

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, pioneers. I have been keeping a secret for over a year.
0:09.0	Now, a lot of us who are interested in homesteading like to dream about, think about what it would
0:15.5	be like to actually go back to the 1800s and live without social media, without our modern conveniences.
0:24.6	But it's another thing entirely for us to actually do that.
0:30.0	So last year, I was approached by a production company that was doing a homesteading social experiment, where they were taking
0:39.4	families who had no homesteading or farming backgrounds and putting them in a scenario just like it
0:47.3	was the 1880s, meaning they were out from civilization, no cell phones, no electricity, outhouses, no running water. And they were
0:58.6	like that for over two months, completely living like it was the 1880s and filming it as a show.
1:08.6	I was super excited to be involved and I got to fly up and be on the show five different
1:16.3	times and it was absolutely fascinating. I'm really excited for today's episode because I am going to be
1:25.4	sitting down with one of the contestants, Stacey Loper,
1:29.2	and we are going to talk about all about her experience with the show, what it's like now
1:34.6	a year later. And the show is a brand new TV series called Back to the Frontier. It's releasing
1:40.9	the first episode on July 10th, and I have not even got to see it yet.
1:46.9	So I'm really excited to see everything, what makes it into the episodes, what doesn't.
1:53.8	And as they release, I can't wait to hear your guys' feedback from those of you who end up watching it as well.
2:03.8	I had the honor of getting to offer advice as filming began and throughout the episodes. And let me tell you, it was a whole different
2:10.5	thing when you are actually living like it's in the 1880s for an extended period of time, especially that, like, we've went
2:22.4	without power for 14 days, has been the longest that we've been without power in some of those
2:26.3	modern conveniences. However, this was where they went off-site. They were not anywhere near
2:33.4	their own homes. And the only interactions that they had were with, of course, the film crew, myself and the historian and then the other families that were in the show. So it's not like cameras shut off and, you know, they went back to a hotel in the city or anything like that. They were completely isolated
2:51.1	from modern society for the filming of its entirety. And it was very, very interesting. I know I keep
	...

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