The Real Reason People Are Turning to Homesteading | Episode 513
Pioneering Today Podcast - Homesteading in a Modern World
Melissa K Norris
4.8 • 974 Ratings
🗓️ 5 June 2026
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why are so many people being drawn to homesteading right now?
In today's episode, I'm sharing a more personal reflection on what I've witnessed during my 15+ years teaching homesteading and traditional skills. While many people initially come to homesteading for healthier food, self-sufficiency, or preparedness, I've noticed something deeper happening beneath the surface.
Again and again, people tell me they feel called by God to this lifestyle.
In this episode, I share my own story of how God called me into teaching traditional skills, why I believe more people are returning to gardening, food preservation, and self-reliance, and how stewardship, community, and faith all play a role in the modern homesteading movement.
In this episode, we'll discuss:
• Why homesteading continues to grow
• The deeper reasons people are drawn to traditional skills
• Stewardship, preparedness, and biblical wisdom
• Why community matters more than isolation
• The story behind our local Cowboy Church
• How faith and homesteading often intersect
• Upcoming events and opportunities to gather together
Whether you're new to homesteading or have been living this lifestyle for years, I hope this conversation encourages you to thoughtfully consider what is drawing you to these skills and how they can serve your family, community, and faith.
Resources & Links:
🌱 Modern Homesteading Conference: https://modernhomesteading.com
🌱 Heritage Revival Women's Conference: https://heritagerevivalevents.com
🌱 How my mom fed our family on $100 a month podcast episode: https://melissaknorris.com/504
🌱 Grab all the details and any other links mentioned in the blog post here: https://melissaknorris.com/513
Verse of the Week: 2 Timothy 1:9
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, pioneers. So I have had a front row seat to the modern homesteading movement for a long time now. |
| 0:13.4 | And there's something deeper happening that I think is worth talking about. And I've hesitated a little bit over this episode. Not exactly sure which angle and how I |
| 0:25.6 | wanted to present it, but I think it's a really important discussion. So we're going to dive in. |
| 0:31.6 | So I have been in the online homesteading teaching space since 2011. |
| 0:39.3 | Locally, I was teaching in person, home food preservation, way before that. |
| 0:44.3 | And then my husband and I have been homesteading since we got married going on our 26 year. |
| 0:50.3 | I was raised, it's what we call modern homesteading now. It's more of a generalized term that |
| 0:56.9 | many people identify with. But when I was growing up, we just lived super ruraly. And so we were had a |
| 1:02.7 | garden. My mom cooked from scratch. My mom canned. My dad, we raised our own beef. Like we were |
| 1:08.0 | doing things that is completely a homesteading lifestyle. We just didn't |
| 1:12.8 | call it that. We just, it was just country life. So meaning I have been in this modern |
| 1:19.1 | homesteading movement pretty much since birth in all reality. I had one of the earliest |
| 1:25.3 | homesteading podcast actually started as a local radio show back in 2013 and then became the Pioneering Today podcast. |
| 1:32.0 | We've been on the air for a really long time. |
| 1:34.6 | I founded the Pioneering Today Academy, which to my knowledge is one of the very first homesteading |
| 1:40.7 | memberships was founded back in 2016. |
| 1:43.6 | So we just hit our 10-year anniversary. |
| 1:47.1 | And I've co-founded the Modern Homesteading Conference where we have thousands of people. |
| 1:53.1 | This is our fourth year, as well as I've taught all across the country at different homesteading events. |
| 2:00.5 | So I've got a broad, long-time view of |
| 2:05.3 | what homesteading has looked like over the past, how many years is that good night? 15 years |
| 2:12.5 | in the digital social media age that we have now. And what was really fascinating is homesteading or the traditional skills, however you identify |
... |
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