Why can't I do this?! My First Homesteading Fail | Homesteading Diary [4]

It should be really simple: eggs, lemon, oil and salt....but I just can't seem to make mayonnaise and it's really frustrating! 

I'm not going to lie, when I tried (and failed) at this recipe I fully cried. I mean, I gave it a reeeeally good go....4 attempts and still no luck! Mayonnaise is supposed to be one of the simplest condiments to make yourself and I just can't seem to do it. What kind of a homesteader am I anyways?!

One that's going to keep going that's what!

I'm frustrated, and angry, and sad....I really should be able to master this....but I'm not letting it get to me. I am going to keep attempting this recipe until I get it right and then when I finally do it's going to taste even sweeter!

Homesteading up until now has been pretty easy. It's been simple gardening jobs and rose tinted recipes that really aren't that hard to achieve. It's been comfortable to start and with shops just down the road from us, and a lot of our produce still coming from our weekly grocery haul, it's made the pressure of homesteading non-existent. One day though we'll be relying on most of our own produce and a fail will feel even greater. A potato crop that gets blight and is destroyed....a coop that isn't secure and allows entry to foxes....a batch of preserved food that moulds and goes bad. There are plenty of homesteading fails that will cost us greatly and chances are they will happen often. This mayonnaise fail is simply the start of years of trial and error, and I am here for it. Wellies pulled up, persistence switched on....let's do this.

So homesteading in Autumn looks pretty barren. At the moment we're preparing everything for winter and we've not made much progress over the last week. To be honest I am swamped with work and not really prioritising it, which is frustrating because it's where my heart lies, but because the jobs that need doing are real graft I keep pushing them back. We need to do big stuff before the winter hardens like digging in the pond, cutting back the shrubbery, clearing out the greenhouses, and sowing grass seed. They are all real hard labour jobs and as I jokily told my husband earlier, I'm here for the harvest not necessarily for the sowing. Shocking really, but my strengths lie in business not digging, so I leave a lot of that to him, but this Autumn we really need to pull together to get it done because there is a LOT to do. 

One thing I am desperate to do this week is research and attempt a hawthorn berry recipe. I've heard a ketchup is pretty good - and you can even distill it into a vodka I think! I also have my eyes on rosehips to make a syrup for the kiddos...turns out there is still so much to harvest during these beautiful orange months!

I found a bread maker in a charity shop this weekend! It was £10 and looks pretty decent! I'm going to give bread a go in it (I have 10 days to return it if it doesn't work), and see if that can ease the time we spend making bread each day. It had a timer section on it too and I love the idea of setting it to start before we wake, and rising to the smell of freshly baked bread each morning. Yum!

This next week the plan is to kick my butt into gear. It's not summer loving anymore....winter is coming and we need to get ready for it. Potatoes need to be harvested, food needs to be preserved, recipes need to be created and honed until perfect, and this home needs to feel comforting and warm ready for cold, dark winter months. I am so ready.

Until next time...