Build a Solar Food Dehydrator
Written by Kate Petersen on July 2, 2008 – 8:59 am -Mother Earth News tells you how.
What do you plan to eat the rest of the year? Will you rely on industrial foods grown by strangers from all over the world and shipped thousands of miles? With increasing interest in healthy eating, sustainable local food supplies and self-reliance, many people are discovering the benefits of a solar food dehydrator.
Read the rest at the link.
Posted in Alternative Energy, Frugality, Stocking Up 101 |
9 Comments
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Kate - I cannot get the link to work. Can you re-post it?
So sorry! It should work now. HTML gremlins at work.
An interesting article in the local paper today said the organic farms in the state increased by 27% last year. Even if it is a small part of the overall farms here it is a great increase. I really really love our local farmers. I’m already booked for a heritage turkey in 2009 that’s grown about 10 minutes from my house.
I buy non-GMO tofu from a local supplier and the occasional meat from the local organic meat market. We eat the seasons at the local farmer’s market. Really, really local. Some FM’s are trucking in produce from 100’s of miles away, our FM is a county one. Love it. Also, I hear the COO (country of origin) is going into effect next month. That will maybe jolt people into realizing where things come from. I’ve sworn off bananas for that reason.
Our 365-day farmer’s market has two sections, one for local produce (instate only) and one for out of state. There are two year-round vendors there who sell local produce when it’s available but ordinary grocery-store-type stuff during the winter, but they don’t try to pass it off as local.
There are also a couple of what I refer to as upscale yuppie Saturday markets which are open only on Saturday mornings during the summer and limit vendors to locally-produced food. Those are nice, but way way expensive and only a few vendors sell organic produce.
Our FM is only late April to mid December. We have gotten a late start this year due to weather so it may go a little later. This market may be the most profitable in the nation. It has really grown and farmer’s are on the waiting list to have a booth. Great diversity. Young and old farmers and we try to spread our dollars among the lot. A chocolateer that is a retired state worker, a Guatemalan who has a great hot sauce, emu oil, worm fertilizer, tie-dyed baby clothes, lots of cool stuff.
Wow! That is lot more complex than my simple little frames and fiberglass screening, but looks like it would work well. With that said, for next to nothing I have dried many pounds of food with good success with my crude design. If the cost of the mental frame is too offputting, the screening can be stapled to cheap frames made from scrap wood.
I am not criticizing those designs by any mean, far from it! But it is possible to use much simpler ones with a little time an patience. Warmest regards, Doc.
Doc,
You are right. I like the simple stuff. Your ideas are something I can deal with.
I suspect that it depends on how much one has to process. If mass quantities are needed (my respect to Curtin and Ackroyd), then perhaps something with more throughput than mine has would be in order. Warmest regards, Doc.
Kate, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I should have known I could find it on Mother Earth because that’s where I got my plans for the passive solar heaters.
I love Translator’s dryer, too - especially because it’s one I can actually make. But this is the one I’ve been - er - waiting for.