I've found a great use for that gas-guzzling second car that with gas prices at $4 a gallon just sits in the driveway or street these days. A super-duper giant "solar auto dehydrator" for herbs, veggies, you name it from the garden.
Being an herbalist, I'm all about growing my own herbs and preserving them in various ways for year-round use. Someone on my yahoo food storage group suggested using a car as a super-efficient solar food dehyrator.
This works perfectly because an herb like chamomile only puts out a few flowers each day that are ripe for picking and drying for my kids' favorite herbal tea. With the "solar auto dehydrator" I can pick those few flowers a day from my one or two plants, set them in the basket and let them sit in the car for two days. The more I pick, the more the plant blooms. Gradually I'll accumulate a jar's worth of flowers by fall.
And I don't have to heat my house with the oven, nor keep the electric Ronco dehydrator plugged in day in and day out.
I've also been successfully drying lemon balm, sage and lavender in my "solar auto dehydrator". Everything so far has taken two days to dehydrate fully.
The Independence Days Challenge has taught me to do a little bit every day toward food independence. I'm drying a little bit of herbs every day that are gradually adding up to a winter's worth of tea and seasonings.
Being an herbalist, I'm all about growing my own herbs and preserving them in various ways for year-round use. Someone on my yahoo food storage group suggested using a car as a super-efficient solar food dehyrator.I just put my herbs in wicker baskets and set them on the floor or seats of the car, mostly out of direct sunlight. I don't know what the exact temp. in the car is, but I think it's lower than what I can set my oven to, and slower dehydrating at lower temps is better for preserving an herb's flavor and medicinal properties.
This works perfectly because an herb like chamomile only puts out a few flowers each day that are ripe for picking and drying for my kids' favorite herbal tea. With the "solar auto dehydrator" I can pick those few flowers a day from my one or two plants, set them in the basket and let them sit in the car for two days. The more I pick, the more the plant blooms. Gradually I'll accumulate a jar's worth of flowers by fall.And I don't have to heat my house with the oven, nor keep the electric Ronco dehydrator plugged in day in and day out.
I've also been successfully drying lemon balm, sage and lavender in my "solar auto dehydrator". Everything so far has taken two days to dehydrate fully.
The Independence Days Challenge has taught me to do a little bit every day toward food independence. I'm drying a little bit of herbs every day that are gradually adding up to a winter's worth of tea and seasonings.
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