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Sunday 3 July 2011

Solar Dehydrator

Step 1: Find an old kitchen unit, knock out the bottom and attach legs


Step 2: Find a couple of old bee frames coincidentally fitting your kitchen cabinet.  Ask your wife or your cross dressing boyfriend for an old pair of tights and stretch over bee frames.  Take some old bits of mirror to put on the sides to reflect light from various angles.


Step 3: put a glass pane across and place on a sunny south facing spot.


Within minutes temperatures rose to 45 C.  The first experimental batch of courgette slices for drying, we've got plenty of them at the moment, so no great loss if it doesn't work.  We're anxiously awaiting the results tomorrow... and next maybe figs... or pear slices... prunes?


In other news Shaun and Molly from Texas made themselves at home in the new caravan and building some steps down from the caravan to the nearest tomato bed:
 and a flood defense dike along the top of our land:


amongst other things...

8 comments:

Stefaneener said...

Wow! Sounds great. I can't wait to see the results of all, especially the dike.

Rick and Pat said...

Hi Heiko
Isnt it lovely to have weather for drying stuff. I use a large mesh shop bought vegetable rack, I found ages ago. I just drape a net curtain over it to stop bugs. It works a treat..

Mr. H. said...

Did it work? Certainly looks like it should have. Ha! More helpers, lucky you...looks like you will be accomplishing quite a bit this season...very nice. Enjoy those dried fruits.

chaiselongue1 said...

What a great idea! Are you going to try tomatoes? We had a more rustic version a couple of years ago and dried some....maybe we should try again this year.

Fern Driscoll said...

What a great design for a dryer - how did things turn out?? I didn't see dried veggies on the birthday party table...

WeekendFarmer said...

Wow..the material requirement is pretty complex..." cross dressing boy friend" Very funny.

If you can find bee frames ..you can definitely find the hives for your bee keeping mission.

Love the dryer! You could do mangoes too....given they are native to Italy - kiddin.

Good to see you are enjoying your summer.

Heiko said...

A quick update. The dehydrator worked a treat for the courgette slices, which have been salted and will be consumed as snacks instead of potato crisps. The figs are a lot slower and the ants have managed an entry point after the hot sun appears to have melted a couple of holes into the nylon. So maybe wire mesh and net curtains is the better option...

Anonymous said...

I noticed you used Black Opaque Tights ..? ..Were they your own..if so what denier were they ..?