Sun drying...

I have spent absolutely ages researching solar dehydrator designs so that I am able to dehydrate my excess garden produce for use later in the year.

I even went so far as to purchase plans so that RMan could make me one.

That presumed that RMan would (1) want to tackle the task and (2) would be able to.  The answer to both was nada - he didn't feel his woodworking skills were up to it.

So, when the kitchen shelves received doors and the flyscreens were installed I grabbed the opportunity and asked the carpenter if he would be interested.

Turns out he was... :)

So, after agreeing on his labour quote and ordering some 6mm marine plywood, plus 32 X 32mm wood, and sundry other items, the dehydrator started to become an actuality.

It took him two weeks, and finally I received the call I had been waiting for.

We collected the dehydrator from him, took it home, established the exact size of the toughened safety glass top (a definite necessity as I didn't want to chance the glass shattering into very dangerous shards if something unforeseen happened), ordered and then waited for the toughened safety glass to be delivered to a collection point in our nearby town.

A week later the glass arrived. 

(A side note - the carpenter didn't follow the copy of the written instructions he was given, and the unit wasn't square :(  Not easy to order and install glass on an unsquare unit... <sigh> )

A week earlier I had contacted a local wood preservative manufacturing company and the lady I spoke to assured me that once the product was dry it was safe to use with food.  I took her at her word and we coated the dehydrator inside and out with their product.

So, the unit was "workable".

Workable in that it was complete, even if it lacked the bottom absorber plate and the shelves.  I am still trying to souce affordable non-toxic shelving to go inside, but, I couldn't wait to try it out.  So I grabbed my cake / biscuit cooling rack from the kitchen and, balancing it on wooden dowel rods, created a drying shelf.

You can clearly see the wooden dowel rods
supporting the cooling rack

The very last of my tomato harvest went onto this rack, and the wait began.

It easily reached a temperature of 45 - 50°C (113 - 122°F).

I was ecstatic :)  Yeeeeeeeeha!  Solar dehydrating had just become a fact of life in my kitchen.

But, something kept niggling at the back of my brain.  And that kind of niggling keeps me up at night.  And, being up at night, means that if I want to research anything I need to Google via my smart phone.  Not the easiest as the screen is too small for my aging eyes (even with specs) and my fingers too big for the tiny keyboard, but I don't want to switch on the laptop in the middle of the night - that would inevitably mean that I wouldn't get to bed until the sun came up - I can get very carried away once I start investigating...

But, what I discovered gave me serious pause for thought - which I re-investigated, and confirmed the following day when I woke up.

The instructions I purchased stated that I should use plywood.  But, after contacting our local co-op and getting a certificate on the plywood I had purchased from them (it is imported from Malaysia!!!) I discovered that there is no plywood in this country that does not contain formaldehyde!  Good grief!  I'm going to poison us...

Much, much, much research later has unearthed the fact that it seems that all wood in this country has been pressure treated against beetle, mould, worm, etc by using formaldehyde or boron or arsenic, etc.

I thought I would ask the wood preserving company if they would put their "non-toxic" product safety in writing.  It turns out it is not rated food safe.

But - they were kind enough to give me a link to a site which detailed food safe techniques.

As soon as I discovered that the unit was unsafe for food, I whipped the tomatoes out of it, and shoved them into the solar oven to dehydrate.  The solar oven works OK, but, even with the lid propped open 5cms, it still attains too high a temperature, which has led to my incinerating a couple of loads of tomatoes this summer...

So - back to the drawing board I go.  Ah well, I've got at least 5 - 6 months before I will need a solar dehydrator.

But, for all those (and there are many of them out there) who make a solar dehydrator out of scraps and left over bits of wood - be warned.  Your wood may contain harmful chemicals...

New beginnings?

A simple arrangement of the wild flowers which
abound - who needs a massive arrangement - I
subscribe to KISS (keep it simple, stupid)
The matchbox is to give you perspective on how
tiny the flowers are.

After a hectic festive season - entertaining and being entertained - RMan and I had a quiet New Year.  Just the two of us, parked in front of the TV watching the fireworks displays from around the world as those places reached midnight.  We didn't make it to our own.  And didn't crack our bubbly. So we had it with brunch today :)

A close-up of the tiny, tiny wild flowers

What is it about the New year that always inspires one to make changes - to one's life, to one's attitude or to one's modus operandi?

We have a whole bunch to look forward to this year.  Miranda will be having her cria in February / March.  Kris was misbehaving earlier today - trying to mount Miranda - so he has been placed in his own paddock.  It was only a matter of time before that had to happen anyway - they must be separated before she gives birth.

Kris certainly knows how to put on the
"poor me" face.  RMAn is feeling very bad
about plonking him in his own paddock.

No, he's not happy and is now firmly fixed to the area where he entered his paddock - humming and gazing longingly at Miranda.  But, we know he'll get over it in a day or two - or three...

At least they are easily able to see each other.

Miranda's "pond" - just a hollowed out area in the
ground lined with a double layer of the thickest
building plastic we  could find.  They have padded
hooves, so the plastic should be able to handle
the impact.

The alpaca's found a few of the days pretty warm - even with their shorn coats.  A sure signal that Miranda is hot is when she starts "pawing" the water bucket.  Some alpaca's love lying in water - to cool off the radiator area of their bodies - their stomachs.  Miranda is such an alpaca.  Kris - he's a typical male - who needs water...?

Kris - always the curious one, but that's as
far as it goes.  He's not going anywhere near
water, thank you very much.  "Rather, give
me a sand bath..."!

So, we set about giving her a small "pond" to cool off in.
  

So far, she hasn't used it, but at least it's there if she does decide it's worth trying.  Seems she prefers RMAn to let the contents of the rain water tank flow out of the hosepipe and she then careully positions herself down in the puddle that forms.

My veggies are coming on nicely, and I have made a decision regarding the preservation of them.  I do not possess a canning pot - and I wouldn't even know where to find one in this country.  Trying to buy one off Amazon is out of the question - it would seem that anything which is imported now - even a simple fly / mosquito net for our bed - carries such a heavy import duty that it is almost not worth the item by the time it is received.  I mean, seriously, I purchased the fly / mosquito net for $29.95 (roughly ZAR320.00)  In order for Customs to release the parcel I had to pay ZAR335.00 - so I ended up with a mosquito net for ZAR655.00????  Still cheaper than buying a bespoke one locally ( which will fit the bed in a similar fashion), but I feel that is still a lot of money.

Also, our growing season is so long that it really isn't necessary to "put away" food for any great length of time.  Beans, peas and spinach / swiss chard grow abundantly here in winter, and summer - well - summer's bounty lasts from the end of October to the end of April / May.

I also do not have an electric food dehydrator that can handle the hopefully abundent harvest which will be available in a month or two's time.  Nor do we have the power allowance to run an electric dehydrator for 2 - 3 days / batch continuously.

I have also had my electric chest freezer on for the past 15 - 21  days - but that is tantamount to running two fridges, and is proving heavy going for our solar power storage.  So, in the next week to ten days, I will be using whatever is left in the freezer before turning it off again.  So freezing produce is out of the question.

So, how am I going to preserve my vegetables?

Via a solar food dehydrator :)

RMan - that is (once again) where you are needed :)  I purchased the wood last year, but that got used for other "important" projects (like shelving for RMan's tools, and containers of nails, nuts and bolts etc).  So, once I am able to get more wood, then we are going to make a solar dehydrator.  Stay tuned for more news on that...