>>>>Sustainable Living PLUS Canning and Dehydrating Food<<<<

I thought you were gone for the night [it's night here] So I was ready to sign out.

i's still here, its 4.38pm in nz

Holy Moly.. that would make you about 9 hrs ahead of me!

its thursday here, are you in thursday too?

not for awhile...

so am i more than 24 hours ahead of you?

flava,

I did answer your pm the other day, but i see you havent opened it..

did it not get to you?

No Tauranga, it did not get to me.

Oh dear, and i posted it from the laptop, not the phone, so phone reception wasn't to blame this time.

It was a big, long reply too..

If you want you can resend it or copy paste resend.

How are things going for you? We are having a storm of politicians here in Florida at the moment. The one strange thing is, last time there were signs everywhere, you couldnt go 50 ft without seeing one, and on main corners there would be twenty or thirty, this year I have seen only an occasional sign.

I dehydrated some potatoes yesterday for the first time, and I cant believe how fast they were done. It was only about 3-4 hours and they were bone dry. The apples take twice as long.

They were al little discolored, but that doesnt bother me. I suppose I could put some sprite on them to keep the color fresh, but honestly it doesnt bother me. When I use them they will be in a gravy or something.

Do you have a dehydrator or use the oven? I was thinking of dehydrating fruit this spring, and will probably use my oven.

I have a nesco dehydrater. It was only 40 bucks and came with the beef jerky gun and a fruit roll up tray as well as 5 regular trays.

I use the oven for jerky, but fruit and veggies are supposed to be done at 125-135 degrees and I dont know what "warm" is on my oven but the next setting is 200 degrees. I think if its to warm the nutrients get cooked out. You can put it in your car with the windows up in the sun once it gets warmer, that works real well

Hi, guys. Finally feeling well enough to type!

OG, I've never used the oven either. I used to have a dehydrator, but mice got into it and I didn't think it could be cleaned enough, so I threw it out. Hubs was not happy with me. I didn't know he'd torn it apart before, but I still didn't want to use it after that!

That would only work here in August...but who knows with the pole shift...it might be that hot in June?

Actually, I'll just put my oven thermometer in there, and keep it to the lower temp.

If you park your car in full sun and your windows arent too tinted, I bet it will work just fine. We used to do it in upstate NY all summer. Even in spring you can do it, just takes longer. I wouldnt do bananas or something till its really hot, but thin sliced apple or strawberries, even peaches, and certainly potatoes would work.

Here in Fl we can actually do it on the house roof, the problem is I havent been able to keep the bugs off them in the outside, but they do dehydrate if its not to humid.

Thanks..I'll think about that this spring

Has ANYONE heard from Tinygreen? I don't know what to think anymore. I have to ask myself, why would someone just disapppear off the site in the middle of it with no clue or explaination? Part of me wants to panic, and think something has happened to her. I live too far away, or I would drive over there and see what was up!

Hi, Old Guard. She logged on 20 days ago, but I don't think she posted anywhere. I e-mailed before Christmas and haven't heard back. Flav "talked" to her earlier than that, but other than that, I don't think anyone has.

Nope, that was the only time I talked to her and she said she was burnt out and tired. I wonder if she has found another forum or just has enough to deal with between her parents and winter. There could be tons of things going on with her farmhouse, it is old, who knows.

I just hope she decides to come back at some point.

Hey, Flav. Lehman's used to have a non-electric, hanging food dryer. It's rectangular and made out of netting. An elderly lady we knew years ago had her son make her one. She told us about it and then I say it in the catalog. We have such tiny bugs, I always wondered about it, but she swore by them.

I tried to cover them with a screen and the gnats still got in.

Maybe that is smaller netting

I thought about the screens, too. I think this one uses something like tulle or cheesecloth. I'm not sure.

I have to go to bed, so I will talk with you in the morning.

Yeah, me too. I'm still pooped out from the crud. Nite.

Hope you're feeling better tomorrow TB! I'll be thinking of you!

Tb are you feeling better? I hope so. Hope you are resting yourself and not running around taking care of everyone else. Sometimes you have to let them take care of you.