Growing excess of what you need? Need to store the rest?

When we get to the point when no one else will take another zucchini - the only thing left is to store it. As for storing dairy - make cheese!

In a typical summer, the produce begins in June with early vegetables and fruit (strawberries). This begins a feast of harvest. By mid-August the variety of food abundance becomes so over whelming that unless it is properly stored - so much of it will go to waste.

I found food dryers to be expensive to buy and then operate. The propane heated food dryers might do the job quicker and provide an even temperature for drying food to perfect preservation, but there again, the process depends on an outside source of energy to buy and we want to do things on the cheap and easy.

So, we took an old refrigerator and a freezer and convert them to both solar and wood heated food dryers. The older units are all metal interiors. Old glass was used to make the solar collector and the front door of the refrigerator is painted black to absorb as much heat as possible. Smaller screened holes on the bottom of the solar collection unit let fresh air in and keep bugs out. The whole solar collection system is intergraded into the door and though a little awkward, collects heat on sunny August days - up to 120 degrees F. On the top of the door, solar fans move the warm dry heat into the main compartment and solar powered fans draw the heated air down through the racked food and out the sides. The larger the solar collection - the more free heat the unit has for drying food.

Since we didn't want a refrigerator looking thing sitting in the yard all summer - we painted it black and it seems less noticeable. . . but still sits in plain sight. Well, we happened to have an old freezer that wasn't doing the best job so we cannibalized that too. But since we already had a solar food dryer - the next thing to try was a wood fired dryer.

We happened to have an old charcoal grill that found new life as the wood box. The chimney runs through the back of the old freezer where it heats the box. I had originally thought to just vent the smoke through the space between the inside metal and outside metal of the freezer but that would have meant dismantling the whole unit to remove insulating materials.

 

Making the food racks was harder for this dryer than the solar dryer since they had to be both food safe and made out of metal since this gets hotter faster than the solar powered box.

 

Vents were added to keep the dry air coming in and moist air out and we still have work to do to tweek the unit into perfect operation since the temps inside this unit can reach 450 degrees F rather quickly. For more control of the temperature we need to make the in-take and exit air holes adjustable (maybe add a sliding air in and out).

We found this unit double duties as a great smoker when the inside chimney is removed.

Here's a link to our favorite Food Drying Info: Dehydrate2Store.com

Over time, I found that the easier something is to do - the more likely it gets done so I apply that to food preservation.

Gather all that wonderful food you grew on a regular basis by putting gardens in places you go or enjoy going to in your yard. Create a place to sit in large gardens and add a table if you find you are in need of one frequently.

The first thing in food preservation is cleaning the food so baskets with holes where you can wash the collected goods outside works best. Then gently roll all the goods out on a table to dry and begin the processing. If you can't get to preserving it right away - put the cleaned produce in the refrig.

Some foods need to be cooked before freezing or drying. Potatoes are one that comes to mind. I tend to stay away from foods that require more work and keep potatoes in the root cellar instead of processing them. Potatoes, yams, carrots, parnips and onions are all root cellar canidates and only when I think there are an "over abundance" will I do more than wash them, let them dry and store them.

Spinach also needs to be cooked before frozen or dried (I hate canned spinach). But it is quick and easy to process through a pot of boiling water, drain, cool & bag for freezing.

If I can't get it in the food dryer shortly after harvest, and it won't do well in the root cellar, the freezer is where its headed since I can store it there with little loss of nutrition until the dry space becomes available.

I have 3 food dryers. The Excalibur which will do about 1/2 bushel at a time and uses electricity; the big-recycled refrigerator food dryer which can handle 2 bushels of corn and dry it down to a gallon size bag in about 36 hours; and the wood stoves we run over winter. I only use the electric dry when drying sensitive things like herbs and seeds. The bulk of the dried food goes through the outdoor wood fired dryer. During the winter, when I take out a bag of frozen produce, I only use part of the bag and the rest goes on the wood stove drying system since the wood is running anyway.

I have been thinking that I should start cooking triple size meals and what isn't eaten can also go on the wood stove for drying to further reduce storage space needs. And, I would have Ready to Eat Meals (MREs) - just add water.

Ultimately, the goal is to get as much as our food dried as possible since it takes the least amount of space.

When people ask me why I would want to store a year or 2 of food, the answer is simple (at least to me). Having food stored for a rainy day can mean one less thing to worry about if there was a crisis in our family. If I got sick , food is still here. If a flood happened and we have a year's worth of repairs to tend to - food would not be an issue. Just having it can be a security like saving money in a bank.

Besides security, its also a hedge against inflation. I paid for my food what I paid for the seeds 5 years ago and nothing since. That means abundant food becomes a freedom from inflation as well as security like insurance. Its more common-sensical than any other purchase you can make since - you are going to need it whether you grow your own or not.