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4:01 pm
June 2, 2010
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Sage, lemon verbena and oregano. The house smells wonderful or at least it did when I left for work.
7:36 pm
June 2, 2010
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My wonderful sister-in-law just dropped off two grocery bags full of rosemary and lavender. So the trays are filled with those. I need to make her some soap for her kindness. Wahoo, my house smells wonderful.
8:06 am
November 20, 2009
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We are not really dehydrating just drying the corn for meal etc.
8:10 am
November 20, 2009
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Sorry I couldn't figure out how to put in two pictures, sigh!!
9:38 am
May 2, 2010
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The corn is so pretty hanging by the window! We glean corn in my brother's fields after the harvesters finish and just spread it out in the shed -- maybe I should try hanging a few ears in the house for decoration, too. 
I'm drying lots of lemongrass (mainly for teas and tisanes or soap-making) and lovage plus peas and spinach today. Really need to lift a section of the lemongrass and pot up for overwintering. No frost yet but it's coming…
11:16 am
September 16, 2010
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Shiitake mushrooms are the order of the day here. There is usually a big flush of mushrooms in the fall. Come to the Retreat 2012 and learn how to do your own logs!!
11:05 pm
October 31, 2010
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Peach leather – my first time. But, sad to say, in a "roundstackynescodehydrator" that doesn't allow good airflow. 
So…I think it will take a Looonnnnggg time.
Can't wait for an excalibur or a TSM!!
2:12 pm
January 31, 2011
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QUESTIONS questions
1. when you dry lavender…are you talking flowers/ or the actual leaves and twigs from pruning the bushes?
2. when you guys make jerky…do you seal that with the food sealer…( I am putting it in little jars in prep for christmas) AND is it safe to store at room temp, or should i store in fridge. ???????
3. dang, i forgot. Recall will happen around 2 AM, I suppose.
laur
2:36 pm
May 6, 2011
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Laur: Ref. question 2: I store mine in a jar that has been sealed with a vacuum sealer. They, like anything else dried needs to be in an air tight container. If your house is anything like mine it should be hidden because if not it won't last til Christmas. The biggest temptor is——yeah you guessed it ME. I don't put mine in the fridge.
3:24 pm
June 2, 2010
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I'm drying both the leaves and flowers of lavender. Some of my plants didn't flower but were amazlingly full with leaves. Those went in the dehydrator. DH brought me a huge bunch of lavender, with flowers, those are going in the dehydrator as well. I'm thinking soap for one thing!
3:28 pm
May 2, 2010
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When I have a bumper crop of lavender or need to trim some bushes, I dry leaves, blossoms and stems. If possible I separate flowers as I use them for many purposes and don't mind if they're visible in some uses but usually only want the stems and leaves for scent not looks. (Hope that makes sense!)
Today I'm drying cremini and button mushrooms plus broccoli stems and spinach.
5:27 pm
January 31, 2011
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Omy, thanks everyone!
How low do you cut your lavender bushes in the fall? Before I had the dehydrator, Ijust dried flowers etc on the covered porch and made potpourri out of them…the sticks i used for firestarters ( 1/2 in dipped in oil for a sec) , but now…
NOW…
I do not want to damage my lavender plants, though…
laur
4:11 pm
May 2, 2010
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You want to trim below the flowering top stems but include about a third of the grey-leaved stems as well. If the plant's been neglected, you can cut back a bit more to neaten it but don't cut so much that only woody stems with no visible leaves remain. (FWIW, I don't trim mine back too late in the season, just leave them till spring when I can see where the new growth is coming in and trim just above that.)
http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/lavendercareandtips.htm
The link above has a great short video embedded down near the bottom of the page outlining how to cut back lavender after blooming (when flowers start to brown) and how to cut back a very overgrown and woody lavender. (Follows a good overview, including flower stem photos, of the types of lavender.)
6:05 pm
February 20, 2011
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Carolyn,
thank you for that link to mountain valley growers. Lotsa great info there on caring for lavender! 
11:26 pm
August 14, 2011
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Today I got 3 bags of free mini marshmallows. I remembered about the dehydrated marshmallows being so yummy, thinking of Lucky Charms. So I searched and read that it tool about 4 hrs. They would be soft until cooled and then get crispy. They are so yummy. Crunchy little puffs of sweet stuff. Think hot chocolate marshmallows, only a little bigger. Yumm! Now I wanna find how yall (?) made the flavored marshmallows.
6:01 am
October 31, 2010
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Any advice on blueberries? Do I really have to pierce each one?
1:31 pm
December 30, 2010
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I've got basil and parsley from the CSA share this past week, and some apple rings sprinkled with cinnamon in mine today. The apples are at a lower temp than usual, but are drying nicely (if not slowly).
Soon… very soon… there will be jerky a-plenty filling those shelves! There are currently 2 deer (in skinned pieces) in my extra fridge that are going to be chopped into roasts, stew/chili meat, ground into burger and sausage, and sliced thin into jerky strips this week!
1:57 pm
May 2, 2010
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Leah's Mom said:
Any advice on blueberries? Do I really have to pierce each one?
Don't try to pierce each one; that could make you crazy! Instead craze the blueberries 
by dropping them into boiling water for about 30 seconds then into ice cold water immediately to bring the temperature back down. (Unlike when blanching foods you don't want the heat to penetrate to the center of the blueberry.) This will craze the natural wax coating on the skin of the blueberry which will let the moisture escape and speed up the dehydrating.
You can do the same thing for cranberries, grapes, and plums when drying them whole. The recommended time varies from 15-60 seconds depending on fruit size and skin toughness…
5:16 pm
November 11, 2010
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First time posting on this cause my MIL gave me a NIB dehydrator she had sitting in her garage! So I have apple slices going since that's what I had on hand. Cannot wait to learn and try more and more! I love free!
6:31 pm
February 10, 2009
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Mine is full of apples too MamaJ! I love having dried apples to munch on, a few of them now and then during the day and I do so much less munching on other less desirable things! I can't dry em fast enough to have any to store though! 
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