Solar Dehydrator

What are the best ways of preserving food? Well, I guess that entirely depends on what you're storing, what facilities for storage you have and how you plan on using the end product. Take onions for example. You could pickle them, store them in a cool room as whole onions, chop and dehydrate them or chop and freeze them.

Each method has it's advantages but for us the options are limited. Our storage room isn't nearly cold enough for onions and potatoes to last very long so pickling or drying are better options. And our freezer is full of other things that can't be dried so it's time to get chopping.

Normally I would build a simple solar dryer using window screen, fibreglass not aluminum, and letting things dry outside. I'll make one over the weekend and show you. But since it's rainy and cool the best thing to use is an electric one. Unlike an oven there is a fan and the air temp can be regulated better to ensure even drying. I still rotate my racks periodically as well. Just follow the directions and you should be fine.

Onions are getting done as I've got so many to do and I'd like to get them packed into jars and on the shelf. It's rained for a few days so using a solar dryer is out of the question, but the electric one will work great. A word of advice though....use your dehydrator OUTDOORS or in the garage. Onions release all sorts of moisture when they are drying and also volatile oils. Your house will really stink of onions for days after drying indoors and the oils can make your eyes water even if you're not cutting them up at that moment. So a covered spot outdoors is always a good choice, trust me!

One other thing about electric dryers, you can use them year round on rainy days which makes them useful.

If you're interested in building your own solar dehydrator there are plans online. But you don't need to get complicated. Remember the solar heater project one ofour boys did for the science fair? It's easy to modify that to provide a flow of warm air into a box where your trays are waiting. Building it out of plywood means more cost but multiple years of use whereas a cardboard one can be composted every year. Just remember to screen your air inlets and outlets to keep out those pesky flies.

Other things we'll dry this year are tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes cut in half, apples, and fruit leather. I might try grapes for fun too, just to see if I can make raisins. It's not economical, but it will be interesting. Even root veggies like carrots and turnips can be dried and used later for soups and stews.

Well, I should go get ready for my visits and then I'll let you know how the onion chopping goes.

Tapping Maple Trees - How To Make Maple Syrup

This weekend begins our sugaring season. That is, turning the sap from our maple trees into maple syrup. We'll use plastic jugs, taps, a drill fitted with a 5/16 drill bit and a large pan for boiling. It's not a complicated process at all, and it's sort of fun too with a long tradition in Canada.

Pics to follow.

Normally you'd tap sugar maple trees because they have the highest concentration of sugar in the sap. But other trees will make syrup too. Regular old maple trees, birch and walnut will all make a delicious syrup if you boil down and concentrate the sap. After all, the sap is basically a sugary liquid that the trees use to store their energy over the winter. And you don't even need any special equipment either. The natives used carved taps or hollow reeds. Today we use plastic taps attached to hoses or metal taps with a hook on them for holding a bucket or jug. The thing is to find what works for you and does the smallest amount of damage to your trees. The basic method hasn't changed, just the equipment.

But why make your own syrup? It's time consuming to say the least.

Well, because it's a good sugar substitute, you can sell it, if you buy it in the store it's expensive, it makes a great gift or bartering item, and it's also then part of your food storage. Once you've bought the taps you can re-use them year after year just like the other equipment.

Ok, so have I convinced you to try it? It's easy...here's how.

Determine the best time of year. It's when the night time temperature is below freezing and the daytime is above. Usually in February, March and April depending on your climate.

Locate your maple trees (or birch, walnut, hickory) and determine both the south side and the diameter of the tree. You shouldn't tap a tree of less than 9 inches diameter and then you can put one tap for every 9-12 inches of diameter. Really, the fewer the better for the health of the tree. If there are any large roots or branches on your tree, that's a good area of flow so tap there.

Drill a hole between 20-30 inches off the ground with a very slight upward angle using a 5/16 drill bit and make the hole approx. 1.5 inches deep. Preferably on the south side. Put your tap in and gently knock it into place using a hammer. It'll take a minute but the sap will back up behind your tap and then start flowing down and out of the tap.

Here's where your choices come into play. You can hang a milk or water jug on the hook on the tap or put plastic tubing over it and run the tubing into a central collection tank. Or you can check the trees daily and empty the jugs into a bucket.

Run your collected sap through a filter. A clean pillowcase over a bucket works for this. You basically want to get out any dirt, bark or other bits before you boil so as to not leave a nasty flavour in your finished syrup.

Boil your sap for as long as it takes to reach a temperature 7 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than boiling water in your area, which changes with altitude of course. Here near sea level water boils at 212f so we boil until the syrup is 219. Use a candy thermometer for this part. And really keep a close eye on your syrup once it's getting close to 219, it can scorch so easily and be ruined. One other thing to mention...it takes approx. 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. That other 39 gallons is going to come off the boiling sap as steam and water vapour and trust me...you don't want that going on inside your house for the 12-24 hours of boiling it could take. So boil outside over a wood fire (free or cheap) if at all possible. Turkey fryers work too. We are going to build a little fire pit with a sturdy support for our boil off this year and hopefully the neighbours won't complain.

After the syrup has cooled for a few minutes, run it through another filter to remove any sugar crystals that have formed. Bottle and enjoy or better yet, trade with your neighbours!

See, I told you it was easy. I'll let you know how it works out for us. Maybe if I get brave I'll tap the trees before Steve comes home this weekend and get a batch boiled down for breakfast on Sunday. I guess it depends on the weather and the sap flow.

Food Shortages

As many doom and gloomers are arguing about the scarcity of food worldwide, we in the developed nations continue to over-consume both our planets resources and it's food supplies. We're feeling our pennies pinched by ever increasing prices at the grocery store for staples such as bread, flour, rice and we watch as the price of meat goes up accordingly (since the price of grains to raise animals goes up too).

But I want you to think about your total income for last year. Not what you reported on your taxes...what actually came into your house as income. Now figure out how much you spend on groceries in a year including snacks and eating out. Is it 10% of you income? 20%? 50%? On average in the developed nations it's under 15% and yet the country complaining the loudest in the US which spends a paltry 7% on food. I think this number is probably higher because of the food stamps program but I don't know how they came up with the results in the info I'll post in a moment. I do know that in our family it's about 25% on average but that will change as the kids grow up and leave home and as our income increases. Other large families are in the same boat as us, and we're not worse off simply because of good shopping habits and growing some of our own food. Once the farm is up and running again our food bills will be much less. Hooray!

Here's the information I'm referring to. It shows selected countries income to food dollars.

I know that cost of food isn't the whole story. These numbers don't take into account that maybe people in developed countries are spending 40% of their income on shelter as opposed to other countries where it's lower. What it DOES show though is the inequality of calories consumed. I'm guessing that the higher the number of calories, the higher the consumption of fat and sugar in junk foods. I wonder if we'll ever be able to strike a balance? Well...my diet continues. All I can do is my part.

I do believe that food shortages are something to prepare for. So today I'm planning my seed shopping for next years garden. I usually have a storage of seeds from one year to the next but since moving we're starting over again with many things. Seeds included. It's time to add them back into my food storage plans. I'll let you know what we're growing next year.

Preparing for an Emergency

As a lot of you know, we're Mormons. And one of the teaching of the latter day prophets is to store a supply of food, clothing and other necessities to help in times of need. Now this can mean that using you stored supplies helps with stretching your budget if you lose your job, getting through a natural disaster, and some people believe that if the economy crashes you'll need it too. This advice has been around for many many years though and it's not something new. What IS new are the types of people who now call themselves 'preppers'. They read things about the economy, politics, peak oil, and the many predictions that we as a world are heading for another depression. Probably one of the most famous late commers to the movement is Robert Kiyosaki, author of the famously popular "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" series of books about investing and money management. There's an interesting intervies with him over at Total Investor and I've included the video below.

Now of course several guys mention about firearms and that is a subject I don't wish to discuss on the blog right now. But the other ideas about storing supplies are something that we are hearing the world over and not just from church leaders. Governments and community groups are urging people everywhere to have a 72 hour kit ready so that in case of a disaster they can get by on their own for a few days before help can reach them. I noticed recently that many are now suggesting 96 hours (4 days) or upto a week if you live in a remote area.

If and what you decide to store are very individual choices. Some people simply don't want to store food. Some have limited resources or space for it. Whereas others will go gung ho and spend money on a lot of stuff that's really not essential. I would simply urge you to think about this....If something happens to disrupt the supply of food in Canada (3 days or less), or your neighbourhood, how long can you last? Do you have a source of heat, water, food and shelter? In a pinch this is as simple as a small tent, sleeping bag, cooking pot with matches, water and some canned food or granola bars in the trunk of your car. We're not talking about building a fallout shelter in the back yard. It's best, in my opinion, to start slowly and to gradually store what you will use and eat. Even those on the leanest budget should be able to find a way to store an extra can of soup or a small bag of oatmeal every week. It quickly adds up to the point that you have to begin rotating your food. And if you look closely you can find room to store it. When I was first married I had my boxes of food supporting the mattress of my bed and I used jars of blackberry jam to hold up the individual boards of my shelves. They work just as well as bricks :)Think about a motorhome, it's laid out to have as much usable storage and space as possible. If you need some help, just send me a message.

I have to go get the kids but will finish this post later on what to have in your 72 hour kit.