This season's favorite find...

This season's favorite find...

Mid July I began thinking about how I preserve foods, and how I love my dehydrator.  What I don't love:  the energy it uses for the almost 24 hour cycle it takes to dehydrate my local finds.  So I got to thinking, I could dehydrate outside without using an outlet, but then, what about the flies, bugs, etc.  I must have been sending up some kind of request or prayer I didn't even realize I was doing because within a couple weeks I found this beauty at a yard sale.

 
Yes, a "Hanging Food Pantrie" food dehydrator (and sprouter).  The picture is a little dark, so if you're unable to see it try checking it out online here.  New this beauty is $58+, but it cost me $4 (don't you love a good bargain)!  Yesterday someone shared some locally grown apples with me (picked about a mile from my house).  My chance to use the dehydrator!!  I just finished pulling the apples from both the electric dehydrator and the "Food Pantrie".  I must say, I get a much more consistent product with the all natural dehydrator and I feel better about not using precious energy.  Here's the finished product...yum!!

 

Colorful Conversation

Earlier this summer we enjoyed a tasty local meal - chicken salad on fresh greens with cucumbers.  In Dietitian school I learned that plates should be colorful - reds, blues, greens, purples, oranges - these make a plate appealing to the eye.  As my food production instructor repeatedly told our class, "the eye eats first."  So, when I looked at my rich local plate, with lackluster color, I told Chris I'd missed the mark.  "Well, we'll have colorful conversation then," Chris replied.  Aha, of course! 

 

The church we attend shares produce on their produce sharing table.  The table provided over half of the meal pictured by offering us the greens and the cucumber.  We purchased the chicken from a local farmer.  A produce sharing table is a great way to share garden excess with others as well as pick up items you are lacking or would like to try.  It's just another way that gardening can build the health of your local community.  Where could you introduce a produce sharing table among interested individuals?