What’s the Best Solar Food Dryer?

...oil before enough moisture is removed. That’s why you should build a solar food dryer. Brace Direct Food Dryer. Image: FAO. There are two basic designs for solar food dryers: direct and indirect. Direct dryers are just a box with a piece of glass on the top. Indirect dryers use a box to collect the heat of the sun and then, thanks to the fact that hot air rises, take that heat up into an enclosed box that contains the food you want to dry. The Poi...

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The Urban Homestead

...and your local indie bookstore This celebrated, essential handbook for the urban homesteading movement shows how to grow and preserve your own food, clean your house without toxins, raise chickens, gain energy independence, and more. Step-by-step projects, tips, and anecdotes will help get you started homesteading immediately. The Urban Homestead is also a guidebook to the larger movement and will point you to the best books and internet resources...

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Food Preservation Disasters

...us websites. Some sources I’ve come to trust: The National Center for Home Food Preservation’s website. Kevin West’s book Saving the Season: A Cook’s Guide to Home Canning, Pickling, and Preserving . Between those two sources I’ve got just about all the recipes I need. One Ring to rule them all When you’re done processing jars and they’ve cooled down, remove the screw bands. Why? So you can clean underneath the band to prevent spoilage and bugs. T...

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New Health Food Trends at the Natural Products Food Expo West

...hundreds of booths I went past, most were peddling heavily processed junk foods with a “natural” label. And we wonder why the U.S. has an obesity epidemic? The Ugly The bizarre booth spectacle award goes to the weight lifting supplement producer that had a scantily clad nurse, an examination table and a ultrasound machine. Retail reps with pot bellies could have themselves oiled up and examined to find their “hidden abs” that would, presumably, b...

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Non-Toxic Cleaning for the Home

...u can also use cheap vodka in the same way. It comes pre-diluted — vodka is 40% alcohol and 60% water. What does it do? Alcohol is best used to clean shiny surfaces like chrome, steel, mirrors and glass, as well as eye glasses and electronic screens. It dissolves inks —and also some kinds of paint, so be careful with using it on things like remote control buttons or glossy paint finishes. It is also a strong disinfectant, so it’s particularly good...

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