The Helpful Gardener
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Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:17 pm
Location: Colchester, CT

Harvesting for winter

Well we are drying and freezing and hanging; hardly a room in the house without a bunch of something. Tried a dehydrator this year; good for bulk stuff but I am not sure about the value for energy ratio there... cubes of rosemary join the basil cubes already in the fridge (plus dried of both as well, and the rosemary transplants still doing well, one in the air lock and the bigger (24")one in the kitchen).

Sage, enough for all our turkeys and many more besides, chive, rosemary, thyme, (English, French and lemon) oregano, tarragon, and parsely are in process or dried already. Mint into the dehydrator tomorrow to mix with the [url=https://www.altnature.com/gallery/wild_mint.htm]mountain mint[/url]already hanging for tea. Homemade mint tea, feet up in the recliner, watching the pellets clink into the burn pot... almost ready for winter... 8)

HG

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rainbowgardener
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The Helpful Gardener wrote: Homemade mint tea, feet up in the recliner, watching the pellets clink into the burn pot... almost ready for winter... 8)

HG
It all sounds lovely, except pellets clinking into burn pot doesn't convey much to me. Is this a wood burning stove? What's a burn pot?

I did love having my laundry room full of bags of herbs hanging to dry. Smelled wonderful in there for awhile.

Does the dehydrator really work better than just putting your oven on low? I dried some of my herbs just in a low oven for a few minutes and that seemed to work pretty well.

The Helpful Gardener
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Posts: 7491
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:17 pm
Location: Colchester, CT

Yeah RBG, my pellet stove heats our little cottage quite nicely, and with a 83% burn efficiency, using pellets made from the leftovers of raw flooring production, they are lots easier on the planet than a conventional wood stove. I love mine...

The dehydrator does seem better suited than the oven; the herb setting is for 95 degrees, which is pretty low for most people's stoves, and I think the oils are better preserved than the oven method. Air hanging is working nicely for the mountain mint and the oregano, so why bother there, but I am convinced it is a better method for most herbs...

Marlin I am envious of year round rosemary that does not need lifting, and repotting, and all the stuff I go through, but that flavor is worth it. Visiting the Southwest, it took me more than a moment to realize the beatiful head high shrubs with the clouds of light blue flowers were rosemary... the smell is amazing...

HG



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