Dehydrator Workshop

Build-Your-Own Solar Food Dehydrator Workshop

Saturday, May 21st

9am to 5pm (or earlier if we get done before 5)

at Lake Country Land School - near Connorsville

Sponsored by Lake Country School and HRTI

The workshop went well. We built 15 dehydrators. Here is a picture of ten of them and the people that built them. 

If you missed the workshop and would like another chance at building a dehydrator check back on this web site to see if another workshop is offered later this year.

Materials Fee: $125 to make a 4' x 4' dehydrator OR $75 to make the smaller 2' x 4' dehydrator.

Sign up and pay for the workshop by sending a check payable to Hay River Transition Initiative to 

HRTI Dehydrator Workshop

c/o George Adams

N14397 380th St.

Ridgeland WI 54763

email george@hayriverti.org

Space is limited to 20 people so sign up as soon as possible. The last day to sign up will be one week prior to the workshop, Saturday May 14th. 

We will be using cedar 2 by 2s and stainless steel screens to make a dehydrators that should last a lifetime and be food safe. The glazing will be polycarbonate, heat collector will be painted aluminum. The corrugated base will be recycled steel from a collapsed building at the Land School. The picture below has 2 by 2s to support the dryer. We will not be suppling those as each installation will be different. We will be suppling hinges, screws, silicone caulk and a hasp.

Food that is fresh is best, but our northern winters challenge that approach.  The next best thing to harvesting just before your meal is to have food that is "live stored" - food that keeps itself.  All you have to do is provide the right microclimate for the veggies and fruits that have this hibernation factor built into their biological cycle.  

Food drying, or dehydration is a great way to store excess summer produce. Solar-dried foods don't require fossil-fueled energy inputs to preserve them or store them, unlike refrigerators and freezers. Just a tightly sealed glass jar will do! No electricity required, just sunlight from a safe nuclear power source about 93 million miles away.

Join Larisa Walk, author of "Feeding Ourselves - The Four Season Pantry". Larisa likes to help people become more self sufficient she does workshops at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association energy fair on using the food dehydrator, eating year round from your garden and root cellering and low-tech storage. Visit her website at: www.geopathfinder.com

The dehydrators we will be making will look like the ones below. The left one is a 2' by 4' dehydrator and the right one is a set of three 4' by 4' dehydrators.

The map below has the correct location for the Lake Country Land School, Google Maps and Mapquest don't get the location right. You can also check out the simple map on the Land School web site. http://lakecountryschool.org/LandSchool/LCLS_Dir.html

The deadline for signing up for the workshop has past. The on-line registration form has been removed.

If you have any questions please call George Adams at 715 455-1652 or 715 205-7555