any info on building a produce-drying house?

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Hello, We are planting the 6 acres the Lord has been so good to provide us with in fruits and vegetables and will also be adding animals as we go along. There will be about 3 acres worth of fruits and vegies of many varieties producing full-fledged in a couple of years. While I do want to can many things, I would really like to dry most of them. I hope to build some sort of outdoor drying house, I'm thinking about 8 by 12 feet, completely filled with screened shelving for placing the produce on. It needs to be bug proof, obviously. I live in East Tennessee so it gets moderately humid, and I don't know how much that would hinder my goals. Has anyone any knowledge or experience they can share with us concerning this? Thank you so much, Valerie

-- valerie walde (valeriewalde@hotmail.com), April 11, 2001

Answers

You might look into a tobacco barn. the old time ones used wood stove heat to dry the tobacco, newer ones use propane. really new ones use propane differently than the old ones. here in Nc, a used tobacco barn goes for about 500 bucks- looks like half of a 53 foot semi trailer. I like the looks of the old time log cabin style ones, they are everywhere around here. i am certain that a tobacco drying setup would work equally as well on produce.

-- Kevin in NC (vantravlrs@aol.com), April 12, 2001.

Thanks Kevin, I was really hoping to go all natural though. I realize that the moisture in the air here will be a problem. Does anyone do raisins here? What about enclosing it like a greenhouse, instead of just screen, and putting in one of those natural de- humidifiers I saw in the countryside mag? I'm terrible, I always believe if there's a will, there's a way. (I have a strong will) :) Anyone have any ideas?

-- valerie walde (valeriewalde@hotmail.com), April 12, 2001.

Greetings from ShadowHoller! We had a hard time drying anything on our farm in Missouri - until we suspended a rack over the cook-stove. It was so humid that everything molded before it could dry. If I were you, I would build whatever type structure you want, mostly enclosed, with enough venilation so that it doesn't overheat (maybe you could use sliding windows that you can open and close). Install a SMALL stove with a stovepipe (you don't want a smokey flavor on your dried produce), maybe you can get a hold of an old shepherd's stove. Keep a low fire burning to remove all the moisture from the air. Use screens from old sliding glass doors for drying racks. In Colorado (where the humidity is high when it is 15%), my husband built me an out-door food dehydrator, and we used window screens. I sprayed each with cooking oil (to keep things from sticking) and filled the racks with produce. Setting the dehydrator in the sun, I had great success drying everything I tried,(tomatoes, peaches, apples, celery, etc.) Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how we did it. Patty

-- Patty Wilkins (shadowholler@dmea.net), April 16, 2001.

Not too long ago there was an article about solar food dryers in Countryside. I don't remember which issue it was. The article was by a friend of ours who has developed her system over the last 15 or 20 years in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where summers are humid and not always sunny. This is a good workable system ad worht looking through the last year's issues to find.

Jim

-- Jim (jiminwis@yahoo.com), April 16, 2001.


A greenhouse setup with a wood or other stove-type heater would be good, but some foods prefer darkness during drying. You could accomplish this with some form of black paper - perhaps a weed-barrier type. Set up your shelves with screening, and place blank newsprint, or another screen on top of each to keep out most of the 'vermin'.

For things like onions, apples, potatoes, why not store them in a cellar with sawdust? It will keep them at just the proper temp and humidity to preserve them. There are quite a few things that can be stored this way without being dried, if you are just looking for shelf-life.

Countryside back issues have tons of great articles on these things, and there are some at BHM, too.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 16, 2001.



Well, it's starting to look like I will definately need to have some sort of drying aparatus in the form of heat, from what you all are saying. What is a shepherd's stove, just a tiny little wood stove? I'm from out west too, California, so I just pictured myself working in a completely screened over frame house and letting the sun do it's work. Little different climate here however. Yes, I would also like to build a root cellar for apples, squash, onions, etc. I may need dinamite to blast through some of this limestone though! :) I love Tennessee for all the varieties of things you can grow here. If you ever drive through a place a few hours from me, McMinnville, TN, you will be amazed. It appears to be the nursery capital of the USA!

-- valerie walde (valeriewalde@hotmail.com), April 16, 2001.

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