I loved the Grinch pants part! That's me most of the time...Just add the smell of bug spray, mosquitoes are voracious!
Your distraction is so pretty! My chives are near my oregano also. Having just been transplanted this year, the oregano is not ready yet for harvest.
Re: dehydrators: Here in New England the humidity us often unreal, like yesterday, somewhere in the upper 90's is my guess. For some reason my gauge only goes to 80% and it was pegged all day.
Plant material will not dry well here and there's a good chance of bacteria/mold growing before it ever could. So my dehydrators are crucial.
The other important part to dehydrating is that if the drying temp exceeds 145F it kills all the enzymes and heat sensitive nutrients, one of the reasons for dehydrating in the first place: higher nutrition or value of medicinals. That's why using an oven isn't the best option. I like the control of temp with the Excalibur, and in the volume I generate, it is worthwhile.
Ha ha! Comfort and convenience makes farm work time better, lol! I also have this pair of jeans that I have owned at least a decade that I continue to wear when I garden, mow, or weedeat. They are rather hole-decorated at this point, and I know they irritate my children, so they are totally my favorite pants;)!
Oh, I am so sorry your mosquitoes are so horrid. For some strange reason mosquitoes do not bite me, rather they prefer to swarm around and perch on my head or arms for a rest or something. My dad's the same way, weird genetic mosquito repellent, and I always feel so sorry for the rest of humanity as those little buggers are relentless in their vampiric ways!
Oh, you have an Excalibur, those are so lovely! I looked into buying one, and still might someday, I love how the trays are situated. A lot of the time in the summer here our humidity is like 11%, so drying things is easy, but the science-loving part of me adores the control aspect that you can achieve with your dehydrator! I can't wait to see all of your drying activities if you are going to blog about them this summer! That's awesome!!!
My garden clothes and my straw hat are just this side of rags. They get worn until they are rags. So I'm not at all stylish like @walkerland!
I suppose there must be drawbacks to 11% humidity, but I sure can't think of one! No wonder you can dry so successfully.
I actually have 2 9 tray Excaliburs. One is on a sort of permanent loan to me....
One thing I have found with the mosquitoes is that if I don't have anything sweet to eat in the 12 hours before I go out, they don't bother me as much. But lately, that's not been happening...
Ha ha! I thinks it's stylish to be the opposite of stylish;o)
I wore the same straw hat for years until I had to whack an unruly bovine on the rump with it and my adored hat disinigrated into a thousand pieces. I mourned.
Our summer days are usually in the mid eighties during the day and around fifty-five at night on average. It's glorious. There are some growing challenges and an occasional blast of humidity from a thunderstorm, but I sure love it:o)
And now I am super, super almost envious, not one but two Excaliburs, lol, lucky lady!!
Had a good laugh about the sugar thing, good luck with that;o)!
My hat's crown got sewed together before I started using it this year, so it's good for another year.
I am envious of your temps, they are pretty reasonable for summer.
My garden clothes and my straw hat are just this side of rags. They get worn until they are rags. So I'm not at all stylish like @walkerland!
I suppose there must be drawbacks to 11% humidity, but I sure can't think of one! No wonder you can dry so successfully.
I actually have 2 9 tray Excaliburs. One is on a sort of permanent loan to me....
One thing I have found with the mosquitoes is that if I don't have anything sweet to eat in the 12 hours before I go out, they don't bother me as much. But lately, that's not been happening...