Bernie and I have jumped into the world of dehydrating. We purchased this Nesco "Gardenmaster" dehydrator at our trusty ole Davis ACE Hardware, and have been de-hydrating like mad since! We've done one batch of apricots (yum!) that I picked Thursday from a neighbor's overloaded tree (yes, there was a sign out front begging neighbors to help theim out), and we have also made a batch of beef jerky. Bernie is going to probably go into jerky overdose schck any moment now....not to mention the rats! Oh, that movie Ratatouille came out this weekend, and I have to say that I'm amused. I know, the idea of a rat being a "foodie" sounds perposterous (sp?) to some, but not to me and daddy... We have experienced, first hand the sophisiticated and at times, persnikity palates of our rodent "daughters."
Anyhoo.... I got off track. So far we LOVE our dehydrator. Tomorrow I'm planning on starting some canning. I am in the summer domestic mood! My mother thinks I'm crazy, my friends think I'm crazy, but in my own way, I'm starting my own "slow food" movement here in my corner of thw world. Yolo County is so full of fantastic, fresh, sweet produce, and I feel that I'd be more of a fool if I didn't honor it. Plus, I have the time off work, so why not?!? Getting started in canning/dehydrating isn't cheap though. I guess it might be if I had a grandma or mom or aunt around who canned and whose equipment I could borrow. But alas, I'm a lone ranger on this frontier. I wonder if my great grammie is chuckling, either wondering what the ($*% I'm fussing about when there's perfectly good canned/dired food available at Bel Aire, or she's feeling a little summer-time chore connection with me. I prefer to fantasize the latter....