Here at Three Pools we needed a way to dry the abundance of leaves and flowers we’ve been harvesting to keep their flavour and nutrition for later in the year, to share with guests and to post to friends of the farm. So we decided to harness the suns energy and build a passive solar dehydrator. To make it we looked around for ideas online and contacted some other smallholders. We got back some links and a book reference Practical Self Sufficiency by Strawbridges. Our french friends were planning to build one too and shared this video. A zoom meeting later and some help with translation we felt we understood the environmental principles of a solar dehydrator and got thrifty sourcing the mater

Pickled vegetables have become a staple in our kitchen, being delicious, nutritious and versatile. With it being early in the growing season, we will start off this year's vegetable preservation recipe series by showing you how to pickle radishes - making this fast, easy growing vegetable even tastier. Radishes are a great beginner vegetable to have a go at growing. What makes them so easy to grow is the fact that they love poor quality soil and also have a very quick turnaround, so they will give you a crop about 3-4 weeks from planting. They are one of the first vegetables we start harvesting here on the farm, so they always give a boost of motivation in the early summer. We are always exp