Just getting started

The apple harvest is now underway in a big way. Each year this means that I have about six weeks of slicing and dehydrating apples ahead of me. This is Day 1.

I don't buy fruit or vegetables out of season: I grow more than enough Chez Mima or am given as a result of bartering, to meet my needs each year. And of course preserving is a big part of feeding myself all year round. 

Dehydrating was never something that we did when I was younger, but I discovered it when living in tropical Far North Queensland 20-odd years ago. We sun-dried all sorts of things - including tomatoes, mangoes, bananas, capsicums and herbs - laid out in the sun-filled glassed cockpit of our yacht. 

Sun drying is more challenging in a temperate climate, so I bought a second hand dehydrator for $20 15 years ago (with my ears ringing from friends' assertions that I'd only use it once or twice) and have been using it annually ever since. It's an essential bit of kit.

The other essential bit of kit is the apple corer, peeler and slicer machine which I also bought 15 years ago and which has also been in use every year. It saves an enormous amount of time: I can prepare enough apples to fill the dehydrator in just 15 minutes. 

It takes about six hours to go from fresh to dried. The extra shows the top layer of the machine with today's dried apple slices. I will fill it with a new batch each morning. 

There are nine large glass jars to fill. Hence six weeks. 

Yesterday's drizzle never arrived, so I am able to get more grass cut this evening, now that the morning dew has finally burnt off.