Alternative Energy, Build a Dehydrator

One of our goals for the new homestead is to be energy independent in the next 5 years or so. To comply with the laws we had to have "store bought" power hooked up. This will work out alright becouse putting together alternitive energy systems that work require a bit of cash, cash we don't have much of these days. We have a little experience with rigging up stuff from our Alaska days and the cabin we had back home growing up. Anyone who is interested in doing this sort of thing on a budget might like this article Paring down for off-grid living. It covers how to reduce demand for power, so that our "poor man's" alternative energy systems will work. Being on top of this windy hill has us looking into Wind Power. Windmills have come a long way in the last few years.

Heres some plans for a large-capacity food dehydrator you can build at home.
We like to dry bell peppers to use in cooking. If you dry them and keep them in jars instead of freezing them, everything in the freezer won't tast like peppers. You can do them in the stove, but this thing here could be good for bigger jobs.