fruit dryer

[valsecito]

Slowly on the lookout for a sharply priced decent quality food drier. Looks like we'll be scoring one very soon at ~50% off. We'll be sharing it with friends. We're friends, so we don't need them to show their appreciation for us sharing, but I'm quite sure they won't let us off the hook so easily.

Next August all around our countryside cottage, forests full of organic wild billberries free for the picking. I love picking berries in the woods. We should easily be able to dry about ten kilos.

We'll be able to use them well:
- higher quality food four ourselves, replacing most dried fruit at breakfasts, in cakes, as a snack
- personal gifts with a story ("We picked these ourselves last summer.")
- a small upsell to holidaymakers at our cottage rental
- looks like we'll soon have a queue of people ready to buy any surplus

So, dirt cheap purchase, happy friends, enjoy nature, healthier food, cost savings on gifts, minor upsell for our rental. I'm actually quite proud I thought of this. It's only a minor incremental improvement in a financial sense, but it ticks so incredbily many of the right boxes at the same time!

[honeybbq]

In Seattle, many people have apple trees and just let them drop their fruit each fall. At the bottom of a hill you may actually find a pile where they've all rolled down and coagulated together. Dropped and dented apples are great for a food dehydrator. I make tons of free apple slices every year with just a little work.

[valsecito]

Hah! The trees in the little public park just across the street from where we live are... apple trees. We sometimes pick some of those too. Same for the wallnuts from a public park we pass on our walks.

The direct financial impact is mostly neutral, but the positive mental impact is not to be underestimated!