Garden Woes ~ Wore out my Second Dehydrator

We got more rain yesterday, and this morning, there are more rain clouds looming.  I have all the windows open, taking advantage of the early morning cool breeze, to bring in some fresh air.

As I said, most of our garden(s) flooded, and we lost almost all of our 60-ish tomato plants.  Will we replant?  Not sure.  It is iffy on the weather, and also on the fact we'll have to buy plants, and it's getting late for that in our area.

Am in tears over our struggles this year?  Yes, but we've had a no-tomato year before, and it's all part of gardening.  You just never know.

Now about my dehydrator. . .

My very first dehydrator was purchased for $50 off of ebay, but it did not last very long.  I then upgraded to a larger Excalibur back in 2015.

(I moved all of my oregano to my smaller dehydrator, in batches, until my new larger one arrived)

In the midst of all things going on here, my Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator quit working.  I literally just put together a new door for it (had to buy it to replace the last broken one).  I only used it a few times since I invested in the new door.

Of course my model is no longer made.  It lasted 8 years.  I went looking for reviews.  It came down to a different brand, with smaller trays, or another Excalibor.

At any rate. I purchased another Excalibur, but I am not thrilled that it is digital.  The two things I do like, is that it has two hinged doors vs. a lift off door (no more accidently knocking it off), and it has handles on the sides for moving it.  It arrived in two days.

The trays are the same size, but when I was taking my old one outside to move to the scrap pile, I noticed the holes in the trays, in the new dehydrator are larger. 

Another good note on this new one, is it came with a bottom removable crumb tray and a mesh piece to lay on top of a wire rack for smaller items.  

The nice part about broken down dehydrators, is that I kept all of my plastic trays from my very first one, so I plan to utilize those for smaller items as well, while dehydrating all at once.  I am keeping my old wire trays for now.  They are much heavier and have a support bar across the middle.  The new ones are lighter, and have no support bar across the center tray.

I will be washing up the trays and such, and giving it a whirl, so I can make sure it is in working order.  I want to make sure I check to make sure everything is working before the 30-day return slot is over. 

I can say, after opening the box, and setting it all up on the counter, we both feel the next one will be a smaller dehydrator.  

Garden Woes ~ Wore out my Second Dehydrator © June 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart