With the fruit bushes laden and plenty of jam already in the cupboard for the winter season in Chamonix we decided to make a dehydrator. It is basically a box with a glass pane and some vents. There are a couple of shelves inside to put produce on. Pop it in the sun and the air in the box warms up. An air current takes the moisture out of the box and the things inside dry up.

Commercial versions use power and have knobs on with different settings. Ours is compact and made of scrap.

• Wood is from the back of the van which we took apart last year
• Hinges were salvaged from a caravan
• The handle was on a door salvaged from Chamonix
• Double glazed unit salvaged years ago from somewhere
• Shelves salvaged from an old oven at the tip
• Fly mesh for the vents, left over from making window fly meshes

First test was with some small tomatoes which needed using up. Within a day sat on the front terrace we had sun dried tomatoes. Next is blackcurrants unless the mushrooms start appearing first.