If you park your car outside in the summer, you know how much heat can build up inside your car. While I haven't yet found a way to package that heat to store it for winter use, I have found a way to make it somewhat productive: use your car as a dehydrator.
Dry herbs, thinly sliced fruits and vegetables, and flowers for making potpourri by placing the items on a paper-towel lined cookie sheet or fine-mesh wire rack on the seat of your closed car. By using the heat which naturally occurs there, you can preserve some of the abundance of your garden. Drying times will vary, of course, depending on the outside temperature, outdoor humidity level and moisture content in the items you are drying.
One cautionary note: the fragrance of the herbs, fruits, vegetables or flowers you are drying may remain in your car for a while. This might be great if you are drying basil or rose petals, but not so good if you are drying cabbage!
-- Susan Rodebush © 2010
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