Drying herbs

HearthCricket

I have created a lovely herb garden, this year, as I have found a lot really thrives in our sunny area. I want to dry some of the things I have, so need to get a drying rack. Does anyone know where, besides an antique store, I can get one? I mean a store online, not ebay, though. I know there is quite a variety, so I need to see what exists out there and where I can put in..preferably in the kitchen or near the hearth. Our cellar is nice and dry and cool, but the attic is way too hot, so that won't work. No shade over the roof because of lack of tall trees, so it turns into an oven, literally! And I want the herbs at hand. So far I have catmint, 2 different lavenders, rue, yarrow, basil, sage, and I am forgetting something! I have chives and rosemary inside.
 

Somnilocus

Have you tried looking at a local gardening store? Also, you should take a look around because having one custom made by a local woodworker would probably be your best bet; you can get exactly what you want, at a really good price, and no shipping problems. :) Do you live far from the country?

Drying your own herbs is so much nicer than buying them dried in bulk--can't wait until I can do so. Have fun with your garden. :)
 

Elnor

Can you get this kind of dish-drying rack in the US? (I've got one similar- it came from Ikea).

http://www.miso365.co.kr/sm_image/ikea/magasin/magasin.jpg

http://cucinatestarossa.blogs.com/weblog/images/pierressaladspinner.jpg

It can be adapted into a herb rack... and they aren't too pricey, if you need more than one, (and they fold up when you're not using it, which is useful.)

I've got an Ikea loft bed- I hang some of my herbs from the slats underneath to dry- not the ideal solution, but it seems to work ok. :laugh:

elnor
 

HearthCricket

Yes, I do live in the country and continue to plant herbs in my garden, though not everything that I would like to. If things take like I expect them to, I might add another bed of herbs nearby it. I also grow some inside. Most of the plate drying racks in the US are cheap plastic, but I will look for that kind. What I really want is the old colonial/Victorian racks that have the arms that you can lie flat against the wall, and then pull out to hang things on. I have to

1. Find a spot for this.
2. Have to find an unrickety one at an antique store!

:D
 

celticnoodle

i just hang mine from hooks in the ceiling. I'm not very fancy, but it works and the room smell great!
 

HearthCricket

celticnoodle said:
i just hang mine from hooks in the ceiling. I'm not very fancy, but it works and the room smell great!

Which room do you hang them in? I am going to do a bit of studying as well as look at pictures and I need to get a few more books, anyhow. I have tons of books on Colonial decorating and Colonial Williamsburg, so I might get some ideas on this. I also need to collect more bottles for keeping herbs in and then procure a cupboard to keep them in or something to display them. Anyone know good online stores for varieties of bottles to store dry herbs in? Something airtight is needed.
 

Briar Rose

You can get a picture frame, and take the glass out, and replacce it with window screen, and let your herbs dry on them. Hanging does just as well also.

Lucky you with a fancy herb garden. We have way too many nats and moisqutoes here in Otis for me to have any garden. I got bit so bad when I weeding the flower bed, I still have marks!
 

HearthCricket

lark said:
http://www.victoriantradingco.com/store/catalogimages/8h/i7209.html
I think this is the kind of dryer you're looking for....
It's a great idea to use as a herb dryer for hanging herbs.

I have shaker peg rails along one wall in my kitchen and I use that to hang my herbs on to dry.

We think alike! I was telling myself, about an hour ago, why not shaker pegs rails, which I can get custom made at a store just down the street and stained and sized anyway I want. I have tons of their furniture. And funny about Victorian Trading Company. I buy things from them all the time, but I didn't even think to look there. Thank you! Between the two, I should be all set now!
 

HearthCricket

HeavensVault said:
Lucky you with a fancy herb garden. We have way too many nats and moisqutoes here in Otis for me to have any garden. I got bit so bad when I weeding the flower bed, I still have marks!

Yes, you are in the land of trees and mosquitoes. We do have the latter, with wetlands across the street, but we planted all our trees. Everything grows insane, here. Very fast and healthy and big! By the time I have things the way I want, the yard, both front and part of the back, will look like an English cottage garden, so I am having loads of fun, while my neighbours try desperately to create perfect plain green lawns with no weeds. And then they ask why I get the hummers, the butterflies, the birds, the fairies....LOL Tasha Tudor said it takes 10 years to get a garden going. She is right, but it is a blast to see it transform, and my husband's face drop when I come home daily with a car load of plants! :D