Under the right conditions in the right climate, certain foods dehydrate naturally. But you can build your own food dehydrator to create favorable conditions wherever you are with the free plans below.

Raw vegans have a special appreciation because they believe, and scientific investigation bears out, that produce heated to no higher temperature than the sun would, retains its nutritional integrity and life force.

However, raw-fooders aren’t the only people who enjoy using food dehydrators. Backpackers make lightweight soups, homesteaders make winter seasoning blends, naturalists dehydrate healing herbs, and some dads make mean all-fruit roll-ups.

There are many food dehydrators on the market, but by constructing one yourself, you can build it to your size specifications and make it completely off-grid.

If you like a lot of dried food, or like giving it away to friends, you should consider building a roof dehydrator. It’s fun to assemble, easy to use, and is powered directly by the sun and wind (which means no waste of energy and no increase in utility bills!).

A rooftop food dehydrator works by using the color black to draw in the sun’s heat through a clear barrier. The heat then warms the air, which rises and is directed through screens with food on them.

If you are a true DIYer and have a set of tools to tinker with, go for the hardcore solar-food dehydrator like the one pictured. For the really hardcore, the rawer than raw, the useful object recyclers: why not use all reused or compostable materials?

My solar dehydrator, for example, is on a rooftop in Hollywood, dehydrating nine months of the year, so the sun is providing a generous power supply. Here are some tips to build your own:

1. Drill holes in 3/8″ Window Grade Lexan door to be attached to the box painted black for absorbing heat.

1. Install flashing over raw Lexan edges for skin safety. Notice the shelf mounts inside the box.

1. Using recycled window screens cut to fit new dimensions, it is now time to roll in the new aluminum screen.

1. Here it is fully assembled and positioned (illegally) on a Hollywood rooftop. But really, what landlord would scoff at these environmental and money-saving efforts? Notice the lid props for safe bracing while loading and unloading the dehydrator.

1. An aluminum screen at the top and bottom of the box allows ventilation and prevents birds and insects from entering.

1. The legs on casters allow for easier moving, though the Lexan on this bugger weighs a ton!

1. Earlier in the day on my hand-crank blender (another human-powered kitchen appliance) I blended up: 20 medjool dates, one lemon’s juice and one teaspoon of organic cinnamon and spread over one-and-a-half quarts (soaked volume) of buckwheat groats. I am scooping them onto two food-grade silicone baking sheets, though unbleached or recycled parchment paper has proven to be a preferable option due to its ability to allow better airflow.

1. The other shelves are lined with unbleached parchment paper that can be washed and reused instead of being thought of as disposable (what does that word mean, anyway?). Notice the dehydrator’s handle is made of wood, which does not absorb the rooftop’s heat so I can grab it to open! Other trays hold kale chips and sweet potato chips.

1. Ravenous Do-It-Yourselfers can hardly wait to celebrate their teamwork!

The above concept can be used as a guide to concept your own customized dehydrator. This is a pretty simple design which should be transparent from the photos. You will need the usual hinges and screws for attaching. If you have tools and even limited experience building things, it shouldn’t be hard. Proceed as you would with other conceptual designs and base the dimensions of the box and cover on what is available on your rooftop space—and how much dried food you want to produce.

Certainly, you don’t have to build a solar dehydrator as big as mine. You can find plans below for a small, easy solar dehydrator that can be built in a few hours for less than $10. Tailor the plans to fit your specific climate, space and food needs. But do build one.

I mean, how cool would it be to send your child to school with a luscious whole dehydrated banana in her lunch box? How about some date-sweetened “buckwheaties” with hemp-seed milk for breakfast cereal? Or you might want a work snack of apple slices spread with sun-warmed coconut butter. It’s easy to replace potato chips with a more mineral-packed variety, and if those kale chips were dehydrated in your personally built, solar food dehydrator made from recycled material, what could be greener about your late-nite snacks?

Words lift with incense that hangs in thick air. The compliments, the commitments, the confessions, the care. Silly nothing words. We don’t have to share. Be the man. You be silent. Secret nature. Meet you there.

It’s time to bust out some flashback photography!  I still perform bullwhips and knife throwing (mostly in my dangerous burlesque acts), but I have quite a bit more pinup modeling experience now and quite a few less dreadlocks.  Early year Knife Throwing and Bullwhip Pinup photography by Alexis Williamson, graphics by Stephen Newell.  Full set:

Absolutely honored to be featured in LA Weekly’s 100 Top Burlesque Beauties of Los Angeles photo feature!

Those who control seeds control the world. If you have the power to grow a plant that will nourish and feed you and your family, you have freedom. You do not have to accept rationing, insure yourself for medications, believe what they sell you or starve, so long as you possess food plant seeds and know how to grow them.

There is never a bad time to become an expert at freedom. Save seeds from last year’s successful crop in your refrigerator for the following year. Toss native flower seeds from your car window as you roll down the highway. Or better yet, become a small-space sprouting techie. This is a skill I would not want to be without.

There are three types of seeds that Liberationists like me generally work with: tree seeds (nuts), dark-loving seeds (legumes) and light-loving seeds (pretty much everything else you care to sprout for food). I’ll review the essential steps for successfully growing each of these.

Selecting Seeds
The first step in sprouting any seed is selecting the most potent, successful and hearty variety to work with. If you have your own garden or crop, the selection process is easy: save the mature seeds of the fruits, flowers or grasses that produced most sustainably the previous year. If you are trading or purchasing seeds for sprouting, then trade for organic, local, plant-ripened seeds. Your germination rate and quality of harvest is very dependent on the selection process.

Activating Nuts 
Ever get a stomachache from eating too many dried nuts? The reason is that these tree seeds contain a slightly toxic enzyme—called the growth-inhibiting factor. Its job is to deter squirrels and other seed choppers from robbing the goods before they’ve had a chance to sprout in spring. This enzyme succeeds by giving assailants a stomachache if they eat too many.

All you need to do to reduce this toxin in the nut is to mimic spring rains by soaking it in fresh water. Unlike seeds, tree nuts generally don’t germinate (i.e., throw a tail) or sprout (i.e., throw a green shoot or leaf). Rather, nuts are activated by immersing them in clean water for eight hours. After this, just toss the remaining water—thus rinsing away their growth-inhibiting factor (and your bellyache). Bite the tree seed in half and visually note if the nut is soaked all the way through. If not, return it to clean water for another eight hours of soaking. Almonds and cashews activate near the first eight-hour mark. Macadamia, chestnut and Brazil nuts can take up to 36 hours.

Germinating Legumes
Legumes are a family of seeds that include peas, lentils and beans. These are called dark-loving seeds and are considered edible when germinated. A flax or hemp sprout bag is the best hour of sewing (or $15 investment) you will ever make. Just place your legume seeds into the bag and soak them in a bowl of clean water for eight hours. Then hang the bag to drip dry (ideally on a hook over a sink or outdoors). The bag holds the perfect level of moisture and allows the ideal amount of airflow to grow a quick, two-to-five-day crop of germinated legumes.

After the initial eight hours of soaking, to support the growth of legume seeds, place the entire bag of seeds in a bowl of clean water for one minute twice per day (more if exceptionally hot and dry in your area). After soaking, be sure to gently swish the seeds inside the bag before hanging to dry. This assures that when the taproot starts, it does not find a home in the weave of the flax or hemp fabric.

Green peas mature in five days, while jungle peanuts and sunflower seeds are ready in one to two. Use your eyes. You can see when they are ready: when a legume seed has a ½” – 1″ tail, it’s mature. Peanuts and sunflower seeds are ready when they have a ¼” tail.

Sprouting Seeds
You could spend a lot of money on perfectly designed plastic sprouting containers or even expensive electric self-watering machines to sprout your light-loving seeds. However, these systems are entirely unnecessary and costly. Plus, they interfere with your learning the skill of growing. I suggest taking a far more affordable route: using a recycled wide-mouth glass jar, unbleached cheesecloth and a rubber band.

Simply place your seeds and clean water in the glass jar. Cover it with two layers of unbleached cheesecloth held on by a tight rubber band and let the seeds soak for eight hours. Afterward, drain the water through the cheesecloth and place the jar tilted upside down in a small bowl to continue to drip for 15 minutes. Then set the jar on a shelf out of direct sunlight.

Soak the seeds for one minute twice/day (more if exceptionally hot and dry in your area) and drain for 15 minutes in a bowl. In two days you will see taproots begin to germinate and in four to five days you’ll see a green shoot. This is where you can use your growing finesse if you are ready: as soon as that green shoot shows the formation of its first leaf set, place the jar in direct sunlight to green it up and really bring out those little leaves—but only for an hour a day. These little leaves without soil are still very fragile.

The most important part of the actual seed-sprouting process is making sure to drain your jar a full 15 minutes, since the biggest risk is little white mold legs propagating due to too much moisture in the jar. Proper draining works.

Alfalfa, broccoli, fenugreek and radish seed sprouts are considered mature when the first leaf opens up flat—about five to seven days. Flax and quinoa seeds are quick-sprouting seeds that will germinate on a wet, unbleached paper towel in 24 hours. You can keep the paper towel moist by misting it with a spray bottle if necessary.

And there you have it, Seed-Sprouting Liberationists! Maintain your freedom by cultivating the power to sustain life with a little water and space—and no need for soil. You thought sprouting seeds was only something granola heads, hippies and health geeks practiced. Now you know that technicians, survivalists, renegades and freedom fighters throw taproots, too. Grow your own food. Be free.

Growing up, every year for Mother’s Day my father would take our whole family to the local greenhouse, where my mom would pick out an array of vegetables, flowers and ornamentals to decorate our home garden that summer. No matter when the spring equinox fell, Michiganders know—considering their state’s sneak-attack frosts and late-season freezes—that Mother’s Day marks the official “safe zone” for outdoor planting. Mother’s Day is, in that region, recognized as the onset of spring.

These days, I live in Hollywood while my parents hold down the familial fort in the Midwest. Since I couldn’t make it back to the greenhouse to help mom pick out her garden this year, for Mother’s Day I instead planted four trees in her name via the Tree People Organization—imagining someday an entire forest dedicated to my mother, four trees at a time.

A Kitchen Garden
Still, I am taken by the urge to personally put my hands in the soil as each Mother’s Day, and therefore spring, rolls around. Even though Hollywood has an earlier spring and more year-round foliage than any other metropolis I’ve lived in, I like having a garden myself. So like many city dwellers, I’ve gotten creative. Whether one lives in Hollyweird or a farm town, engineering a small-space kitchen garden can provide a sense of connection with the soiland provide the freshest, most local food available. Why not sprout alfalfa, dehydrate flax crackers, ferment raw vegan cheeses and vermicompost food scraps in your own home? It’s far too easy and much too satisfying to not.

My favorite springtime kitchen-garden crop has to be growing wheatgrass from seed.  As opposed to sprouting clover or germinating legumes, wheatgrass requires soil and that’s just plain fun. A new crop matures in just ten to 12 days, deepening my enthusiasm further. And everyone has heard about the spectacular health benefits of consuming this plant thanks to its high chlorophyll content (chlorophyll’s been touted for lowering colon-cancer rates), heavy-metal detoxification, concentrated vitamin and mineral content (compared to other vegetables on a pound-per-pound basis), ability to increase blood flow and aid digestion, etc. It’s for these reasons and others that the famed natural healing center, The Ann Wigmore Instituteuses raw foods and wheatgrass as its fundamental method of healing—everything. Considering all that—along with how absolutely easy it is to grow wheatgrass—and I just can’t stop myself!

Wheatgrass Directions
Here’s how to grow wheatgrass in your own indoor kitchen garden:

1. Buy organic hard red winter wheat-sprouting seeds specifically packed for sprouting. At first I just bought bulk wheat berries from my local health-food store, but those seeds are intended for cooking and therefore have not been treated the same as sprouting seeds. In my experience, organic sprouting seeds have a near 100% germination rate and next to no occurrence of mold growth during sprouting, very different from wheat berries processed for cooking. So get the real thing.
2. Soak one cup of your wheat-berry-sprouting seeds in clean water in a glass bowl on a room-temperature shelf out of direct sunlight for a full 24 hours. I’ve found that allowing this soaking time minimizes the loss of seeds to dehydration and speeds up germination time (the length of time it takes for the seed to throw its first root). Also, these little packages of potential life are super sensitive to pollutants, so using the cleanest water possible throughout the entire process is vital to the integrity of the final plant.
3. The ideal sprouting tray is easily configured at home. It must have drainage holes to minimize the risk of mold—and a water catch tray so little droplets of water don’t come through the tray’s drainage holes onto your shelf surface. I started with a simple Miracle Grow 2′ x 1′ sprouting-tray kit from Home Depot. Cut numerous slots in the bottom of the main tray with kitchen scissors. The clear upper cover can double as a greenhouse cap at first, and then be used as the water droplet catch tray after germination occurs.
4. Choose an organic indoor soil medium and fill your tray at least three inches deep (wheatgrass throws lots of shallow roots—it’s a grass, after all). Choose an indoor medium because outdoor mediums tend to have more fiber, which can decompose and contribute to mold growth. If you are a home composter and have a little rock dust and seaweed water available, this is the perfect place to use your own mixed soil. Water this soil thoroughly and allow the sprouting tray to drip-drain over the sink.
5. Place your 24-hour-soaked seeds densely overlapping one another across the soil surface. Moisten one layer of unbleached paper and lay it gently on top of the soaked seeds. This will keep them moist at this very vulnerable time in their growth cycle, while still allowing airflow to help avoid mold. Cover the tray with your greenhouse cover (optional), making sure to turn it slightly askew so that the cover does indeed keep moisture and heat in, but again, allows airflow so as to avoid mold. The paper should be allowed to dry out over time. Place the tray in a room-temperature place, out of direct sunlight.
6. Check your berries occasionally (at least twice daily). This is the part where you get to connect with your crop and really learn about the life in these seeds. Depending on your climate, house temperature/humidity and season, you will make choices as to what to do—you are basically regulating airflow and humidity now. Until germination (about two to three days), you want to let that paper dry out temporarily and then spray it moist again with a water bottle. Every time you spray the paper, spray the soil as well. However, if you lift the paper and see the beginning of any mold legs (due to lack of airflow) then leave the greenhouse cover off (and the paper off if necessary) and spray the soil directly instead (the mold will usually clear up completely with increased airflow at this stage). As soon as you notice that more than half of your seeds have germinated, you can remove the greenhouse cover and paper for good because at this stage most of the seedlings can get water for themselves via their fledgling roots. The two to three days until germination require by far the most attention of the entire process.
7. After germination, continue to spray the surface of the soil with your water bottle twice per day (depending on climate). Water your soil thoroughly when the soil is dry to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch, but be gentle so as not to move the lightly rooted seeds. Be sure to let your tray drain over the sink and use your greenhouse cover as the catch when placed back on the shelf.
8. Once the seeds have sprouted, wheatgrass grows fast. One day it will be an inch tall and the next, a full three inches! Then you can begin thanking it, chanting over it, dancing around it and, yes, cutting it for juicing. Continue to water the mature grass when the top ½” of the soil is dry. You can get at least six ounces of juice from this size crop by cutting off the tops each time it grows a few inches.

Hold the Mold
Obviously, the biggest risk with wheatgrass is dehydration or mold during germination. I don’t get mold any more by following these steps, but when I did, I just allowed the wheatgrass to grow anyway and cut above the mold line. It really didn’t affect the juice or bother me.

My favorite thing about growing wheatgrass is not just the way the bright green color beautifies my kitchen, but the chance to be a part of the complete natural life process of a plant: from seed through germination, sprouting, juicing, scrap composting and turning that back to soil—and then growing my next batch of seeds in that very dirt.

Sure, wheatgrass is supposed to be one of the healthiest green plants to consume on the planet. But what is truly magical for me is drinking the juice from a plant of which I’ve participated in the entire lifecycle—the way my mother must feel having created and participated in my lifecycle. Let us all mother each other and ourselves with the same attentive care.

I don’t burn petroleum in my car for fuel, so why would I burn it in my home for light?

After extensive research into the benefits and environmental impact of my non-petroleum candle enthusiasm, and after some actual natural-wax burn comparisons, I personally switched to a combination of local farmers market beeswax candles and palm-wax candles from Strega Moon, who actually upped their company’s integrity with me tenfold by enthusiastically agreeing to ship my palm candles in all-paper/non-petro packaging (sometimes you just have to ask and hope that when enough people do, your special request will become the standard).

Over the last year and a half or so of burning these clean-wax candles, I haven’t wanted to throw the unburnt, leftover wax into the landfill, when it’s perfectly good candle-making material. So I contacted Strega Moon again just to ask if Lois had any advice for a novice candle maker. Can you believe that the company owner actually mailed me wick and wick tabs to start me off? Now that’s the true freedom of information.

Initially, I had the equivalent of one plastic grocery bag full of saved wax. It made 36 votives and two pillars, was a ton of fun to make and saved me a load of cash (about $75). I have poured candles from saved wax several times since and let me tell you: the light given off by a candle you poured yourself is a very magical light indeed.

How to Make Veg Wax Candles at Home

1. Save wax from candles whose wicks have burned down to nothing, making sure to clean out any easily removed wick tabs, burnt wick or dirty spots. Using your not-so-favorite, but still-sharp knife, cut the wax into uniform pieces—mine were about 1.5″ x 1.5″.

1. Heat a shallow pot of water (about 2″ deep) at low/warm temperature and place your glass candle containers in to preheat them. This container preheat stage is one of four tips that is very effective in reducing air pockets during the cooling process. Air pockets and crooked wicks are the main threats to a fine burning candle. Since I am pouring candles for my personal use only, I pour directly into the glass votive and pillar containers where the candles will burn, so I don’t have to worry about removal from a mold after cooling/hardening. Allow the containers to preheat, making sure no water boils and splashes inside the containers. Even a little preheat goes a long way.

1. Make a double boiler (one pot inside another) on the stove. In about three inches of water, begin melting your wax. The double boiler keeps it from sticking and keeps it melting evenly—very nice—you don’t even have to stir the wax. Just ignore it while it begins to melt into one big, hot mass. The only thing to remember about the double-boiler melting action is to keep track that your water does not boil dry. Also, make the boiler and water ratio such that the inner pot does not float or bounce around. You don’t want any movement surprises with hot wax.

1. While you are being patient as the wax melts, prepare your wicks. Cut them approximately 2″ longer than your desired candle length. Crimp wick tabs right at the very end of each wick (I’ve also made candles without wick tabs and it is a pain in the butt to keep those wicks straight, so do use wick tabs—or a washer as a last resort).

1. Straighten the wicks: As soon as enough wax has melted, using your not-so-favorite pair of needle-nose pliers, hold the wick tab and submerge the entire wick into the hot wax. Then pull the wick straight with your fingers (the wax doesn’t hurt bare fingers at this point—for me at least) and hold the wick straight for, say, 10 seconds while it cools and hardens a little.

1. Lay it on unbleached, recycled content-parchment paper as it continues to cool. Now you have straight wicks!

1. With tongs or needle-nose pliers, remove preheated containers from water and place one wick in each container over unbleached, recycled content parchment paper. You don’t want spillage on your counters and you will spill. I mean, probably you will.

1. Wearing  protective gloves and using a directional pouring tool, pour the wax into your container.

1. This is totally my idea and it’s brilliant: Clip the wick straight with a clothespin for cooling/hardening, making certain the wick tab is centered first, of course.

1. You will notice that the outsides of the candles cool/harden first and that will anchor your wick tabs in. At that point you have a little play with readjusting your clothespin and wick to make sure it is the straightest wick it can be while cooling.

1. The cooling process is important: Lay out one layer of towel on the counter and place all of your cooling candles in a cluster. Wrap a towel around the outside of them and maybe even place a cover over them (tin foil or something else). The candles will be insulated in the towels and lose their heat very slowly. “Slow cooling” dramatically reduces air bubbles in your cooled wax. Without this slow-cool insulator, the candles cool/harden too fast. The outsides cool first, including the top of the candle, and inside you have this forever-hot wax that contracts as it slowly cools. The contraction reduces size in volume by nature and because the outsides of the candle have already cooled and established their shape, the contraction happens internally, leaving huge air pockets in your candle. Air pockets and crooked wicks equal a bad burn. Container preheating, slow cooling and topical punctuation are major players in reducing or eliminating air pockets.

1. As the top of your insulated cooling candles inevitably hardens first, poke holes in it with toothpicks or something little like that. This punctuation will allow air in so as not to compromise the candle’s uniform solidity.

Or is that solidarity?

All candles are one candle. All light is one light. When you use one candle to light another, does the first flame diminish in any way? All light is one light. And so it is with love, as well.

Allow your candles to cool/harden for at least 24 hours. They may seem ready early. Resist the urge. And then share your light.