Dehydration

My work table, with supervisor and dehydrator

A glance around my house would tell you that I am getting ready to go somewhere. There are piles of things on the table needing returning to their owners. A pile of postcards is addressed and waiting for me to write on them and send them to Australia with a friend for posting. Things are piling up in various locations ready for packing. The dehydrator is humming away, with new contents every day or so.

Dehydration is part of life when working in villages. It is a process which allows me to take with extra nutrients and protein that may not be readily available where I am going. Dehydrated food has a long shelf life and weighs little. This means I can pack food for several weeks without worrying about refrigeration or paying for the weight to fly it about. 

Everything we fly here is charged by weight, including myself. At the hanger I step onto the scales and the aviation department writes down my body weight so that they can charge me per kg. My cargo suffers a similar fate, but takes it less personally. 

Today the dehydrator holds beans and carrots. These grow well in the Highlands but are not available where I’ll be going. Last week I put 2kg of mince through, ending up with a few small bags of crumbed meat at the end. The red meat options where I’ll be going is basically tinned corned beef, which I can only eat in small doses. I’m looking forward to fresh crab though!

One of the village packing piles,
including a life jacket for when
travelling on the water

 Last week I dehydrated strawberries, which made the house smell wonderful, and resulted in a super sweet snack. Highlands strawberries have a wonderful strong flavour already, but dehydrated that is intensified and half a strawberry is enough to blow your tastebuds away. A few pineapples went through as well, because three were ripe in the garden simultaneously, not because they won’t be available.

Another dehydrated goodie which is in the packing pile is mung beans. I buy these at the store already dried, then sprout them in the village to give me instant fresh vegetables. 

As a dehydrator is a standard tool for a village team, I was pleasantly surprised when someone donated theirs to me earlier this year. They were returning home to look after elderly parents, knew that I was new to the field and knew that I would need it. Since then I’ve been able to purchase another one second hand, allowing me to stack my original machine twice as high with the extra racks.

2kg mince, 3 pineapples,
a large tub of strawberries: 700g

The other dehydration village teams face is from not drinking enough. As I’m off to a lowlands area, I know that kulau (green coconut, for drinking) will be available, which is better than a sports drink and naturally pure. I’m also packing my Vegemite, to help balance my salt intake with my sweat output. 

So, the dehydrating and packing must continue. I write to-do lists, enjoy crossing things off, then start a new list. Boxes need to be filled, taped and labelled. By Dec 4 everything must be ready to go to the village with me or into storage, as I’m also moving out of this house, ready for the owners to return while I’m away.