Up-cycled Pallets = Mini Greenhouse and Dehydrator

This one I think @elamental will like. My work had a bunch of pallets they wanted to throw in the trash. I gladly accepted them for free heat in the wood stove or a good campfire. Then I got an idea.

Mini Greenhouse

I hate growing my seeds indoors during the spring because the cats like to dig everything up. We also do a bunch of food dehydrating all year long. This gave me the great idea to make a dual purpose contraption. It would do both things for me while sitting out near the garden.

First, I tore all the pallets apart and separated the different types of wood. There was no plans for this beast. Just found some matching sizes of wood and started screwing stuff together. This is what I came up with.

Redneck Architect

I started building the whole thing around the front window I had picked out for the Greenhouse section, then I dropped it and it broke. So I ended up substituting these other 2 pieces of glass I had laying around. They were from a shower I tore out and saved. That lower window section folds up for easy access. This inside is lined with reflective bubble insulation and the floor is painted black to soak up the heat.

The gap you see in the top is to let the air flow through as it gets very hot on sunny days. I have a piece to put back in there in the winter to hold the heat in. The bottom section does an excellent job as a make shift greenhouse and seed starter.

Here on the top section is my dehydrator. Let's take a look.

The handle is made from some braided barn twine used to hold straw bails. It's held closed by some pieces of our old trampoline that got destroyed in a wind storm. A spring pulls around to secure the door from flying open.

Solar Dehydrator

The top is the dehydrator portion for obvious reasons. Heat rises from the bottom and dries all my herbs and vegetables in the top. For the trays I used some old window screens I found in the back barn when I moved in. The guy I got the place from worked at Anderson window for many years and all these were brand new screens.

I have 4 levels (not that straight) I use for drying. As you can see the bottom is open to the greenhouse section where the heat builds up and rises out the top.

The screens all pull out for easy access. Right now we have Cilantro drying on the bottom rack and more thyme drying on the top rack.

Overall I'd say I did a decent job. I didn't use a tape measure at all, which is blatantly apparent, but gives it character. I love to redneck stuff together with no plans and see what turns out. If it sucks, it's still great fuel for the wood stove.

Thanks for reading!