Hello my wonderful blog readers! I recently wrote an article for the The Herbal Academy about how to make an herb and flower drying screen, and I wanted to make sure to share it with you here as well so you don’t miss out!
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Growing your own medicinal, culinary, or otherwise useful herbs and flowers is a rewarding experience.
The act of planting the seeds, nurturing and watering them as they grow, then harvesting the fruits of your labor for your natural health medicine cabinet is so fulfilling.
It’s nice to know that you have all of the great benefits of herbs right at your fingertips for when you may need them.
It is also sometimes necessary to wildcraft your herbs, which can be an extremely gratifying endeavor. Finding, identifying and collecting wild herbs and flowers can easily turn into a day of fun for me.
Once you have those fresh herbs, whether homegrown or wildcrafted, it is usually necessary to dry them in some way or another to preserve them for use throughout the year.
Many herbal recipes call for dried herbs, and while it is possible to buy almost any dried herb you would possibly need these days, growing, foraging, and drying them yourself is a great path towards self sufficiency.
Read the rest of this post here with full instructions on how to make the drying screen on The Herbal Academy blog
How to Make an Herb and Flower Drying Screen
Herbs to Dry on Your DIY Drying Screen
Good morning,
great DIY for drying screens. Thanks.
I’m building a green house and am thinking about building benches with screen tops so plant’s can drain.
Would you / could you recommend a plan for building sturdy bench screens for a green house environment?
Also…loving the dandelions! How can dried leaves/petals be used?
Thanks for all you do for so many,
Sue
Hi Sue. I’m sorry, I don’t have any plans for building bench screens, but it sounds like a fun project! Yes, I’ve dried dandelion flowers and leaves and they can be used in place of fresh in a variety of herbal remedies.
Is there a benefit of using this method to hanging them upside down in a dry in a dark, cool place (or any place)?
I typically dry large flowers and leaves on a drying screen and flowers with long stems and smaller flowers using the upside-down method.
Do you need to use particular wood or screening so you don’t leach toxins or chemicals into the herbs?
I used wood and a screen that wasn’t coated in any paint or sealant.
Does it matter what kind of screen? Could some contain toxins that can be harmful?
Ok. So unless I’m completely missing it- where are the instructions on how to make the drying rack that is mentioned?
Hi Jennifer, you need to click the link at the bottom of the post to get to the drying screen instructions. This was a post that I originally wrote on the Herbal Academy blog.
I use the wire cloth laundry baskets found at the local dollar stores. They keep out bugs and can be hung outside in the warmth to speed up your drying time process in a clean safe way. Another idea indeed.
That’s a good idea, which kind do you buy (I’m in England, so no dollar stores here!) – I’ve seen tall cylinder ones and short cubes… Do you get those and just put the herbs in?