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About Easy Food Dehydrating

So you wanna know about Easy Food Dehydrating?

Well, since 2010, I have diligently posted pages chock-full of information for visitors to Easy Food Dehydrating, and I have enjoyed sharing the benefits and the how-to of dehydrating food. It's a pleasure AND a passion!

After more than a decade of dehydrating, it's still so much fun to share my experience with you.

Susan with i Heart EFD mug, and Nesco Dehydrator making raisinsSusan's enjoying coffee in her "I ❤️ Easy Food Dehydrating" mug
and making raisins on her trusty Nesco dehydrator

Get one of Susan's coffee mugs "I Heart Easy Food Dehydrating" on Zazzle here!

Why I Started Easy Food Dehydrating...

My goal was—and still is—to teach you all about easy food dehydrating.

It's not rocket science, but it's good to know you'll have those favorite fruits and veggies available to you - all year long.

Also, let us not forget the important aspect of affordable long-term food storage in times of natural disasters.

Blizzard - snow-covered road

Hurricanes, snowstorms, and ravaging fires - and how about rampant inflation and pandemics - that keep you housebound?

Over the years, many of you Easy Food Dehydrating fans have written in and I happily share your testimonials which mean a lot to me.

About Easy Food Dehydrating and SBI!

Susan Gast - Owner/Operator of Easy Food Dehydrating and SusanGast.comSusan at work

Here's a little more personal info. about Easy Food Dehydrating and little old me...

It has been quite a journey since its inception and it would be remiss of me to not mention SBI!—a great site builder and hosting platform.

SBI! is short for Solo Build It! Without their words of wisdom and web business savvy, this site would not exist.

That being said, I'd love to share how to build websites with SBI! with you at that link.

Now I'll go back to the very beginning of my various careers. 

Prior to coming to the USA from the UK, I worked on dad's farms (milked cows, lambed sheep, fixed fences, and scraped up poop)... I also helped Dad renovate the outbuildings and the farmhouse itself.

I loved that job and still enjoy designing homes today (using HomeDesigner Pro online) in my spare time!

Now over in the USA:

In the '80s, I was in graphic arts and worked in a print shop.

In the '90s, I worked alongside my brother for a decade in the Mechanical Engineering field. He was a Senior Engineer and I was most certainly a "Junior." I learned an awful lot from my bro and I love him to bits.

He taught me that you can't put a square hole in metal (well, you can, but it is VERY labor intensive effort with a special tool...) and when putting two parts together, can you actually join them? You can't mate two threaded holes as they'd never tighten up! You need a clearance hole and a threaded hole. Lesson learned on day five.

Milling machine working on an aluminum part

Also, while my main job was to 'detail' the parts on paper—that means putting on their dimensions and notations (call-outs) as to what size the hole was, where it was located, etc.—I'd show him my printout and was always asking him if I'd done it right.

His answer?

"Susan, could YOU make the part from your detailed info.?"

Mind. Blown.

Great question and I could answer it honestly. How so? I first learned about machinery from running a lathe, using a milling machine, and a band saw - and other tools - in my brother's workshop. Back then, we created small assembly machines.

So by looking at the drawing from the machinist's perspective, I could easily catch a missed call-out.

Another Career Change

It was November 2010. I'd been working hard for the past five years to master the art of trading. Charts and moving averages were fascinating to me, but they're lagging indicators (in hindsight). But it was Forex trading in particular that caught my eye.

Christmas was only a month away. I couldn't feel the cheer. I was not cut out to be a currency trader.

I had to put the trading 'aside' after losing A LOT OF MONEY on a "short" trade (should have gone "long"!) and I kept on moving the "stop." Bad girl.

It was time, once again to tackle the chance to be my own boss and have my very own website. I've always had somewhat of an entrepreneurial spirit, (I took after my dad!), so looking for a 9-5 job wasn't in the cards for me. Not to mention that the job market was in the dumpster...

So I went online to see how to start a website. Read more about that here.

I was Interviewed by SBI!—twice!

Back in 2015, Solo Build-It! interviewed me and then followed up with me again in 2022.

Read my follow-up interview with SBI! here. This is the link to the first interview.

Invitations to Write for Mother Earth News™ and SBI!™

I blog for Mother Earth News

In July of 2015, Mother Earth News™ contacted me to see if I'd like to blog for them (of course I would!) You can find my posts by visiting Mother Earth News.

A week later, the hosts of this website (SBI!—aka Solo Build It!) also contacted me to see if I'd like to participate in their Entrepreneur Series (again, of course I would!) 

Update: Sadly, Mother Earth News has closed its blog post section to all.

(Was it something I said? Just kidding.)

If YOU Want Your Own Website:

Before I go, please check out How To Build Websites. See how YOU can have YOUR VERY OWN Website... it's such a rush when you see your own homepage for the first time—in fact, that feeling never grows old! 

THE BEST Site-Building Software in the World!
Yes, I'm biased! :-)

Also, check out my real and honest review of SBI!

Thanks for Visiting Easy Food Dehydrating!

I hope you get tons of inspiration from my site—but more than that—I hope you spend many happy hours dehydrating your garden's gift of food!

Also, make sure to store your dehydrated food for the long term. You never know when you might need it.

Cheers,

Susan