And by DIY, I mean I told my husband what I wanted, and he explained the design of this solar food dehydrator to our carpenter, who made it for us. But I looked up the design online after seeing one at a lodge here in Uganda, so I think that counts for something.
Anyway, if you're the craftsman type or you have a carpenter who you can call, here's an idea for how to harvest the sun to dehydrate and preserve your own food. I'm still experimenting, but my first success was with sun dried tomatoes. It took a few days for them to dry out enough, and I then used some of my dried herbs, garlic, and salt to season them while preserving them in a glass bottle with olive oil. We used them to top some pesto pasta.
Next up, dried fruits.