Different herbs require different times and different treatments or methods, so mixing them in the dryer isn't always a good idea. Basil is far more delicate than rosemary. Probably your herbs stayed in the dehydrator too long at too high a temperature. Sometimes air-drying or even oven-drying works better if your dehydrator only operates at high. Here's a link to an article I think may help. Mountain Rose Herbs is a good company. You might want to sign up for their newsletter. Good luck. Stuff happens. Just chalk it up to experience. The next attempt will go better. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: The Art of Drying Herbs

ROFLOL, nhbabs. That is exactly the blog I found when searching for images of topiaries! I bookmarked several of her ideas. I love the one with the pine greenery on bottom and the red sticks and berries on top. teacats, I like the stacked pumpkins and will probably do that in December. I've got a pumpkin/scarecrow thing that fits in those pots that I thought I'd try to find tomorrow. I had a mat. I bet the roofers moved it when they rolled their big magnet thing around there. I'll have to go find that too. You are all right about too much shade for a rosemary. The porch faces east so the pots receive light until about 10-11 a.m. I'm really surprised that one is still alive. This post was edited by marti8a on Sun, Oct 12, 14 at 17:13

Generally, I only dry herbs for winter cooking. Usually, thyme, rosemary sprigs, winter savory, bay and sage leaves. Last year was my first time doing bay leaves, and I ran out before Christmas. This year I'll double the quantity I dry, but it's difficult because my bay tree is about 4 feet tall and I feel like I'm butchering it. Those other herbs are doomed for the winter anyway, so it's easier to harvest them. Last year I dehydrated some peppers for the firs time; Little Romanian Targu Mures peppers, which I later ground into hot paprika. It's been awesome to cook with paprika that I made myself, but I should probably cut it with a sweeter pepper for the next batch. Those Targu Mures aren't ferociously hot, but you certainly don't want to use them exclusively for a pot of goulash.

Kate, I have a few grills and maybe two pizza stones. I think I need to get a stone that fits the “poor man’s Green Egg” (a red metal egg shaped cooker, forgot name. Need to get a peel as well. When you Say you have trouble with red sauce, what do you mean? Do you mean the way it can be too much and too wet for the pizza? Are you making it from scratch? I’m going to guess that you may when you put it on the pizza, that the pizza can become too wet or soggy? In a wood fired oven or the portable pizza oven that Lars has, the heat is so great that the crust cooks really fast — before pizza dough gets soggy. Here are some of the things I do to prevent the crust from getting soggy by the tomato pizza sauce and this might be helpful for you. If not using a pizza stone, I put a layer of either cornmeal (fine cornmeal) or lately sesame seeds on the pan before I lay down the pizza dough. This will allow a little bit of air space and keep the bottom toasty. I put a thin layer of extra-virgin olive oil a top the pizza dough before putting anything on it. I don’t make the dough too thick. I pre-cook certain things like sliced mushrooms, green pepper or onions just a bit so that they don’t release a lot of water. I avoid placing too much of anything in the very center of the pizza. I use the fan in my oven. I preheat my oven to the highest temperature – – I think it’s about 540°F. And I keep an eye on the pizza but leave the door closed– I think usually it takes about 5 to 10 minutes. Are usually cook mine on the low part of the oven. But others very so you’d have to practice and play it by ear smell insight. I turn on the robust exhaust fan above the oven oven as I’m cooking the pizza. When I go to consider taking the pizza out, I take a spatula and lift up the bottom of the pizza so that I can see if it’s pale or toasty. When I remove the pizza, and put it on the top of the stove I have the fan still going on high, and then I take that spatula and cock up the pizza so that the steam can vent from the bottom of the crust. That helps keep the crust dry and doesn’t let any moisture or steam condense on the pizza crust. One tip somebody gave me a long time ago making homemade pizzas is that because our ovens are not as hot as a Commercial pizza oven, do you only want to put a small amount of red sauce on it to keep it from getting soggy. This woman pointed out that you don’t really need all that much red sauce. And keep it thinner in the center. Lately for the past several years, I haven’t been using pizza sauce but I have been using thinly sliced plum tomatoes in the top. First I put a layer of olive oil on the dough, then I put a layer of Parmesan cheese, then I layer on the tomato(you can shake or use a paper towel to get extra water off these) ; can I add a few things like those frozen precooked Jimmy Dean sausage patties cut into small pieces. He’s a much fresher than any frozen sausage or whatever because they are cooked they don’t get rancid (I learned this on test kitchen). I found that I can use garlic powder when I’m too lazy to add garlic or to minced garlic in it actually works out well. I put a little sage powder and a little time powder and maybe some pork cooked mushrooms, black olives and maybe a little bit of basil or basil leaves. I top it with mozzarella. Cook as above and when it comes out of the oven I pile on lots of fresh basil leaves. I love fresh basil. Sometimes you can make a sort of pizza with pesto and tomatoes and whatever but the pesto is really nice if you like that. PS I usually add some red pepper flakes to my pizza — zip yum