July/August 1994 Backwoods Home Magazine

48

By Lucy Shober

Picture yourself in this dreamyscenario: I t’s a hot summerafternoon. The sun is beaming

through the shade trees as you loll inthe hammock sipping fresh-made icytea and nibbling tidbits from a home-cooked sizzling lunch.

Sound great? It will sound and tasteeven better when you find that youcan create this scene yourself with nohelp! While it can be pretty dangerousto try and cook lunch on your mom'skitchen range, there's a safe and funway to cook your own lunch with aheat source that's roughly 149,600,000kilometers away. It's hard to burn yourfingers on this stove! Our special oven(if you haven’t already guessed) isthat amazing cooker, our SUN!

You can produce the heat and waterto cook a delicious meal just by using

a little ingenuity and that big ball offire in the sky. Follow the directionsbelow for making a solar still. Youcan use the water that you produce tomake that icy sun tea and to wash upwith before lunch. To make yourmeal, you should follow the guide-lines for a solar cooker, and the recipefor sun-kabobs.

Solar stillIf you would like to use the water

produced by the solar still for yourpicnic lunch, it’s best to get started afew days early in order to collectenough.

To make the still, get permission todig a hole in a sunny spot in youryard. It must be about twenty inchesdeep and forty inches across. Put asmall bowl at the center of your hole.Now you must put a clean clear plas-

tic sheet (about sixty inches wide)over the hole and secure it there withthe dirt that you've taken from thehole. Just place handfuls of it allaround the edge of the sheet, beingcareful not to get any into the bowlinside. Now find a little rock to placein the center of the sheet. This willweigh down the plastic with the lowpoint being directly over the bowl.Don't let the plastic touch the bowl: itshould be a couple of inches above it.

As the sun heats your still, the watercontained in the earthy floor of it willevaporate and rise to the plastic. Soonthat water will condense and formdroplets which will drip down theplastic into your bowl. It might be along wait, but your fresh water will beas clean as the driven snow!Remember this trick if you ever getstuck in the Mojave desert.

Just for kids — sun-kabobs and solar sizzle

Place handfuls of dirt around the edges of the plastic sheeting that covers your solar still. (Color this picture!)

Sun teaWhen you've collected enough

water, find a large glass jar to makeyour sun tea. Put into it several teabags (use herb tea, not caffeine tea)and maybe a spice or two. Cloves orfennel would be nice, but sift them outbefore drinking the tea. Cap the jar,and set it in a hot sunny spot. Afterseveral hours, check to see if the tea isdark enough, add ice, and thank yourflaming friend in the sky for thisrefreshing drink.

Solar cookerFor this great project, you will need

to have these items:

• Some black tempera paint or alarge sheet of flat black paper

• An empty oatmeal box

• A large sheet of aluminum foil

• A small mirror

• A nice sunny day

• Scissors

• Good tape

• A clean thin dowel or long thinclean stick

First you should cut a rectangularhole in the side of the box. Leaveabout an inch at each end. (See pic-ture.) Now cover the inside of the boxwith the foil, keeping the shiny side

showing. Tape the edges to the box,then tightly cover the outside withdark paper (so the hole stays open) orpaint it with the black tempera.

If you do your work outdoors, youwill notice that the foil reflects theglare of the sun into your eyes, andthat the black surface is much easier tolook at. The black absorbs the sunlightand heat and the foil reflects them intoyour eyes...or onto the sun-kabob! Thecooker will work from the inside andout to give you a good lunch.

Now, to get things cooking, poke thedowel through one end of the box andout the other. When you feel that it issturdy enough, slip one end out andspear your delectable ingredients fromthe recipe onto it. (The recipe fol -lows.) It’s best to alternate fruits andmeat so that the flavors will mingle.Now re-poke the stick into its hole,close up your solar oven, and find ahot sunny spot in which to set up youroutside kitchen. You can secure thecooker by wedging pebbles under it,but make sure that it is facing directlyat the sun. Slip the mirror into the boxto reflect even more sun rays onto thekabob. Depending on the type of dayyou choose, you should have a meal inthirty minutes to an hour. Have fun,and watch out for Bowzer or Fido orwhoever might want to steal your hardearned picnic lunch!

Recipe for sun-kabobsYou will need:

• One hot dog or some sliced piecesof ham

• Some pineapple chunks• A few cherries• Sliced oranges, apples or any other

delectable fruit.

Chop these ingredients into bitesized pieces, put them in a bowl andpour any of the leftover juice fromyour fruit over it. If you are adven-turesome, you can add a dash of cin-namon or nutmeg to this mixturebefore you cover and refrigerate it.You can let it sit in the refrigerator fora while, to let the flavors mingle, oruse it right away.

Enjoy! ∆

July/August 1994 Backwoods Home Magazine

49

You can add a mirror to your solar stove to create more heat.