How will I dry herbs - Part III

Now came the exciting part -- what the fresh picked herbs will rest on while drying...  This wasn't easy because I don't have any obvious choices like stainless hardware cloth nor nylon mesh like some dryers use.  I could spend money on some (budget permitting) but it is my goal to think simple and use what I have everywhere possible.  After checking through all the various materials and gardening supplies from previous years, I found an unopened package of floating row cover which is a breathable bonded polypropylene fabric and I have 10' x 50' of it -- BINGO!

So, now that I need something to build a frame that will slide in the drying cabinet I completed in the last post - part II.  This seemed like a longer shot the the cabinet frame itself because I would need lots of small sized, lighter weight boards at least 29" long.  This still took some running back and forth between the barn, garage, and carport but not as much since 1) I had just done a lot of that for the cabinet and 2) I had fewer scraps to look through.

The only boards that could be right were grading stakes I used around the garden previous years.  The end that was in the ground had seen better days, but the part that was above the ground was approximately 1"x1" beech wood (I think) and weathered, but clean.  That seemed too good to be true.  The clean end might not be long enough -- 29" or more...  What!?  They are all more than 30" of clean wood.  Wow!  The one wrinkle was that some of them were badly warped or not square.  Subtracting those out I still had enough for three shelves.  That seemed like a good start.  I can always make more later after this is up, running, and tested.

Here is how the shelves look

Here is another view

And after I cut, stretched, and stapled the polyurethane cloth to them

Finally, here they are in their new home in the barn stall from Part I.