When the sunne shinth make hay, whiche is to say, take time whan time comth, lest time steale away.
A super simple easy to use and inexpensive tracking/non-tracking solar cooker.
The square foot solar cooker is made from three pieces of mirror glass, and two glass jars. It costs much less than $20 to build, and can be used either to track the sun or set in place to let it cook automatically. You can build a stationary one for your backyard with a good backing of plywood, or make a portable unit that will even collapse for backpacking and camping or even to use in the case of power outages or disasters.
It can cook a quart of rice and just over two hours, and raise a quart of liquid about 1° per minute of good direct sun. I have used it in pressurized mode, but do not recommend this as I do not know the strength of canning jars. Not only will it cook food but it can disinfect and pasteurize a few daily quarts of water, is an ideal platform for melting wax, can bake Mini-loaves of bread, will distill alcohol and make hydrosol’s and essential oil‘s, and is even an excellent reflector for candles or lanterns. Again, it can kill bad germs and questionable drinking water, which may be its most important use .
Here are some links to ‘Instructables’ that I have posted that will give you some ideas on how to build and use this nifty device.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Square-foot-solar-cooker-for-bread-and-as-an-assis/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Disinfecting-water-with-the-Ft2-solar-cooker-
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-simple-solar-still/
You can also build a mini FT2, out of 6 inch mirrors that works quite well for making tinctures, potions(?), salves, CBD oils, essential oil‘s, and hydrosols which are basically scented waters. It is very portable and easy to use. More forthcoming as this site develops. Thank you.
SecretSolarInstitute 