Dave levelled the ground, Packed the earth down solid with Janet's roller, drew our circle and we started moving rocks. Mortared them in with cement, and then mixed up our first batch of "cob", clay, sub soil, sand, water and straw. Filled in the gaps, and used up all the rocks. The little kids got right in there beside the adults with the mud and straw and worked to make it thick and strong.
Cody, Dave and Tyson went and loaded up another truckload of rocks. We kept going, filling with sand, subsoil, cob mixture and rocks. Once the oven was tall enough, we levelled off with sand for a smooth surface to place our firebricks. After the bricks came a large dome of wet sand, followed by a layer of wet newspaper then clay, then more cob. Traci will go back to cut out a door and then we will be ready for phase 2 next Saturday at 10 am.
Lots of hard work, getting muddy and mixing up the clay mixture with our broken hoes, feet, hands, rubber boots, sticks and whatever else was useful. rolling it in the tarp (like a burrito?!?!) was effective too.
We all learned alot about Permaculture and pondered how to cook without wasting resources, energy, and with natural materials. Building structures from homes to ovens out of mud rocks and clay is an ancient and effective way to come together as a community to improve our health and food security.
Thank you so much Traci for teaching us and walking us through this process and thank you so much to Silvie for organizing it. Thank you to Tena for supplying us with much needed tea and coffee, and thank you to Catherine for baking cookies. Silvie brought tasty spicy samosas from Mrs. Sharma at Oceanview Cafe and a giant gorgeous salad for lunch to compliament the lovely chef demo treats and samples.
A special thank you to the Vancouver Island Health Authority for sponsering this fun and informative event, through the Community Food Action Initiative in Tahsis "Harvesting an Education". Can't wait to roast vegetables and pizza!
