BUILDING AN EARTH OVEN PART 1 - DRINK BEER & MAKE MUDPIES

Well it would be as easy as the aforementioned pie if we actually sat down and read the book properly (the earth oven bible that is). Instead we took the attitude that one shouldn’t actually open to the pertinent page until a few minutes before getting started. Without fail we would discover that we didn’t have the right materials, tools or would need to let things soak or dry overnight or perhaps for a week, in light of this the only reasonable course of action remaining was to take a siesta or perhaps go fishing instead. This is perhaps not the most efficient way to get things done, but far less stressful.

We are now about 3/4 done on the oven and now that we know what to do, having more or less skimmed the relevant diagrams, I can promise you someone more prepared than us could easily knock this over in a week, with 5 out of the 7 days set aside for the oven to have some quality alone time to dry.

I encourage you to buy the book, but as a summary here are the first steps, with more to come (I promise, dear reader, that I won’t be as cavalier with my blog updates as my construction).

STEP 1: BUILD A BASE

Make it high enough so you don’t end up with back issues when you suddenly find yourself cooking for 5 hungry housemates, 2 ex-housemates and a gaggle of friends.We compromised and made ours sitting height so we could sit around it when winter shows up to make a nuisance of itself. (Who invited him anyway?)

We had a lot of earth bag left so naturally a circular super adobe base made sense, but you could happily make it out of bricks or stones or anything stable that won’t catch fire. If you have a hole in the centre like us, fill it with scoria to support the oven.

STEP 2: DRINK SOME BEER

A very important step, you can do it alone, but why not share the burden with some friends. A great way to reuse those pesky gourmet brews with bottles too small for home brew!

The glass bottles onced covered in clay provide air pockets to insulate the earth oven base from loosing too much heat.

STEP 3: MAKE SOME MUD

Any clay will do, we got ours from a building site, if you are in a clay rich area anywhere there is excavation going on is likely to have some. Builders too grumpy to share? You might have to dig a deep hole in your own garden, but don’t forget to fill it in!

Let the clay dry, break it up a bit, then soak it overnight so it becomes a sticky mess. Then pour it over the bottles and level it out. Wait for it to dry while you wait for the next post!