Muddy Creek charter school in Philomath commissioned this mud project as the initial step in creating an "outdoor classroom." All 60 kids, K-5, participated in 2 days of playdough brainstorming and design, and six days of mud. Parents and neighbors contributed random prunings of willow, fruitwood, and forsythia that we wove into a rough hut; the mud came up out of a hole in the ground, and we ended up making a lovely cob bench and this "hug hut." The hut was designed to "last" for just one winter, and then get torn down so new students could make their own -- instead of taking care of . . .
Earth Oven variant: insulation in a basket over jumping bricks!
Insulate! Insulate! Insulate! This oven gets used about 5 days a week, so it never cools down -- partly thanks to 11" of insulation under the hearth (vertical wine bottles in perlite), and about 8" of loose perlite over the dome (poured into a basket made of bamboo covered in clay/plaster soaked burlap and mud). I built it for a local CSA farmstand restaurant (gathering together farm). The whole story (build and repair) follows, complete w/photos of making our own bricks and laying them up from the inside out! The oven started in a public workshop; folks came to make mud and learn and we . . .
Build Your Own Barrel Oven Book!
Hand Print Press has published a new book about a hybrid style of wood-fired oven called a Barrel Oven! Build Your Own Barrel Oven A Guide for Making a Versatile, Efficient, and Easy to Use Wood-Fired Oven The tools for a sustainable future continue to grow! In this book, Max and Eva Edleson offer a comprehensive guide for planning and building a practical, efficient and affordable wood-fired oven. The Barrel Oven offers surprising convenience because it is hot and ready to bake in within 15-20 minutes and is easy to maintain at a constant temperature.  It can be the seed for a . . .