CoB OvEn!!

Today was Day 1 of the two-day cob oven workshop I'm hosting. We had four adults (including my husband and myself), and we got lots done. The foundation was built and filled in previously. So today we mixed up a couple batches of cob and levelled the foundation off. Then we made more cob and used it as mortar between old bricks to build a sort of retaining wall for the next step. We placed empty beer bottles on their sides under where the hearth will be; this is for added insulative value for conductive heat. Then we mixed up some clay slip with straw and added that around and on the bottles. This is where we've stopped for the day. I need to build a wooden door tonight.

Tomorrow we have more people coming - maybe as many as 8 or 9 people coming to cob. In the morning, I'm hoping the clay slip will have dried enough to proceed. Next step is to put down a layer of play sand or silica/ashtray sand - nice fine-grain sand for the hearth bricks to sit on. "Kiss and slide" the hearth bricks into place. Build the 16" high sand dome which will form the interior wall of the oven. Cover with a layer of newspaper. Mix cob and begin building walls of oven. Build second layer, adding straw into the mix. At this point, I'll leave the oven for up to a week or at least a few days to let the cob set. Then I'll scrape the sand out of the middle to form the oven's void and then fire it up and.... hey presto - we'll be cooking the world's best pizzas and bread by sunset. ;)

Costs so far:
$50 for delivery of a yard (or was it two?) of roadbase gravel to level out the site
Free: sandbags filled with concrete which were used to build the foundation.
Free: 110 yards (11 dumptruck loads) of fill - about 1/4 of a yard of which was used to fill in the foundation. LOL (Don't worry; we have a plan for the remaining 109.75 yards)
Free: 10 yards of clay subsoil which is what we're using for the cob mix.
Free: old bricks used for the retaining ring
$8 for a bale of straw
$6 for a bag of play sand
$72 for 18 firebricks for the hearth.
Total to date: about $136. I probably could've scrounged some old firebricks, and picked up a bale of spoiled straw for free if I'd looked hard enough. But I'm happy with the costs to-date. :)

I've been taking pictures as we go, but have no way of uploading them at the moment.

P.S. the chickens are 16 weeks old today. The puppy is 11 weeks old. All are doing well.