Cob Oven

Foundation, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

I'm helping Krista's dad Jerry build a cob oven in their backyard. We used some really top notch "urbanite" we scored from some neighbors.
Jerry laid a good bed of gravel then we built up the walls. He wanted the oven to be fairly low, so as not to block the view of the garden. I thought it looked like a wishing well from some communist country--all gray concrete filled with gray gravel.
Jerry later added a layer of glass bottles and fine pumice stone for insulation purposes.
Yesterday we borrowed my friend Karen's pick up truck and drove to my other friend Peg's house and shoveled in a full load of premium clay soil. We drove (very slowly) back to Jerry's and wheelbarrowed into their back patio, then wheelbarrowed out the big pile of crappy 'topsoil' he'd excavated for the foundation and then drove (very slowly) back to Karen's and unloaded it in her side yard. By the end of that little venture we were a bit worn out (to say the least).
Today we made two batches of cob, with the help of Krista, Joyce and Eden. Basically we just built up a little curb of cob around the perimeter and a thin floor of cob to hold a nice level bed of sand.
The fire bricks go on top of the sand, and that's tomorrow's labor of love.
It feels great to be building something again, especially an oven. I can practically taste the pizza already. Which is some consolation because I'm damn sore all over!