My darling hubby bakes bread. Really yummy bread. The only downside is how much the oven can heat up the house in the summer. It's for this reason that we've been talking about building a cob oven in the backyard. We had thrown some blocks down as an outline for where we thought it would fit best, and threw in a few of the big rocks in the yard that were becoming less decoration and more in the way as the garden expanded. That is where it sat for a couple of weeks.
Then we had a leak. Well, more an area that was getting over-watered that oozed out into the walkway between the long bed and the strawberry/grape bed. We did some digging to make sure it wasn't a leaking pipe, and noticed the squishy clay soaking up the runoff. Nice squishy clay that would be perfect for the base of a cob oven, and hey, the hole is already started. So we kept digging.
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| And now there is a gaping hole in the walkway. |
Once he got started, it was hard to slow down. He built up the base using part of the patio block we pulled up to make room for the patio planter, part of the decorative blocks we had lining the patio and filled in the middle with big rocks we had used to decorate the yard long ago. The top layer of cob in the base is holding in the insulating layer of sand. On top of that sits the bricks. Right now we have the first layer of the oven. Next is an insulating layer that is heavier in straw. Then one more layer of cob to seal it up.
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| There's a dome of sand in there for support. We'll dig it out after the next layer goes on. |
I can already smell the bread.
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