The wrong day to wear the Anthropologie tank top. |
On Saturday as Owen and I were leaving for the cob oven-building workshop, my husband said, "I hope it isn't too much fun. I really don't want you to build an oven in our yard."
He said it kindly. I think he knows he's playing a thankless but necessary role in the sitcom of our marriage. I think he deserves an Emmy.
The workshop was held in a mysterious new art/garden/sustainable living center a mile from our house. I don't understand the business plan at all, but they now have a fabulous new oven courtesy of our workshop. Is that the business plan? People pay for workshops in which they build the center's infrastructure? Shrewd! In a few days the clay will be dry, they'll scoop out the sand, coat it with plaster, fire up the oven to 800 degrees F, and start baking phenomenal pizzas.
The plank-topped platform in back is what we started with. |
As to the oven, "cob" is the old English word for durable, sustainable earthen material that was once widely used in construction. I dislike the word "cob." I don't know why. What to call a cob oven if you dislike the word "cob?" "Earth" sounds sanctimonious. "Mud" sounds dumpy. Clay?
In any case, we mixed a lot of cob, stomping to a Pandora station that played folksy songs in Spanish.
Owen and some other cats mixing cob. |
We made a round, hollow base for the oven that we filled with empty Jim Beam and kombucha bottles.
I dutifully opened a bottle of wine last night to use in our oven. |
Over the brick floor, we mounded a dome of damp sand.
We smoothed it out a lot after this photo was taken. |
Somehow, by the end of the day, we had this.
Just like my mother, Owen has a passion for clay. |
There are many, many details I couldn't write down because my hands were covered with cob and just a day later I can't remember them. What ratio of sand to clay for the base? For the dome? How much? Mix it until its the texture of oatmeal? Or a milkshake? Etc. I wish I had a recipe, but I guess I'll figure it out as we go along. I have a lot of regular work this week, but Owen and I are going to forge ahead, try to get something done on the oven, however small, every day.