Cob Oven Building in Portland, June 2009

Catherine and Chris decide to build a cob oven at their beautiful home in Portland. The structure starts (after weeks of preparation) on top of fire brick with a sand dome upon which three layers of cob (varying mixtures of clay, sand, stone, and straw) is packed. The sand is to be removed after the structure dries so that the open oven remains for fire and food. The building process seen here took us two days. Day two starts with mowing over straw.

Additional time is needed to add sculpture to the structure. A trillium has been proposed.