Our new oven

With the help of our fantastic wwoofers we have finished our new pizza oven and we are looking forward to the first feast. Finding the clay was the first step, we found a big seam of it in the front paddock and filled the bath tub about half way and covered it with water. Our last wonderful wwoofer Dafna had begun so there was some clay in the bottom that had already been soaking for a good few weeks. This was great for stomping as it was much softer and it is certainly worth soaking the clay for as long as possible beforehand. So the bare foot stomping began in the tub ..it felt great...but jeez our feet were sore the next day!
For the first layer we added sand until it felt like a good consistancy...not too wet..and just after building the dome of sand(covered in plastic) we started throwing the mud on. We built up a good thick layer had a rest and then added straw to the mix and put the next layer on. We found it easier to add the straw by hand as we went.We then added the finishing touches and will wait a week before we pull the sand out. After three days of beautiful clear winter weather it feels quite dry and hard on the outside in the parts exposed to the sun.