I had a really fun time building a clay oven in Mogotio with some of the women from the church there. These are the ladies I taught to bake cakes and scones during TLT earlier this year. And during the next TLT session, we decided to bake bread. So a small group of the women built the oven with me in October so it would be ready for baking in November.
Jane (the wife of Rev. John, pastor of this church and also a part-time teacher at Berea College), Dinah (the wife of the suffragan bishop of Baringo), and I spent a day building the base for the oven. It was fun because it was the first time either of them had mixed cement or built something like that. They felt confident about their new building skills by the time we finished that day!
This man, Mike, helped us gather the materials and cut a piece of metal to use as a frame for the oven door. I was super impressed at his skill in cutting the metal using a knife and a hammer.
A couple days later, I went back and a few more ladies joined to build the oven itself. They were hard workers and did great work. No one was afraid to get her hands and feet dirty.
Here's our work site:
They were also very willing to use cow manure as plaster for the outer layer of the oven. It was awesome.
What did you use to create the hollow area of the oven that you then applied the manure to?
ReplyDeleteWe built a pile of sand with newspaper over it as a kind of scaffold to hold the oven until it dried. Then, after 2 weeks, the ladies dug the sand out - when they reached the newspaper, they knew to stop digging because it was at the boundary of the wall. The manure is the top layer of the oven wall, all over the outside.
DeleteAnother oven accomplishment! Well done Sara. It looks like you built this one right next to a house or building? Will this give off a lot of heat to the other structure? Remind me why there are glass bottles inside the oven structure.
ReplyDeleteIt's right next to the church kitchen. But even though the oven gets really hot, the heat stays inside because of the oven's thick, insulated walls. The glass bottles help to create insulation. Having empty air pockets in the bottles and the wood shavings on the middle - insulation - layer of the oven helps the oven hold more heat for longer!
DeleteIt's amazing that the walls hold the heat in that effectively! Your baking projects look wonderful. Your mom has been baking up some pretty impressive creations too. Must run in the family. :)
DeleteThese are great photos! Again, you have empowered more women to build and create something wonderful.
ReplyDelete