Friday, June 20, 2008

Birth Of The Earth Oven

The project of 3 years is finally being created. For the base of the oven Roy has cut down some Poplar trees and is stacking the posts vertically to create strength and height, when we bake we don't want to be sliding food in at ground level. Inside the walls of the poplar there will be a mass of crushed stone and gravel to create a thermal mass to hold heat. Jim and Roy took off to West Piont last night to get a truck load of sand. The dome of the oven will be molded around the sand. We will also make a mixture of sand, clay and straw to form the walls of the oven and I am looking forward to bare feet mixing as one would stomp grapes.

It has been so long since I last posted I almost gave up on myself but we had some motivating visitors to the farm last week. Francois and Lisa hail from the the States and are a breath of fresh air. He is the chef of Dayboat a gourmet restuarant in North Rustico and Lisa manages the restaurant. They initially came for a short visit to the farm but you know when you "Know" that people fit and I invited them to camp here with us over night. We had an amazing pot luck meal all cooked outside on the fire pit. Our contrbution was local flounder baked in foil three ways with crab, tomatoe and garlic and the third with turmeric and onion which Roy put together. We had prime rib rubbed with a dry rub, potatoes and onions sauteed in duck fat and a salad of duck confit and mushrooms. Lashings of wine and eating outside made for a most memorable meal.

Update on the the peahen. After a month of laying an egg here and there she finally settled on the most unlikely of places. The workshop bench in amongst nails and srews, no straw a most uncomfortable spot but obviously not to her. We shall see if all her efforts hatch!!