I make butter

OK, yes, I made butter. It just sounds better to say “I make butter”, like I’m accomplished at yet another task. And after I made goat cheese, I went on to make it many more times, so let’s hope this sticks, too.

For months, we’ve been getting raw goat milk from our friendly, (sort of) neighborhood organic rancher. Hence the goat cheese. Now we’ve lucked upon a source for raw cow milk, too! (Sorry, can’t share. But if/when I can, I will.) This is all very funny, for a family that has for years avoided most milk products like the plague. Both Jan and I have different problems with milk, physically. But I’m here to tell you that the raw milk isn’t affecting us the way that store-bought milk does. It’s hard to say what all is involved in our normal difficulty with milk, because in addition to being raw, the milk we’re using now also comes from healthy, grass-fed animals. No hormones and antibiotics. No need to super-heat the milk to neutralize the nasty bacteria and strain out the pus. Oh yes. That’s store-bought milk for you. Even most organic cattle heards are fed corn and kept in nasty, crowded conditions; and of course the milk is pasteurized and homogenized.

But what I have on my hands is the good stuff. The cream rises to the top of the cow milk, begging to be siphoned off and used to make butter (goat milk is naturally homogenized, btw). So I did. Despite Jan’s desire to buy a churn, I knew I could do the job with a mason jar.  So I took my turkey baster, siphoned off about 2 cups of cream, and got to shaking.

Butter-making, like so many household food and gardening adventures, is an act of faith. You have to believe that this will eventually work. Otherwise, you would feel like a total ass walking around the house in circles shaking, shaking, shaking your jar. I’m here to cheer you on.

First, you’ll see the cream start to foam:

Then, the curds will start to form, in little, pale yellow clumps:

I shook it for just a bit longer, until it looked like mostly clumps with just a bit of buttermilk. Then strain out the clumps, and keep that buttermilk!

Take the back of a big spoon and press the butter against the sides of a bowl. You’re trying to squeeze out as much of the buttermilk as possible. Fold and press. Add a little cold water. Fold and press. Add a little cold water. Fold and press. Until the water runs clear. Then we mixed in a little salt.

Voila! Butter:

Now, if your family is anything like mine, a hunk of butter this size is about enough for one round of toast. That’s the rub. It’s divine, but fleeting. The only way I can imagine making enough butter to get us through a week is if we could buy straight-up cream, without the milk. Which is possible, since many of the milk-buyers out there want skimmed milk. I can’t fathom that. But it’s true.

And with the buttermilk, Ella and I make pancakes:

I took a picture of these particular buttermilk pancakes because this was a monumental step in Ella’s cooking career. She not only helped me mix the batter. She poured, evaluated, and flipped the pancakes, then took them off the griddle onto the plate. Without major injuries. I’m so proud. Soon, I’ll have two cooks in the house, and I can relax. If only I could get them to respond to a little bell.

Raw milk in Texas – help!

If you value choice in the foods you eat, we need your help. This information came to me recently from a friend (I’ll decline to say who). Please, please take a minute to share your thoughts and feelings with the Texas Department of State Health Services. The initial comment period mentioned has passed, but this is only round one, so let them know how you feel! (Emphasis mine.)

The Texas Department of State Health Services is working on new rules governing milk and dairy products in Texas.  It is important that everyone who cares about having access to raw milk and farmstead cheeses, or about food freedoms in general, speak up during this process!

For several years, raw milk farmers in Texas have struggled with the restriction that raw milk may be sold directly to the consumer “only at the point of production, i.e. at the farm.”  The draft rules would make it even harder, by requiring that the farmer “offer for sale and distribute raw milk directly to the final consumer only at the point of production, i.e. at the farm.”  This new provision would prevent people from picking up their milk through carpools, agent arrangements, etc.  The draft rules also require raw milk farmers to turn over a list of their customers to the government, and prevent people from even possessing raw milk that is not labeled and graded outside of their home.
The draft rules also create extensive permitting and regulatory burdens on family farms making farmstead cheeses.  Currently, small-scale cheesemakers are required to have a single food manufacturing permit, but the draft rule would require two permits, each with higher fees, and expensive infrastructure and equipment.

The draft rules are available at http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/milk/draft.shtm

TAKE ACTION
The deadline for submitting comments on the draft rule is March 6, 2009.  Please note that the agency plans to formally propose rules in April, so this is just Round One!! This is a chance to speak up relatively early in the process, which is the best time to make real changes.

Send your comments via email to Gene.Wright@dshs.state.tx.us  or by regular mail to Gene Wright, Manager, Milk and Dairy Group, Texas Department of State Health Services, P.O. Box 149347 MC 1987, Austin, Texas 78714-9347.

A sample letter is at the end of this alert.
**Please take a few moments to personalize the letter, in particular the opening paragraph and the explanations for why you want the suggested changes. We do not want the agency to dismiss the comments as simply “form letters.”  Put the letter in your own words!  This sample is intended to make it easier for you to comment, not to limit what you write.**

For more information, go to www.FarmAndRanchFreedom.org or call 512-243-9404.

HELPFUL HINTS:
1)  Save a copy of your comments!  This is an informal comment period, and we may need to submit the same comments again in the formal comment period.
2) Be very clear and tell them exactly what you want (e.g.: “I urge the agency to amend the regulations to allow Grade A raw milk producers to sell and distribute raw milk to consumers both on and off the farm.)
3) Briefly explain your reasons. Things like you want access to raw milk for your family, you don’t have the time to drive out to the farm each week, you want to be able to put your milk in your own container to take it to work for lunch … etc. The comments can be short, don’t worry about going into detail.
4) Do not discuss what any farmer is currently doing, or how you get your milk. It’s helpful to use personal stories to illustrate the benefits of raw milk, but stay focused on the effect of your raw milk consumption, not how you get that milk.
5) Be polite and friendly. Don’t attack the agency’s policies or personnel.

SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Mr. Wright:
Thank you for seeking comments on the agency’s draft rules.  I am an educated consumer, and I spend a lot of time and effort to find high-quality food for my family.  I am very concerned about provisions in the draft rules that would limit my access to raw milk and artisan cheeses.
I urge the agency to make the following changes to the proposed rules:
1)  Section 217.22 should be changed to allow the sale of raw milk directly to any consumer (not just the “final consumer”).  Moreover, the sale and distribution of raw milk should not be limited to the point of production, but allow sales at the farm, farmers markets, farm stands, consumers’ residences, private delivery locations, and through agents specifically designated by the consumer.
As a consumer, I want increased access to raw milk, not reduced access.  Limiting the sale and distribution of raw milk to the final consumer at the point of production means that each individual who wants to buy raw milk must personally drive out to the farm to buy it, which costs both time and money.  What health or safety reason can there be for this requirement?  All it does is make it harder for consumers like me to get access to a product we want.  It wastes gasoline and money, at a time when we are trying to conserve both.

2)  Section 217.17(g), which requires a producer to provide a list of his or her customers to the government, should be deleted.
I value my privacy, and object to the government being provided with information on my purchases simply because I may choose to buy raw dairy products.   If the milk is contaminated, then the agency can issue a public notice to that effect, just as it does with any contaminated food product.

3)   The last sentence in Section 217.13 — “It shall be unlawful for any person, elsewhere than in a private home, to have in their possession any adulterated, misbranded, or ungraded milk” — should be deleted.
This provision could be interpreted to mean that an individual who pours milk into an unlabeled jar to take to work or a park would be acting illegally.  Possession of ungraded and unlabeled raw dairy should not be illegal, regardless of the location.

4)  Section 217.67 should be amended to clarify that a small-scale cheese-maker does not need a separate room for each stage of cheesemaking, as long as there are clean and sanitary areas for each stage.  The section should also allow for the use of any method of pasteurization that has been proven effective, rather than requiring equipment that costs several thousands of dollars.  Sections 217.61, 217.63, and 217.81 should be changed to keep the current fee schedule (based on gross sales) and allow for a single permit, rather than charging flat fees and requiring small-scale cheesemakers to hold two separate permits (dairy farm permit and a dairy product manufacturing permit).
The draft rule would be very expensive for people making farmestead cheeses on a small scale.  So long as the cheese is made in a sanitary, safe fashion, the agency should not require expensive equipment and infrastructure.  And someone who sells $5,000 worth of cheeses a year should not be subject to the same fees as a large company selling millions of dollars of products.

I appreciate the difficulty the agency faces in regulating the wide range of dairy products made in Texas.  But food safety does not mean regulating small farmers out of business, and the agency should not create unfair marketing barriers to products such as raw milk and farmstead cheeses.  I urge you to make the changes listed above before publishing the proposed rules.

Sincerely,
Name
Address
City, State Zip
Email

Feed and Seed love

It takes so long for me to settle into a place after we move. You’ll find me hanging pictures on our one year anniversary in a new house, shocked (yet again) by the passage of time. Being that we move every couple of years (what did I calculate, 6 places in 10 years?), you’d think I’d be better at this by now.

Even harder than unpacking is settling into a community. The ebb and flow of habits and personalities in a new community is subtle, and newcomers have few access points. But here we are in McKinney, four years running (less than two in this house, though – sigh), and I’m starting to get it. I think.

As an old timer now (ahem), I have some advice that I’m going to foist upon you. Advice is too mild. I’m going to insist. If you are in McKinney, and have any interest in gardening, particularly vegetable gardening, get yourself to the Collin County Feed and Seed. 113 S. Chestnut St., just off Louisiana, southeast corner of downtown (972-542-5011).

Don’t waste your time at Calloway’s. And as much as I love Shades of Green, there’s no need to go all the way to Frisco. And I will personally beat you if you choose Home Depot, Lowes, or Walmart for your amendments and transplants. The Feed and Seed has compost to improve your soil, hay to mulch and add to your compost pile, seeds, timely and inexpensive fruit and vegetable transplants, a penny gum machine (a penny!), peeps and bunnies, strapping teenagers to haul your heavy load to the car, and more local gardening knowledge than you can shake a stick at. If you have any questions about what you should be doing in the garden this month, get over there and ask. Don’t be intimidated by your lack of overalls and your spiffy shoes. They’ll talk to you even though your fingernails are clean. And they’ll even be nice to you, to boot.

It is institutions like the Collin County Feed and Seed that make this old county seat a comfortable place to live. Not another antique store. Not expensive steak dinners in schmancy hotels. It’s the people who have been here their whole lives and can fill you in on the subtle comings and goings, if you’ll listen.

So go there first. Then if they don’t have what you need, (and you have established that’s not because you’re looking for tomato transplants after Easter) you have my permission to look elsewhere. You can find tools and landscape plants, annuals and some amendments at Calloway’s. You can find all kinds of wonderful seeds and lovely adapted plants and trees (including fruit trees) at Shades of Green. (Just don’t ask a cranky guy in a hat to help you choose a fruit tree that does well here. Trust me. You might get banished to Home Depot. All of their plants do well here.) And if you have a whole day to blow on gardening bliss, make a field trip to North Haven, in Dallas. (Links are in the lefthand sidebar.)

But the Feed and Seed is the beating heart of veggie gardening in McKinney. And it’s up to you to support them.

March planting list

Bang! This is it. The honest-to-goodness beginning of our spring gardening madness. Our average last frost date is 15 March. But the keepers of the Dallas gardening wisdom (the Dallas Planting Manual) say to keep a look out for the pecan trees to “bud out”, if you want the real deal.

There are three references I’m using, in order:
Collin County Master Gardeners
Dallas Planting Manual, The Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman’s Club (Dallas, again)
Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening, J. Howard Garrett & C. Malcolm Beck (he’s in Dallas)
This will be my last month to use the TOVG, for reasons I covered last time.

I’ve put an asterisk by the ones I think I’ll be planting.

CCMG
beans, snap bush*, yellow bush, pinto (20th – 1 May)
beans, snap pole, lima bush, lima pole (20th – 20 Apr.)
chard, swiss (thru 10th)
collards (10th – 1 Apr.)
corn, sweet* (20th – 1 May)
cucumbers* (20th – 1 May)
kale (thru 10th)
lettuce* (thru 15th)
mustard (thru 1 Apr.)
squash* (25th – 1 May) (I’m on the fence. Last year was such a disaster! But I love me some squash.)
tomatoes* (25th – 15 Apr.)
turnip (thru 10th)
watermelon* (25th – 1 May)

DPM
pepper transplants*

TOVG
eggplant transplants (15th – 1 May)
cantaloupe (15th – 1 May)
pepper transplants (15th – 1 May)

Hmm, the list doesn’t seem to be that long. I guess it’s just the fact that the garden chores start coming fast and hard in March. Plus, when the tomatoes go in, the real dreaming starts. By the way, we just recently finished off the last of our canned tomatoes that Jan put up last year. We used most of it for pizza sauce with all of the pizza we’re eating now.

Harvesting now:

We just finished off the last of the fall broccoli crop. Well, we finished what we could and the rest is flowering. I need to get better at sharing overproduction. With the crazy glut of broccoli we had this winter, between us and two neighbors, we just had more than anyone could deal with without freezing or systematically sharing out. We shared some of it, but I’d like to do better next year.

We’re also harvesting lettuce, and the cilantro, chives, and oregano are coming in strong. We’ve been using the chives in omelettes. The cilantro is at-this-moment being cooked with tomatoes to go with green beans for lunch. And oregano is always welcome when pizza sauce is cooking on the stove.

I swear, cooking with fresh-from-the-garden produce is what this is all about. Heavenly.

Brick oven + Hard Work = Fun

Cheddar & Chive, 11 Grain Wheat, and Rye breads.

I’ll bet you’re wondering if we’re using the brick oven that Jan spent 6 months building, huh? Yup. Every single week. Honestly, I’m amazed. I thought the hard work was over when Jan finished the masonry. But he’s now making about 20 pounds of dough per week, between the pizza dough and bread dough. It’s usually a 2 day process, which takes up the vast majority of his time off from work. I’m in awe of his energy for this. Although I will say that both of us have been really happy with the way it’s brought our friends and neighbors even closer together. Jan fires up the oven for pizza on the first night, then fires it for bread the next day. It’s not unusual for someone to come over with a pizza or loaf ready to pop in the oven and take home. At the very least, Jan being outside so much makes for an easy target for neighbors dropping by and hanging out.

Preparing the chamber for pizza, by pushing the fire to the edges.

So many people pitched in when Jan was building, and they have all stayed close to reap the rewards. We’re working our way through hosting friends, family, and neighbors (weather permitting) over for pizza. Our house is small, so we can only accommodate about 2 couples at a time (or one family, when they come with lots of kids!). And Jan has been passing out extra loaves of bread each week: french, cheddar & chive, whole wheat, wheat french, 11 grain wheat, and rye so far. The 11 grain is garnering the most attention, but the cheddar & chive is my current favorite. He puts 1.5 potatoes into the dough, then sharp cheddar cheese and chives. There’s also a secret ingredient that I’m not at liberty to discuss, but it brought the bread to a whole new level from one week to the next. Mmmm. Experiment on me, baby!

Brick oven pizza from our own backyard.

This week we even bartered some bread for farm-fresh eggs. This is the life.

February planting list

Our average last frost date is 15 March, so the planting season is looming. This list will look pretty familiar from the fall.

There are three references I’m using, in order:
Collin County Master Gardeners
Dallas Planting Manual, The Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman’s Club (Dallas, again)
Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening, J. Howard Garrett & C. Malcolm Beck (he’s in Dallas)
I’m making my primary list from the Master Gardeners, then noting any major deviations from the other two sources. But the Dallas Planting Manual is by far the most entertaining read. I just love it.

I’ve put an asterisk by the ones I think I’ll be planting.

CCMG
asparagus crowns (15th – 1 Mar.) (would love to, but don’t have room!)
beets (10th – 1 Mar.)
broccoli transplants (15th – 1 Mar.)
cabbage transplants (15th – 1 Mar.)
Chinese cabbage (15th – 1 Mar.)
carrot* (10th – 1 Mar.)
cauliflower transplants (15th – 1 Mar.)
chard, swiss (10th – 10 Mar.)
collards (10th – 1 Apr.)
kale (10th – 10 Mar.)
kohlrabi seeds (10th – 1 Mar.)
kohlrabi transplants (15th – 1 Mar.)
leeks* (10th – 25th)
lettuce* (10th – 15 Mar.)
mustard (15th – 1 Apr.)
onion* (10th – 1 Mar.)
peas, English & edible-pod* (10th – 1 Mar.)
postatoes, Irish* (10th – 1 Mar.)
radish (5th – 1 May)
rutabaga (1st – 1 Apr.)
spinach* (10th – 15 Mar.)
turnip (10th – 10 Mar.)

DPM
arugula
brussel sprouts
parsley*
strawberry plants* (I planted some in the fall, and will add more this spring – see how they do.)

TOVG
sweet corn (25th – 1 May)

Howard Garrett often recommends planting things earlier than the Master Gardeners do. I dug into this, and it appears to be because Garrett’s designation for our area (Zone 3) covers a huge swath of Texas, reaching pretty far south of us. So take his deviating recommendations with a grain of salt. In fact, I’m considering dropping him from my planting list references. I really like his book, Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening, for the details he gives about each veggie and fruit. And he does actually garden in Dallas. But his planting dates of not specific enough for our area.

The DPM reminds us to prune the roses. I don’t grow roses, but Rick does, across the street. And he has this one scraggly rose bush right in my line of sight from the living room. I threatened him all year that I will be pruning it this month. He says it’s an antique rose or some such, so it’s not supposed to be pruned. (snort) It’s just an eyesore, is what it is. I’ll take a picture for you. I can probably even find one from the middle of summer, to prove to you that I’m not just being clueless about roses. It’s pathetic. Some good tough love will wake it right up.

It’s also time to fertilize the trees and shrubs that will be putting on so much growth next month. I’ll be fertilizing the new fruit trees, the new elderberries, blueberries, crepe myrtles, and Japanese maple. The exception to this is not to fertilize the shrubs that are about to bloom, like camellias. They need to focus on blooming, not putting on new growth. Once they’re done blooming, you can fertilize them.

Now, get busy!

Waking up after winter

OK, I’m here, I’m here! For some reason, it’s been really hard for me to get started on this spring’s garden activities. I think a lot of it is that I am a fair-weather gardener. Most of my enjoyment of working in the garden is dependent on my physical comfort, which primarily relates to the temperature. For instance, today is chilly (currently 52) and windy as hell (north Texas is seriously windy – no hills to slow it down!). Ick. I just want to hide inside. So instead of weeding the strawberry patch or the fall-planted onions, or cleaning out last year’s growth, or dumping all of the dead potted plants into the compost, I’m working (inside) on the next couple of month’s planting lists. Heh. I’ll post those shortly.

We’ve had a really mild winter so far. If we get through the next month without a freeze, this winter will have been exceedingly mild. Our gas bill (which is driven primarily by our heater) was $100 less this month than last year. No kidding.

So with the mild winter, our fall garden is doing really well. We’ve been harvesting broccoli. In fact, we’ve had a bit of a broccoli glut in the last month, with three of us gardeners on this end of the block foisting broccoli to unsuspecting neighbors at random. They graciously profess to enjoy it. Now the unharvested plants are starting to bloom. Hopefully that will result in wild broccoli in my garden for the duration. I intentionally purchase open-pollinated varieties instead of hybrid varieties of pretty much everything that I grow, so that I’ll get viable volunteers. I hate the thought of the seed companies holding me hostage, even if their hybrids are “improved” or really, really cool (those are the ones that tempt me). My ideal is a cottage garden with volunteer veggies in all kinds of strange places. Less work for me.

The lettuce and spinach seeds from the fall are just starting to come into their own. I was surprised at how little they grew until lately. And the cilantro is really going gangbusters now. It’s such a cruel joke that the cilantro and tomatoes are separated into different seasons. I just live too far north, that’s all.

My neighbor across the street, Rick, has started his tomato seedlings in his greenhouse. He’s so on top of it. Now he’s going to plant his pepper seeds. I have my tomato seeds . . . but haven’t worked up the gumption to plant them in flats. It always sounds like so much work to me. It’s this weekend or never! Then I’ll have to buy the transplants, as usual. Lori and I swore last year we’d do more transplants from seeds in 2009. It just took too much garden space last year, waiting to see if the direct-seeded veggies would germinate. Icandothis. Icandothis.

Lori’s brief update from her garden a few blocks southwest from me:

“Cutworms have ruined half of the broccoli I planted. Very annoying. One of my students vaulted over the pepper and tomato seedlings I had sunning in the front yard. He didn’t make it, and neither did the seedlings. Carrot, radish, sugar snap pea, and kohlrabi seeds are in the ground now. I’m ready.”

Ack! I’m clearly the slacker here. Rick has his potatoes in the ground, too. Lori and I ordered potatoes and onions from Territorial for shipment “ASAP” (according to the catalog), but apparently their ASAP doesn’t mesh with our ASAP, so we’re both canceling our orders and getting them locally this week. I admit that I don’t have a good handle on local sources for veggie starts. McKinney Feed and Seed has some things. My favorite local nursery (Shades of Green) really doesn’t focus much on veggies, which is disappointing.

So, this is why I love having friends who garden. It keeps me motivated.

Speaking of motivation, I’ll leave you with a photo of my pathetic potato harvest from last year. I will do better this year. For a start, apparently red potatoes do better here than any other kind. Now I know.

Russian fingerling potatoes

Taking it home

Here are the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh posts in this series (you can also go to the “bread oven” category, in the lefthand navigation menu).

With the outer walls bricked in, Jan had one engineering problem to solve before starting on the domed roof of the oven. He realized that if he built the arches resting on the single-thickness brick walls, the weight of the dome would press the walls outward and the dome would eventually collapse.

After conferring with his father, a former civil engineer, they came up with this strategy:

He poured concrete pillars into the four corners of the outer oven walls. Then he ran rebar around the inner perimeter, and tied it into pillars and brickwork. This keeps the brick walls from splaying outward.

Note the vermiculite insulation which eventually filled all of the space between the outer walls and the oven chamber. This is another contribution from one of our neighbors, who runs a wholesale nursery. This oven is the most collaborative project I’ve ever seen in any neighborhood I’ve ever lived. (Everyone’s trying to guarantee their share of the bread . . . )

After diverting eventual collapse, it was time to install the dome.

Jan built a big semicircular plywood form, and mortared the bricks over that, removing it when they dried.

At the rate of about one row per day, the finished product emerged.

Jan is waiting to close up the back wall of the dome until he’s fired the oven a few times, to make sure all of the moisture has been evaporated from the space. But that’s all that’s left.

Close to 6 months, hundreds of man-hours, and a couple thousand dollars later, we have ourselves and oven, ladies and gentlemen. And a damn fine one.

It just so happened that the day Jan was ready to fire it up was the morning of our first freeze of the winter. How perfect is that? We’re all in awe of this accomplishment, no one more so than Jan! And we are so grateful for the way it has brought our neighborhood together. We are looking forward to many hours sitting around the oven with our friends and family, making pizza and bread and sharing them out.

Bricks for breakfast, bricks for lunch, bricks for dinner

Here are the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth posts in this series (you can also go to the “bread oven” category, in the lefthand navigation menu).

So, everything so far took about three months. Admittedly, the families (read: wives) were growing weary of the missing husbands. But nothing prepared us for the epic slog that would be the Bricking of the Oven. The four sides took two full months. The dome took another two weeks (a later post). The good thing about the process was that it could be done in small increments. So Jan would come home from work, throw on his overalls (yes, he bought overalls), and lay down one row of bricks. I have never seen anyone so diligently devote all of his spare time to one activity. But even he was starting to go a little crazy.

Jan widened the form used for the oven entrance arch, and made the lower arch with it.

During this time, he also extended the oven floor out through the entrance, using fire bricks.

The slot you see is where the coals and ashes will be raked out of the chamber and onto the ground (or into a container).

Once again, the same arch form was used for this upper arch.

As the walls go up, there is an open space being created between the chamber and bricks. This space will eventually be filled with vermiculite. More insulation.

The open space above and between these two arches will remain open as the chimney.

Our neighbor has taken up blacksmithing. For real. He has a coal-fired forge in his back yard. Anyway, he gave Jan some railroad spikes to use as hooks on the sides of the oven. I love these. They’re so pragmatic. And yet, so cool.

I’ll wrap this piece up with a mea culpa. For the most part, I’ve been the staff photographer on this project. So I came out to capture the rising walls. Now, I’m short. Though I’m tall enough that my feet reach the ground, as my (short) grandpa used to say. Anyway, I wanted to get a picture of the space between the chamber and wall. So, being the former-rock climber that I am, I put my foot on something slightly higher than the ground, grabbed the corner brick, and flagged my foot out for counterbalance.

Off pops the brick, pried loose from the still-wet mortar (bottom right). (sigh) I put the brick in Jan’s hand and slunk back inside.

Insulation

Here are the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth posts in this series (you can also go to the “bread oven” category, in the lefthand navigation menu).

With the oven chamber completed, it feels like we’re in the home stretch. Time to add mass to the oven, to retain heat. This thing is going to get crazy hot. Pizzas are cooked at 650-800°. The oven also needs to maintain high temperature for a long time. Bread is cooked around 500°, after the coals are raked out of the oven. Lots of mass and insulation ensure consistent results.

First, Jan built a removable plywood form, into which the concrete would be poured.

Then Ken and Jan wrapped the chamber with tin foil, to shield the bread from cosmic radiation. Actually, it’s to prevent the concrete mass from adhering to the chamber structure. This will allow expansion and contraction in the chamber, without breaking up the concrete layer.

Next they replaced the form, and inserted rebar around the chamber structure.

Please note the stretch of space on the side of the form where there is no 2×4 supporting the plywood. This will become important later.

Next, massive quantities of concrete were mixed and shoveled into the form. When this project started, Jan and Ken were carefully measuring water to add to the concrete mix. By this point, they were mixing their own concrete from scratch, and eyeballing the water from a hose. Skills have been acquired.

Concrete is heavy. Really, really heavy. So as the boys were shoveling, they began to notice that the sides of the plywood form were bowing out. Note to those who come after: reinforce the plywood along the entire length. Otherwise, you’ll need an emergency retrofit:

The good thing is that this will all be covered up by the outer brick-work. So no harm done. The form came off a couple of days later, and our commitment level ratchets up another notch.

Notice the inset wooden form at the top front. That is where the chimney will be.

At this point, Jan and I reflect on permanence and attachment. He told me we could never move now. This is a funny thing to say to me. I have never in my life lived in a house for longer than 4 years. We, as a couple, have moved 6 times into 7 houses in our 9 years together.

“You told me that this oven was built on a floating slab, so that it could be detached from the base and moved,” I say.

“Well yes,” he says, “moved across the yard or something.”

“Across the yard?” I am incredulous. “What the hell good is that? Why can’t we take it with us?”

“This thing weighs as much as a Hummer!”

“I see Hummers moving around all the time.” Too often, if you ask me.

“But they have wheels!” Now he’s incredulous.

“So, get some wheels for this thing. We’ll hitch it to the van.”

If we do end up hitching this thing, I promise I’ll share pictures.