The first phase included a great deal of digging, root chopping, and a fair amount of teasing me for my choice of location ... I picked a spot with a nice pointy tree stump that had been artfully carved by the local beavers. I had assumed that the culvert that was to serve as the base could be placed over the stump & that it would eventually burn up, but for reasons that are still unclear to me, this plan was vetoed by the men. The following video makes it look like a piece of cake, but what it doesn't show is the hour or more of digging around the stump, and the chopping of the many large roots. As Arne so aptly put it on Facebook - "If only there were Olympic medals for hole digging & culvert rolling ...
The digging:
And the stump pulling:
http://youtu.be/iNWNBCU0Qdk
I should add at this point that I am a bit intimidated by the task of recording this journey. Our group includes a professional photographer, an English major, and several folks that write professionally in their "real" jobs, so it seems a bit unfair that the lady that grows apples for a living is the one recording this. That said, try to keep in mind that this is not an instructional video, but rather a collection of shared memories, and that I'm much better at baking pies than I am at writing or photography!
While the men were busy with the digging & pulling, the ladies were busy in the garage screening the clay that was dug & delivered by Nick from Rosco, SD. Chuck constructed a great box screen for us to use, and we utilized a variety of methods to get the job done ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi_ExtZ8jwM&feature=BFa&list=ULwehDrw_qb0U
and finally ...
tired of using her brawn, Steph came up with the brilliant idea of using the Jeep to pulverise the larger chunks of clay. It worked extremely well!
Once the tree stump was removed, the men continued digging a hole large enough to house the cement culvert that will serve as the base of the oven, and for the platform that surrounds it.
Probably the most challenging task of the day was moving the culvert from the trailer to it's assigned hole. Part of the problem is that just beyond the oven site the yard the yard takes a steep slope, and if the culvert got away from us it would likely end up in the lake, the other part is it's size & weight.
After a brief discussion a plan was hatched ...
Then there was the task of wrangling the culvert into it's hole ...
There were a few failed attempts & equipment failures, but man prevailed against concrete, & the culvert gently slipped into place ...
Once the culvert was in place and leveled, a frame was dug in for pouring the concrete platform.
A layer of 2" foam lined the frame for insulation, and to avoid problems with frost heaves, and then the cement was poured.
Rebar was laid over the foam to reinforce the concrete
Cheerleaders were installed on the deck to encourage the workers as evening approached.
When all the cement had been poured Duane did an amazing job of finishing off
the surface, but by then the photographer had retired to the kitchen to get the food
ready for the hungry crew.
There are many more pictures, and I will eventually post them to Shutterfly so they can be viewed.
Chuck & Steph have also mentioned that they are planning on making a CD for everyone. All in all
I think we accomplished a lot for one day, and I want to sincerely thank each & every person that
had a part in the day's activities!
The next gathering is planned for Sunday, August 26th, and everyone is welcome to attend. When we have a game plan I'll let everyone know the details. By that date we should be ready to begin the construction of the actual oven!
