one-day course building an earth oven

venue: Martineau Gardens, Birmingham

Come and discover the joys of building something useful and beautiful with earth. During the day we will work together to build a wood-fired oven from clay, sand and straw. We will learn about the age-old material known as ‘cob’ and we will mix it by hand (and foot!).

Earth ovens have been vital to societies across the world and throughout history and are still used in many places today. They can be used to bake a wide range of breads including traditional loaves, pita, pizza and other flatbread. You can also bake vegetables and other dishes and then use the lower temperatures as the oven cools to dry fruits and herbs.

This day-long course will provide you with the information and hands-on experience to build an oven from scratch. We will share tips on how to:

• test your own soil
• insulate your oven for greater efficiency
• collect wild yeast from the air for sourdough bread

and we will explore the potential for sculpting the oven into a fabulous form.

This is a practical course involving the handling of wet earth. Please bring clothes that can get muddy, a stout pair of boots or wellingtons and a pair of gardening or waterproof gloves (Marigolds will do the job fine!). The course will be lead by local artist and earth sculptor Lizzy Bean.

“You love the earth and the earth loves you. And therefore the earth brings forth”. C.G. Jung

more on earth ovens