Earth Oven Building Workshop (TBA)

Earth Oven Building Workshop

July 14-15

Humans have used little more than the earth beneath our feet to bake delicious food for thousands of years.  With little more than clay, sand, bricks, and stone you too can build a beautiful, functional, and inspiring bread and pizza oven.  Join us for an inspiring weekend workshop and learn how to combine these most elemental materials to form a sculpted dome that will bake delicious bread, pizza, meat… and well, just about anything.  We’ll discuss oven siting, materials selection and sourcing, foundation design and detailing, roof design and construction, all the fundamentals that go into building an oven that will last, and of course, baking and firing in an earthen oven.  No previous experience required.  Come ready to get your hands dirty!

Led by natural builder Mark Krawczyk and master baker Simha Bode. $180 recommended donation- sliding scale includes camping on-farm camping Saturday night and farm sourced breakfast Sunday morning. Open to barter and non-cash arrangements- no one will be refused for lack of funds. Farm sourced lunches and dinners available for additional cost and by pre-arrangement only.

The workshop will be held at Willow Crossing Farm/ Prospect Rock Permaculture, the region’s longest established and most diverse permaculture design sites. The oven is part of a larger harvest kitchen designed for farm dinners, and especially for making pickles, jams, sauces, salsas, and otherwise preserving summer’s bounty for year-round enjoyment. We’re also along an incredible beautiful and clean section of the Lamoille River- take a break for a quick swim or paddle surf between sculpting mud while spending the weekend on our farm learning this timeless and invaluable skill.

Mark Krawczyk practices permaculture, ecological design, natural building, and traditional woodworking throughout the northeastern United States and beyond. Spending time as an educator, designer, consultant, writer, and practitioner, he’s happy to share his vision of an ecological culture with any and all willing to imagine a hopeful, vibrant future. He first learned the art of earthen oven construction working in Oregon for the likes of the Cob Cottage Company and Build Your Own Earth Oven author, artist, visionary, and sculptor Kiko Denzer. Over the past 11 years he’s built more than 20 ovens around the country and abroad and teaches earthen oven construction both independently and through the Yestermorrow Design/Build School. He can be found on-line at www.keylinevermont.com,www.rivenwoodcrafts.com, www.sgnb.com, and www.burlingtonpermaculture.org

Simha Bode is a community activist and a permaculture propagator based in central Vermont. He spends his time building soils, cultivating organic foods, wildcrafting, building earth ovens and baking sourdough bread. He started building earth ovens and baking sourdough bread in 2005 with Tim Semler of Tinder Hearth Bakery. Through the years he has continued building ovens and baking where ever he is. During the winter season he travels to warmer climates and works with social or ecological projects. Simha and his wife Corinne have been living in and among communities all around the World since 2003 cultivating their knowledge of “Human Permaculture”. They believe learning to work and live together harmoniously is the most vital skill to hone in this age. Simha completed a Permaculture Design Course with Burlington Permaculture taught by Keith Morris and Mark Kawczyk in 2010, and in 2012 he completed and assisted a second PDC in Auroville, South India taught by Bernard Alonso. https://www.facebook.com/BodeEarthOvens

Visit www.prospectrock.org, email keith@prospectrock.org, or call (802) 734-1129 for more details and to register.