Frist Failed Cob Oven! - Earth Oven Part 2

Once we got to grips with the cob as a building material and found a better way to mix it (Using the paddle mixer I use to mix plaster and plaster board adhesive) we set about making a test oven. 

This was just to be a test oven and see if we could get the materials to work for us. 

Chicken Butchery - Indian Game

Obviously this post contains pictures of dead animals so please don't read if that kind of thing upsets you. 

I had planned to process a batch of Indian Game chickens for the freezer this week. I was then disappointed when I found out that the day I had planned to do it the children were going for a sleep over at my mum and dads. 

This is how far things have come with the children, it's so much easier with them that I now plan to do it so they can help. So I made sure we all got up early that morning and got cracking before they had to go!

Messing About With Cob - Earth Oven Part 1

 For a long time now I've been saying how much I'd like to build an earth oven. The trouble with saying it lots, that doesn't mean it happens! 

So yesterday each of the children had asked to do something with me (eldest wanted to do green woodwork, middlest wanted to use my pyro pen to burn some pictures onto wood and the youngest wanted to carve some dinosaurs) So I thought maybe we should do something we can all be involved with. 

Canned British Apricots

 I've been teaching a friend preserving and this week we got to can some apricots!

I just realised I didn't do a post about the cherries they grow so will have to do one soon, but these guys are expert fruit growers and as well as growing cherries they also grow apricots. But some of these had proved to be a bit like avocados to ripen. They were either on the tree hard as bullets or on the floor. For me it was a massive first, I don't think I've had many British Apricots let alone seen enough to do some preserving with! 

Odd Drawer Unit Painted

 I didn't realise that I never got round to adding a picture of the finished Odd Drawer Unit I got commissioned to make from my mum last year. 

So here it is in mums sewing/craft room in all it's glory, with the wonky walls that surround it! 

I love seeing things I make in use and this one is full to the brim! It took a bit of making and messing about with but it was a project I enjoyed. You can watch the video of how I made it here. 

What do you think? Like it or not a practical use of space?