A Wood-Fired Pizza Oven
Have you driven by the garden and noticed our newest addition?
Nestled at the bottom of our terraced beds, next to our small orchard, is our new favorite feature: the wood-fired pizza oven donated by Eli Adadow of Ancient Earth Building. In 2019, Eli approached us about hosting a workshop to build a cob oven in the garden. It didn’t take much convincing. As a regular volunteer said, “This will be a great addition to Wednesday lunches.” 
We planned a two-day workshop to coincide with Earth Day 2020, but were forced to cancel the event. Instead of rescheduling since the future was so uncertain, Eli suggested we could just build it ourselves. So in the end, Eli donated the entire project to Good Cheer.From humble beginnings as a pile of sand and stone came a perfectly shaped mound of sand (actually our native soil exposed during excavation for another food bank project). Then came the cob coating and the hand-crafted door frame sculpted by Eli himself.We let the cob cure for a few days, then fired it up to continue drying the cob. Of course we took advantage of the hot oven with some pizza. You can’t fire up a pizza oven without making a few pizzas.The cob settled and cracked during this firing, then Eli covered it with a beautiful plaster coating. It’s a such a lovely color; reminds a few people of beets--perfect for a community garden!
Nestled at the bottom of our terraced beds, next to our small orchard, is our new favorite feature: the wood-fired pizza oven donated by Eli Adadow of Ancient Earth Building. In 2019, Eli approached us about hosting a workshop to build a cob oven in the garden. It didn’t take much convincing. As a regular volunteer said, “This will be a great addition to Wednesday lunches.” We planned a two-day workshop to coincide with Earth Day 2020, but were forced to cancel the event. Instead of rescheduling since the future was so uncertain, Eli suggested we could just build it ourselves. So in the end, Eli donated the entire project to Good Cheer.From humble beginnings as a pile of sand and stone came a perfectly shaped mound of sand (actually our native soil exposed during excavation for another food bank project). Then came the cob coating and the hand-crafted door frame sculpted by Eli himself.We let the cob cure for a few days, then fired it up to continue drying the cob. Of course we took advantage of the hot oven with some pizza. You can’t fire up a pizza oven without making a few pizzas.The cob settled and cracked during this firing, then Eli covered it with a beautiful plaster coating. It’s a such a lovely color; reminds a few people of beets--perfect for a community garden!
We owe a huge thank you to Eli Adadow for his work and generosity. Check out his website for photos of past projects and his contact information: ancientearthbuilding.comMany other people helped make this project happen as well:--Bob Bolling Rustics donated the metal roofing material--All Whidbey Topsoil donated crushed gravel--community members donated wood to get us goingOur hopes and dreams are that this oven will give us reasons to gather in the garden around fresh food. We grow so much produce and share it as far as we can, but we never get together to appreciate the bounty. Social distancing has kept us apart, but once we can safely gather again, we’d love for you to join us for community pizza nights. Stay tuned!