If folks built zero cost earth ovens or stopped making ridiculous purchases, probably the "economy" would get even worse. Surely something is wrong here. Will things only get better when we go back to consuming and consuming and more consuming?
Yes, it's really possible to construct a zero cost oven and here's how.
Forget the concrete pad. In fact, forget cement based products entirely because you have to buy them.
Build your oven base on on scrap wood, sawhorses, found stones, or old truck tires. Be creative here. So what if your oven moves around a little.
oven on simple wooden base
oven on truck tire
oven on stump
Forget the base entirely! Do what these ingenious soldier/bakers did.
Insulate under the firebrick floor with a mixture of dug clay and donated sawdust.
You'll need bricks for the floor, and they don't have to be firebrick. Red clay bricks will work fine. Ask around for free, used bricks. You'll only need about 20, and they're not that difficult to clean up.After you put in the floor, then make a sand mold for the oven proper. It's easy to find free sand.
You're making an earth oven so you'll need clay and more sand for the oven dome. More free stuff.
Insulate the dome with mud and sawdust.
Now plaster on your mud mixture for a stucco.
mud stucco applied
Hey you're done with the oven, but you need to protect in from the elements unless you live in a dry climate. Corrugated metal roofing makes an excellent cover. Do some dumpster diving or inquire at your friendly landfill.
metal roofing (new $20.00, but you can find discarded)
You've just constructed a zero cost earth oven that will perform better than you can imagine.
Check out the bagels
