Again it was an amazing story of the little and powerful community in Spain. As one of our activities we created in early 2018 the art camp as part of the colour garden and part of the campus of our free university of informal education (UNIIE).

In early spring 2018 we started to add facilities and infrastructure to this space to be able to host students and alumnus of high schools, like showers, sinks, compost toilets.

In early summer 2018 we had a visit of more than 40 visitors from a German college. End of 2018 we hosted a little international initiative of parents with kids to establish a kinder garden in the forest. This project is pending but it was a beautiful experiment for all, and still not common in Spain.

Beginning of 2019 we get some guests from cologne, old friends over years and interested in community life and alternative living concepts and willing to contribute something to our whole project of familiafeliz.

The suggestion to create a special oven for bread, pizza and other delicious food was taken soon and we started to figure out the best place. Finally, we agreed in using the advantage to fix two things at the same time.

One of the most significant and important infrastructure of the area are the large stone walls keeping the soil on the terraces. These Roman and Arabic innovations, maintained and developed till now, are sometimes weak after hundreds of years. In September and October 2018 we had a big rain event (more than 400 litres per square meter) and at some point the stones fall apart.

One of this locations was close to the art camp and close to the catering point in this area. So we came to the decision to build the oven just in the wall and fix this area at the same time.

We proofed the dimension of the construction space.

We started to build the basement with cheap ceramic stones and a mix of soil, cal, cement and water.

The idea of this larger oven was from the beginning to support catering for bigger groups up to 50 people. Therefor Dirk started to built a iron construction to handle 6 shells for bread, pizza and other food.

Cutting fixing and welding…

We builded on top of the basement the inner part of the oven, the fire place. To protect the sturcture and to concentrate the heat we used special ceramic stones (spanish reflectarios – in the foto on the left side, waiting for watering).

We used special cement for high temperatures to place this special ceramic stones and used soil, cal and cement and water mix to build the wall with the ordinary stones.

To be sure about all dimensions we tested again the placement of the barril and we added some material at both sides to rout the hot air and dust beside the barrel.

In the automotive industry its calllled “marriage” if motor and chassis is assambled. We called it marriage too when the barrel arrived in its final position.

We started to create the roof off the oven by mounting a first layer of bricks. As downside we used the special cement to bring them together.

We added a second layer of bricks.

We implemented the exit of the dust. By calculating the temperature at this location we used again the special cement for high temperatures.

After one day off we uncovered the roof and continued the work.

To heat up the oven and its parts we started the first fire… slowly up…

The iron structure went inside.

We started to test the oven and its features to handle different types of food.

We tried some pasta….

The first pizza…

delicious veggies and fish…

more fish, salmon, rape and merluza

This oven was done in 2 weeks in January 2019 in the art camp of the colour garden of familiafeliz in eastern spain.

It was initiated by a transfer of knowledge from a new friend JuanMA from Ulldecona and suggested by Juan. Huge work was contributed by Dirk and Tina to move hundreds of kilos of stones and to prepare the soil for usage in the construction.

We should never forget the hidden support of two strong and powerful members of our community. Only with their great contribution and management behind the scene all this was possible. And therefore we will dedicate this work to Antje and Corinna and we hope to invite them soon to have a delicious dinner in the art camp of Cervera del Maestre in Castellon.

Its all about love and to can be done only with passion and love…

If you like to be part of those stories, apply for a visit and enjoy it with us.