Tyler's oven

Tyler, our engineer and survivalist, designed a small metal oven towards the end of last year.  He drew up his plans on paper and sent the design to Grandpa, the welder.  Grandpa told Tyler that he could easily make his oven and would send it in the next box coming our way!  The oven wasn't a necessity, but just something fun that Tyler created to do his own baking and fire building!  The box with the oven arrived just as we had to leave the island.

When we moved to Lada the house did not have a stove or an oven.  We purchased a two burner stove top, but didn't want to spend the money on a complete stove and oven.  So now Tyler's fun creation became a necessity!  Ethan and Tyler made a small house for his oven and straddled the oven across two bricks so that a fire could be built underneath.

Now we just needed some firewood or something to burn to raise the temperature in the oven high enough to be able to bake.  Steve found a small family store across the street from our house that sold bags of charcoal.  At only 10pesos(25cents) a bag it is very cheap to use!  With the charcoal the boys are able to get the temperature high enough and stays somewhat consistent for several hours as we do our baking.

We've had to be creative with our baking as a 9x9 pan is as big as it gets in this little oven!  So we make round loaves of bread, six small pizzas for our entire family, pans and pans of cookies, a small cake, or many pans of granola.  It is not difficult to do, but just takes a long time to get the job done!

Friday nights we make pizza and everyone REALLY appreciates the effort put into making these pizzas!  Ann Marie is making the dough for our pizza crust. And then Ethan and Tyler take turns keeping track of the pizza in the oven...we don't want it burnt! It sure tastes great when it is finished!