Ray Cirino's Rocket Oven

One of the unique features of my little homestead is a distinctive cob oven designed and built by permaculture designer/artist Ray Cirino. Ray is a local legend in Los Angeles (his portable Dragon Oven has appeared at many permaculture gatherings around the city), famous for his ability to construct functional architecture and appliances from materials he rescues out of the waste stream of cast-offs in the junkyards and dumpsters of the big city - and in this case, cobbled from clay from Malibu and his mother's backyard, if I recall correctly. His work always contains an element of fantasy and even whimsey, while remaining eminently practical.

This version of the "rocket stove" converted to act as a pizza and bread oven was constructed around a recycled stainless steel dome to which he welded other found materials, and employed the willing hands of eager workshop attendees working under his direction to manufacture, over the course of several weeks, what is to my mind an art piece, a rough-hewn sculpture, exhibiting the handprints of its makers.

And, you can bake bread in it.

Ray also fabricated the bridge arching over the pond that appears at the end of this video. Both are features I hope will be retained and cared for by the property's next owners.