Jungle Camp Stove... Complete!

Week one of building is over. John now heads out tomorrow morning for a three day hike so it’s up to me and the kids to keep the house going. Remember that stove John was building earlier in the year? Well, we've "installed" it this past week and wanted to show you a bit of the process. It's quite involved to say the least. We first needed to build a "cradle" out of small logs. This is the support for the stove. As you can see from the pictures, it's meant to support a lot of weight! Next we added some dirt and set the actual stove on top of that. Then, we started "mudding" the stove. We used clay (both inside and out) to insulate the stove, keeping as much heat in as possible. By placing clay inside, the heat from the wood will be directed toward the oven. The "mudding" is the longest process and quite involved. You can't get the clay to wet, or it will not set properly. The final step were the finishing touches. Rachel enjoyed this part...smoothing and shaping the final layer of clay. Julie did most the mudding and final touch work as well as helped make the cradle. John worked on the inside of the stove as well as the cradle. His most important job was official clay hauler. We must have used over 25 five gallon buckets of clay. We estimate that there's probably at least 500 lbs. of clay around that stove! The top of the stove was made flat to double as a warming tray. (Our friend Cynthia gave us that tip. She acutally cooked on a jungle camp stove for 4 years when she was in the tribe in Bolivia.) We were even able to add some personal touches like a picture of the kids and some “Perler bead” projects! The clay continues to dry, (as you can see light and dark tones) but we can start burning fires now which will provide a little warm and help it to dry a bit faster. The wood goes in the fire box which is in the front below the cooking "stove top". The oven is on the right side as you're looking at the picture. The "hot water tank" is the upright barrel on the left side. This is for showering and dishes. So, that's our new stove. Definately state of the art!


Please pray for safety for our guys as they take this 20 mile hike. We really appreciate all of you and hope these updates are a blessing as you continue to follow our progress through this training.