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By the end of November, our cabins are closed down, and suddenly without dozens of wonderful guests coming and going, the property is incredibly quiet and dull.   Each year in late October, we take down the glamping tents, put away the furniture and drain the plumbing.

 

To stay active and continue to build the business, it is has become Leslie’s tradition to build something amazing during the off-season months.

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  In 2016, she decided to build a wood fired pizza oven.

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But the digging went so nicely and the smell of the fresh soil was so sweet that she kept digging a larger and larger footprint all the while thinking of how nice it would be to be cooking pizza for guests without swatting at flies or standing in the rain.   She began with a sharp shovel digging out grass and top soil for the small four by four foot footprint of the proposed pizza oven.  Originally to keep the costs down, Leslie intended to have the pizza oven open to the weather.

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The concrete truck delivered just enough concrete which she and Jason smoothed out together, all the while trying to keep the curious chickens from hopping in.   Leftover rebar from pony fencing and wire from previous gardens were put into the slab form for reinforcement.  Leslie’s good friend Jason Smith joined the project and together they set up a concrete form for the slab.

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adding chicken wire and multiple layers of ceramic blanket insulation, veneering the oven with natural stone off the property, installing a high temperature stainless steel chimney and doing the finish work around the base.   building a base concrete block base, pouring a double layer concrete counter, laying firebrick, pouring refractory concrete into the styrophome form (purchased from Brick Wood Ovens.com)  The process of building the oven involved an incredible amount of steps:

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Then winter hit suddenly and the roof shingles had to be installed in sub zero windy weather.   Carpenters then helped to frame the post and beam structure around the completed pizza oven and install the last of Leslie’s salvaged reproduction leaded glass windows (crazily, the windows which were left happened to fit the openings perfectly).

  In the spring, Leslie did the inside trim work, staining, tile floor and counters.

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  Quite a project!