Cooking and eating outside has been occurring nearly every day now that our Outdoor Kitchen (OK) is functional. The space happily accommodates the ever increasing numbers at Dancing Rabbit, and has yielded a few lessons.
The OK is housed in a pole barn with openings on three sides and adjacent to ground that was once a hog lot. With concentrated effort from many folks, this fertile ground was transformed into an inspired herb garden based on a design by a visitor, Dusty. Inside the pole barn, a wood fired cookstove and a sink were installed, and counters, shelving, and a very long table were built. The space was wired for light and sound from a solar panel system by our resident electrical genius, Tom. A grey water recovery system was constructed in order to retain all the waste water produced by sink use. The intention is to use this water in the garden , but an extremely wet spring and now summer have left us with an over abundance of grey water contained in a 55 gallon drum and 5 gallon buckets.
Cooking in the kitchen presents interesting challenges. Preparations start at the house where a bike trailer is filled with necessary ingredients not living in or growing by the OK. At this point, all refrigeration still takes place in the solar/wind powered Sunfrost at the house. Through the course of cooking , a few frantic bike trips are usually made to the house for some odd or end.
Woodstove cooking can be slow as stoking a very hot fire takes time. Once a hot fire is built, there are six possible burner positions to which pots can be shifted to find optimum heat. Some burner positions are covered with metal plates which when removed, yield even a higher heat, great for woking. I have discovered that having a fire tending/pot shifting assistant is great boon to the cook. Also, making bread with dinner is wise because the oven, which is adjacent to the firebox, heats concurrently with the stovetop.
The OK has taught us a few lessons on energy use and waste production during the preparation of one meal. We can watch the pile of pallet scrap wood disappear into the firebox. We physically move the full 5 gallon buckets of water from under the sink. And the compost pile on the north side of the pole barn keeps growing.
The OK provides a good alternative meeting place over the double wide trailer hot box, where we have been holding weekly meetings. And with the newly installed hammock, a gift from Twin Oaks, the OK also offers peaceful solitude.
Intentional Community Bookstore