Laying the Groundwork

Al immediately began breaking ground and leveling the site for a foundation.  At this point we weren't sure about the size of the oven.

First, cut out the sod and define the space.

No one can clear ground as fast as Al.  He is the most hard working man we know and proud to have him as our friend. 

Level the ground and decide the layout.

Mark the boards for the layout.

We give Al a lot of credit for envisioning our ideas without any plans or dimensions, just photos from the web and our trust that he had made these before in Portugal.  There, the ovens are attached to the house so the oven door opens into your kitchen.  Ahhhh, the ease of that!

My vision was a combination of the bread oven and a side area for grilling and dutch oven cooking.

 The shape took off and I started getting excited.

This was in August.