Peterborough Community Oven

Sometimes there are coincidences. I discovered that I had overlooked some details in a couple of my sources about information about community ovens for Peterborough.

Someone else reviewing my links pointed out that I had confused Peterborough, Ontario, Canada (which has a Facebook community organization page). with Peterborough, New Hampshire.

Oddly enough, while I have been able to find a couple of mentions of the oven at Peterborough, NH, there is a bit more available on Peterborough, Ontario.

For Peterborough, NH, I found these two references:

• "Kin Schilling ... organized school kids to build a community bread oven in Peterborough" (link)
• "[O]ur community kitchen, grill, fire pit and outdoor Cobb/wood-fired C/Pizza oven offer great opportunities for cooking, often in community." (link)

For Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, I found these links:

• Their Facebook community organization page
• Mention of a survey asking for input about the oven
• A more recent online article that mentions the outdoor brick oven

It's kind of interesting to contrast these two efforts. The NH oven is a cob oven built in 2009. The Ontario oven is planned to be brick, but isn't built yet.

There is something to be said for having a good oven now instead of a great oven sometime in the future. (These are not mutually exclusive alternatives.)

Regardless of those issues, I wish good luck to both community ovens, and I'm sorry I got them confused.

KIPPelora Community Oven, Elora, Ontario, Canada

Sometimes I don't find out about community ovens except by chance. (Other times I get lucky, and people associated with them will contact me.)

I found a brief mention of a community oven in an on-line article for the Fergus-Elora News Express. The article says in part:

KIPPelora to begin building ovens

After many months of community collaboration and with great enthusiastic anticipation, KIPPelora is set to build the ovens that are the centrepiece of the project.

The community oven build is set to start at 9 a.m. Saturday and expected to continue through to Monday, states a KIPPelora release.

The Kitchen in the Park Project aims to set up wood-burning, community-use ovens at the east end of Bissell Park in Elora that it's hoped will eventually become the core of a community food area in the park.

Over the past week a large storage shed has been built on site at Bissell Park at the east end near the iron walking bridge and building materials have been gathered for the building work to commence.

Edge Realty has offered their services to clean up the cement pad and area, while Grand River Tree Service has donated time to cutting back large weed trees.

These are just some examples of amazing donations that have come from our community, the release states.

Centre Wellington District High School is actively assembling a donor wall, with Wellington Manufacturers providing bracket supports for this large structure.

A Newfoundland Architect donated the design to KIPP, believing the project has merit.

Having more detail, I started to see if I could find more information. I discovered more than I was expecting.

They had a Wordpress blog, including an explanation of their project, progress reports, and a YouTube video.

I even discovered some previous press that they had gotten.

Finally, I discovered they had a Facebook page.

This project embodies all the community aspects of wood-fired ovens that I find exciting. I wish them all good fortune.

My web page for specific community ovens is here. My link collection for community ovens is here.(This one is where links for KIPPelora will eventually wind up.)

HeatRock Wood Fired Ovens, Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada

My Google Alert caught an on-line ad for a "wood fired pizza & bread oven" on a site I had never heard of, backpage.com.
The ad provided a link to the main business, HeatRock Wood Fired Ovens, Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada.
Their main page makes some interesting claims:

• Our Precast Refractory Wood Burning Bake Oven is the most affordable outdoor or indoor oven available! We guarantee it! 
• This Dual Purpose Oven allows you to cook inside the oven as well as on top of the oven.
• Propane Options Available - Cook with Wood today and Propane Tomorrow!

I'm not a big fan of oven designs like this, but I did think I ought to share what I find.

5/24/11: Another on-line ad, this time in Salt Lake City, for "Backyard Barbecue - Wood burning Oven Kit." It looks like they have a web strategy.