Cob: New to this and still trying to find good clay soil

[Amanda Peck]

Someone over in the next county has borrowed my copy of Kiko Denzler's book, 
was supposed to start on her earth oven back in the spring.  And I was 
supposed to be invited!  Maybe come fall.

(maybe the stuff you bought will make great garden soil?)

I discovered that what I had easily available to me was SILT.  Even if it 
did retain a puddle during a dry summer deep enough to float my big truck.  
Actually there's probably clay right underneath, which is really what's 
keeping the water there.  So I called a lot of people--the guy who dug my 
septic tank finally talked to the guy who has a rock quarry and was 
complaining that he had all this clay he had to get rid of.  I hadn't 
thought about the rock quarry guys, even though they were the people who 
built my driveway.  And boy is it nice stuff.

So ask around.

There ARE parts of the world without clay, but not all that many.  But it's 
kind of spotty.   I can remember driving for miles to get what was supposed 
to be good pottery clay for my mother.

Where do you live--what area that is?


............
Lynne Tolton writes:
     I am new here and am working to make our first cob
project this year.  We are working on a bread oven and
trying to follow Kiko Denzlers book.

      I did dig a big hole in our yard but didn't find
much clay.  I did go out to our local guy who has dirt
to sell and I got 10 5-gallon buckets of it but when I
water tested it the water cleared right away.  I have
what looks like a 50:50 mix of silt and sand.  So now
I am trying to figure out how much of what I need to
add.  There have to be other folks out there who just
couldn't find clay heavy soils nearby.

      Does anyone have any suggestions??


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