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A bittersweet Friday for campers: today was the end of Stove Camp, but not before the much-coveted Cat Pee Award was given out. This year, there were two categories: favorite solar project, and favorite alternative fuel project. Voters munched on solar-oven-baked cookies while looking at all the different contestants' work. And the winners were... Pat, Patty, and Helen for the Maria Telkes-inspired solar oven, and Lee and friends for the wood-fueled rocket stove that was also a charcoal maker utilizing wood gas!
Lots of photos from Monday through Thursday are up now on our Facebook page! When you're there, check out some fun videos of camp activities that "jimbojitsu" took.
What a crazy Wednesday -- in the best way! After some group discussion in the morning on benchmarks for stove testing, the "intellectual camps" we formed yesterday met again. Everyone was eager to keep building, testing, burning, molding, smooshing, hammering, quantifying, and in general working on every aspect of stoves that you could think of. John and Flip brought their shark tooth-inspired stove for Haiti; the porcelain "teeth" in the combustion chamber aid mixing and are made of broken plates (a readily available material). Kelley worked with both International Lifeline Fund and Jet City Stove Works folks (new friends, really!) to see how their stoves performed in the test kitchen. Sam persevered in refining his Douglas-fir chunk fueled T-LUD; everyone got excited about briquettes; the plywood solar oven got a shiny metal lining; and, to finish the day, Mike fired up the wood-fueled bread oven. Biomass-baked pizza, anyone?
 Sam kicked off Tuesday by walking us through some water boiling test (WBT) results, explaining why it's a good idea to quantify emissions data. Those of us in attendance learned the answer to this pop quiz: Are carbon dioxide levels a good measure of stove firepower levels?
Next, things got hot with a solar discussion! Is anyone else as excited as I am to build a panel solar cooker out of a rubber inner tube, a pane of glass, and a sheet of plywood? Mike then filled us in on box, conical, and parabolic solar cookers; the video about Scheffler solar cookers in Mexico and India brought new information to campers.
Then we evolved into "intellectual camps" -- working groups, if you like -- to focus in on diverse areas of interest. Represented were solar ovens, wood chunk T-LUDs, model kitchen testing, mud stoves, fuel briquettes, bread ovens, institutional stoves (see photo), and so much more. Participants brainstormed goals and began projects to continue through Friday, when the notorious and much-coveted "Cat Pee" award will be given to the audience favorites.
Don't forget to check out our Facebook page -- you'll see a lot more photos there; plus, it's a great resource for connecting and networking with the stove community.
It's just past noon on Monday; so far, on this first day of Stove Camp, campers have learned about three different stove testing methods and have participated in a hands-on demonstration of one of them. This morning's overview of the Water Boiling Test, the Controlled Cooking Test, and the Kitchen Performance Test brought new insights and generated thoughtful questions.
Mike and Dean detailed the ins and outs of stove testing in the lab and in the field, emphasizing the ultimate importance of the end user -- the cook. Campers proceeded to the lab, where Sam and Ryan showed them how to perform a WBT on the baseline "stove" -- the three stone fire.
Next, Fred and Jordan demonstrated their electricity-free briquette press (see photo) before giving a tour of the Institutional Stove factory. Finally, Dr. Larry Winiarski gave his famous Ten Design Principles talk, complete with tips on good insulative materials (aluminum foil -- who would've thought?).
Now, at the end of Monday, we've added to our body of knowledge even more! Dean clued us into "TARP-VE" and heat transfer efficiency. Camping, cooking, and community rounded out the night.
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