Cob Oven at ELSO

Environmental Life Science Outdoors | Beaumont, Texas | 2025

In partnership with Environmental Life Science Outdoors (ELSO), Earth Rise Collective led a bioconstruction workshop for 25 high school students to build a cob oven using locally sourced raw materials.

The oven now serves as a hearth for the Children's Ancestral Garden, a space where students gather, learn, and connect with traditional foodways. Over the course of the workshop, students learned to mix cob with their feet and hands, shape the oven dome, and understand the lifecycle of natural materials.

Workshop highlights:

• Hands-on cob mixing with local clay and sand

• Building with natural, regenerative materials

• Connecting traditional building techniques to contemporary food sovereignty