Help Steve replace his Rocket Oven tools

Steve has been volunteering his time, knowledge and skills to build 'Rocket Stove Ovens' in community gardens around Christchurch for the past 18 months, after being fascinated by them for years.

He was nearing completion of his third Rocket Oven in Waiutuutu Community Garden, when the locked shed on site was broken into.

Steve lost over $2000 worth of tools, and this loss will severely impact his ability to build more ovens, which are in turn building community resilience, collective community action and sustainability around Christchurch. The loss of his tools and equipment may even mean he will have to stop his work altogether, which he is committed to doing on an entirely voluntary basis for community groups - Steve's approach is the organisation provides the materials and he volunteers his labour and skills.

Any help is truly appreciated - Steve is absolutely gutted to have lost his tools and is now left with the excess on his insurance to pay, and the possibility of a "loss adjustment" is looming.

Please help us contribute towards the replacement of Steve's tools, so he can continue to build and share his knowledge of Rocket Stove Ovens. Steve's goal was to run a Rocket Stove workshop early this year, so we may have many builders and ovens dotted through our communities.

What on earth are Rocket Stove Ovens?

When Steve retired from nursing, he started volunteering at his local community garden in New Brighton and discussed building an oven at the gardens using a redundant pizza oven foundation. He was encouraged to go ahead and the first Rocket Stove Oven was born! Steve has since built another oven at Linwood Community Garden/Resource Centre and was part way through the third at Waiutuutu Community Garden, on the University of Canterbury campus.

Rocket Stove Ovens are based on two 44 gal drums and were originally built and designed at a workshop at Permies.com in America, with the goal being to build them without any welding.

The beauty of Rocket Stove Ovens is they take very little wood to heat up, and can be cooking to a high temperature in roughly 20 minutes. This makes them perfect for community garden groups, to cook and share kai harvested from the garden.