There's so much to read about rocket stoves but nothing is better to get you applying the technology in daily life than hands on experience! I knew someone who had been building and testing different models up to the point that their goats and chicken are now being kept warm and toasty over the Finnish winters with a rocket heater in their barn. Although, a point worth noticing is that the indoor temperatures shouldn't go above +10°C cause that would cause the goats to get sick!

The workshop was put together almost by a coincidence. In a permaculture gathering a friend said "it would be nice to learn to make rocket stoves" and  all it took was a couple of emails and the event was initiated, gathering ten people to the first known rocket stove workshop in Finland!

We familiarised with the portable outdoor kitchen stove and the "regular" rocket mass heater at the site and with a short theoretical part got into building those and a third type, "pocket rocket" that gives quick radiant heat.

A rocket stove connects well with the other elements in the barn, burning branches from the dried bundles of leaf fodder left over from feeding the goats in the winter. Burning small coppiced branches is handy when bigger logs that take decades to grow can be spared and there's less work when chopping is not needed. 

The portable barrell rocket cooker is a great fuel efficient summer kitchen and can be taken along on community events on a bicycle! When insulated well with e.g. rock wool the stove can be picked up even after 4-5 hours of full on cooking - making pancakes or frying eggs for example - and the sides aren't hot at all.

One day workshop was a great start for getting the principles of combustion and learning about designing stoves for various purposes from recycled or local materials and most importantly getting confidence to starting own experiments and applications. We learned from the mistakes made, celebrated the successes and also spent some time working indoors on our own specific design challenges that we brought with us to the workshop.