What Defines the Lovin Oven?

A message from one of our camp founders, Mike:

Someone just asked me what the vision of the camp has been over the years, and I realize it comes down to a single word, and that is family. It has defined almost every decision I’ve been a part of, and certainly all the ones that count, starting with the gifting of the bread that nurtures, and ending up with the storage containers that make our lives easier.

Burning Man has a wonderful thing called radical self-reliance. The single core value of our camp has been that we are self-reliant together as a family. You may not see it in what you love about the camp, but I almost guarantee that if you look, you will find it there, at the very heart of everything you value.

When you are going camping with your family, or preparing for the Christmas celebration, and you buy or do something, you don’t just ask “am I covered”, “would this help me”; you ask “are we all covered”, “would this help another”.

Families are communal. They are based on love and understanding and sharing. I understand you, I understand your circumstances and your needs, I am happy for you, I am looking out for you.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the years building and preparing and doing for the Lovin Oven. Yes there has also been an aesthetic, but overwhelmingly it has been this one core vision guiding the why and the how, the what we buy and the what we build. And to help create a camp that allows each year for a small group to come together, under all sorts of circumstances and hardships, and live and gift something truly wonderful.