I found the name of the book - Solviva, by Anna Edey. She ran a large greenhouse, partly heated by the sun and partly by chickens living in it. (She tried to get her sheep to stay inside too but they preferred the cold outdoors.) She was even growing enough tomatoes to sell in midwinter. Then I started to think more about it. I used to keep chickens and I'd have an allergic reaction whenever I cleaned out the coop. Not a good idea to fill my greenhouse with feathers and dust. And the solar heat. Right! Before I designed my house back in the 60s, I read all about that. I faced all the windows south, expecting solar gain. My calculations did not take into account how high all those conifers were and how low the winter sun's trajectory is. Or our maritime cloudiness. On the few winter days when we actually had sun, I would have it for about an hour when it managed to shine from the unobscured sky above the road. So I get NO solar warmth, but the infrequent winter sun is cheering. Diane _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>