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Dorothy, I swear I can actually SEE the zucchini (and yellow squash) grow! I've taken to dehydrating slices for winter use. I tried that before and had just dried rind. These I sliced 3/8" and they work fine and take up precious little shelf space.
FLLW was an interesting man and architect. I've been in several of his homes over the years. In the one that was moved to the grounds at Mount Vernon, he had installed radiant (hot water) heating in the floors.
Malcolm Wells is also a most interesting architect. Called the father of underground architecture, he has some radical - and very logical - ideas of building in concert with Nature. http://www.motherearthnews.com/print-article.aspx?id=74550
This is from that article:
"That article sets out 15 properties of wild land that Wells thought buildings ideally should emulate: create pure air; create pure water; store rainwater; produce its own food; create rich soil; use solar energy; store solar energy; create silence; consume its own wastes; maintain itself; match nature’s pace; provide wildlife habitat; provide human habitat; moderate climate and weather; and be beautiful." Not a bad set of principles.
I have most of the books with the houses Malcolm Wells designed... there were others doing underground housing, but his name comes more easily to mind. David Wright almost always added a greenhouse as part of the living areas he designed. Gads, I'm brain-dead in the memory department!
I am in the planning stages of turning my partially submerged garage into a quasi-greenhouse/ sunroom/ laundry room. If I had all the money I needed, I would definitely have a conservatory (like what Foggywalk on the previous thread described?) or whatever you call it (!) as part of the house. As is, we're hoping that the submerged concrete floor and some of the brick on the walls will aid in the heating/ cooling. It's only about 2.5' deep, currently.
And the laundry part? Heh - found out that our basement drainage is piped to nowhere, just a broken pipe that floods underground, somewhere. >groan< ...I'm wondering if I should get the pipe pumped full of cement before the area dries out.
