Trying to remember story of solar living

[Rosepath]

Online, somewhere, was a fascinating story of a woman who may have been Swedish, or Dutch, anywho she lived in the US in the northeast somewhere.
Her home was entirely solar, kind of like an earthship, and she had a greenhouse that she did not heat except by passive solar and the sheep flock lived in the greenhouse. One part of the story told of her going out to the greenhouse when the temps outside were in single digits, and the sheep inside with the green plants were a cozy temperature despite deep snow all around.
She had designed a system to make her home work with no input/energy that had to be purchased.
A very interesting person, this was probably in the 80's......it's driving me crazy to try to pin it down. Her home/farm had a name with Sol or Solar something in it.
Anyone got an idea? My undying gratitude awaits.

[stickinthemud]

Googled solar greenhouse sheep & found:
http://www.solviva.com/visit_solviva.htm ??

http://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0210/dsol.html

http://www.solviva.com/

http://www.craftfarmapprentice.com/resources.php

[Rosepath]

That's it! Your google skills are fantastic, I got nowhere. Thanks a bunch!!

[jwal10]

Interesting read. My Dad lived in Maine where the snow was deep, his barn and house were attached. He had a large greenhouse on the south side of the house where they grew indoors. Never saw it but was alays intrigued. I built my greenhouse on the south side of my shop, it keeps the shop warm....James

[highlands]

This is quite doable. Our house has a high thermal mass inside an insulating envelope and big windows for solar gain. Most of our heat comes from the sun as passive solar. The large masonry mass (100,000 lbs) of the building soaks up the heat and stores it. We live in the mountains of northern Vermont and burn less than 3/4 cord of wood per year. The house floats as low as the mid-40's F during our cold winters. The little bit of wood brings it up into the 60's. This past week it was warm outside (17°F to 40°F) and we haven't lit a fire all week because the house was staying in the 60's without any extra heat. When it gets cold again we'll light a fire. See:

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/cottage

We also have had greenhouses that are heated by our livestock (rabbits, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese) and that works very well. I think that the CO2 given off by the animals breathing also enhances the plant growth.

Cheers,

-Walter

[sdnapier]

So what is meant by a high thermal mass inside an insulating envelope? Can you make this easy? :-)