Home & Heart Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze One of the best things about writing this column is the readers. I love hearing from people and my readers do respond. There is so much information to share, I love being part of that. Solar Food Drying Wow! Did I get response from my request for solar food dryer designs. I got information, plans and designs from six readers. So much that I can't cover it in Home & Heart. To give myself time for assembly and testing and room for details, this subject will be covered in a whole devoted article in the next issue. I really want to thank all you who responded. I really appreciate it and my others readers will too. Growing Great Garlic That's the name of a book I have just finished reading. It's a great book for anyone who grows garlic for any reason. Once again one of my readers, George Gillies, bless his heart, sent me the access information on Ron Engeland, garlic guru. Bob-O says it's easy to put too little garlic in a dish and hard to put too much. I cook by that philosophy. I've been growing garlic on a small scale for six years. After reading Ron's book I've realized that I don't know half as much as I thought I did. How did this guy learn so much about garlic. By experience, the best teacher. You may find it hard to believe a book on garlic can be fascinating, but this is. Ron covers the history of garlic from ancient to present. The types, varieties and sub-species known and grown. He and his wife grow over 200 strains of garlic at Filaree Farm. They are certified organic growers in the state of Washington. He sells seed stock and has a catalog available. But order early, because he always sell out. If you are a gardener at all this book will make you want to grow garlic. Oh, if only I had had this book when I started gardening, years ago. But, I have it now. Pests and Predators Spring has come early to the creek this year. I already feel like I am behind in my gardening. I have started some seedlings even though our last frost date is May 15th. I seem to have all the pests that are the hardest to get rid of. Whenever I ask any other gardener about deer, gophers, grasshoppers or earwigs they just shake their heads and say they're sorry. I will be putting up a fence around my garden this year to keep the deer out. I don't know what to do about the gophers. I have heard that turkeys are very good grasshopper controls, but I'm afraid the skunks and coyotes will be good turkey controls. Also, I was told if I would just roll up newspaper into tubes, then dampen it and set it in the garden in the morning I could empty the tubes of earwigs into a bucket of water with kerosene on the top. Probably soap would work just as well. I am certainly going to try that this year. The earwigs were terrible on my potatoes, last year. Any other organic solutions are very welcome. Readership Readership is a vessel that carries me around the world every issue. The letters, phone calls and visits we receive from our readers enrich our lives tremendously. We have subscribers on every continent. Yes, even Palmer Station in Antarctica. Susan Butcher, four time winner of the Iditarod dog sled race, who is one week into this year's race as I write this, is also a reader. Former President Jimmy Carter reads Home Power. People all over the country, all over the world share this with us. We hear bits and pieces of their lives and it is always so interesting. One of our readers lives on the Snake River in Idaho and gets his mail delivered once a week by boat. Except in winter, when the mail call is sometimes delayed for weeks. Another reader, Jonathon Sutton from New South Wales, Australia was in America so he brought the family by for a visit this fall. Then there are the readers in Willits and Wisconsin who are so inspired they create energy fairs which in turn inspires us. Thank you. Light Fantastic Grizzly Bear brought me a gift last time he visited. Actually a couple of things. One was the new Light of America instant on fluorescent. It is a model #2022 energy saver, 22 watt electronic circleline fixture with a replaceable bulb. What is so nice is that it is instant on. No more standing there in the doorway waiting while the light flickers until it warms up. Another neat thing he brought that goes with the circular light is a 'Light Diffuser'. It is made by Lights of America too. Called an instant light fixture it comes with a mounting kit. It fits right on the circular bulb and looks just like a regular ceiling fixture cover. That's right, my dining room doesn't look like a shop anymore, with bare bulbs hanging out. The Diffuser only cost $6.95 and it looks great. When we tested it with Bob-O's light meter there was essentially no difference in the amount of available light. I am getting more as soon as I find out where to get them. Our Wal-Mart has the Instant-On LOAs, but not the Diffusers. Check your hardware stores. Thermomax We finally got our Thermomax solar hot water heating system on line. It looks like something right out of the future, and it is. It works real well here, even in winter. It is an evacuated tube design that is manufactured in Northern Ireland. They are used quite a bit in England where the sun does not necessarily shine a lot. The neat thing is that it will work on hazy days or even days when the clouds pass in front of the sun a lot. Solar heated hot water is very hot. I have been thinking about getting a sign for above my kitchen sink. "Caution - Solar Heated Water - May exceed temperatures of 150¡F". Really. I used to go to wash my hands and just turn the hot water on because it would take a while to heat up and I could just finish with hot. Now I have to turn on the cold water too because the hot water tap heats up so fast and to such a high degree. The washing machine loves it though. Showers are more enjoyable too, just knowing that it is solar heated water. Access Filaree Productions, Route 1, Box 162, Okanogan, WA 98840 ¥ 509- 422-6940 Growing Great Garlic - $12.95 + $2 S&H WA res. add tax. US funds only Garlic Catalog & Research Journal - $3 Light of America, Walnut, CA 91789 Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze writes, reads, and weeds at her home on the creek c/o Home Power Magazine, POB 130, Hornbrook, CA 96044 ¥ 916-475-3401