This is the completed house from the south. I shade the sunroom for most of the year, then remove the shade in mid-winter. I don't need any central heating. On the right, you can see a low straw bale wall used to shelter the garden outside my bedroom. I put bales on half-cmu (cement block with holes) and then roofed it with some leftover roofing. It sat this way for five years, but I am now covering the bales with stucco (summer 2007). In this dry climate bales last for a long time, as long as you keep them dry.