I read “Kitchen Experts Speak” (“Design Matters: Green Kitchens,” Oregon Home’s “The Green Living Issue”) and in the letter from POOR BUT GREEN AT HEART (who asked for inexpensive items) Pam Henderson of In Good Taste recommends stainless steel pots and pans for cookware.
I’d like to suggest using cast-iron pots and pans, which are inexpensive, hold heat, don’t have hot spots, are nearly nonstick and, after a bit of seasoning, have no problems with acid cooking. Plus, cast-iron cookware adds iron to your cooked foods and lasts for generations. (I’m still using my great-grandmother’s Dutch oven, which she used on the wagon train.).
Cast-iron pans also take dry heat so you can get those great grill marks from a ribbed pan. And they can go from the stovetop to inside the oven to under the broiler to into the campfire.
I can’t speak to manufacturing greenness, but a cast-iron pan that’s lasted 150 years sounds pretty green to me.
—Murphy Terrell, Via E-Mail

While visiting my grandparents who live in Portland, I was reading their copy of Oregon Home’s “The Green Living Issue.” I just  wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it. My husband and I are remodeling a ranch house in Boston and the cover story (“Make Theirs Modern”) gave me a whole bunch of great ideas to use in our house. I’m planning to see whether it’s possible for me to have some of the tile you feature shipped to Massachusetts!
—Rachel Percy, Via E-Mail

I was wondering if you knew the name of the artist who did the painting with the gray background hanging on the wall on p. 47 in “Make Theirs Modern” in Oregon Home’s “The Green Living Issue?” I like its color combination and abstract look.
—Nancy Lenhart, Portland

I happily subscribe to Oregon Home even though I live in New Mexico. I saw Oregon Home's "Green Living" advertised and I wondered how I can get a copy. Thanks. —Carol McFarlan, Via E-Mail

As a long-time subscriber, I must tell you how sickened I was after reading “Sheep in the City” by Zoë Kaplan Presley (“Home Front,” Mar.-Apr. 2008).
I read about how adorable the sheep were and how affectionate they were. And then at the end of the article, the sheep were killed and eaten! Perhaps Presley could’ve sold the sheep or found them new homes. To treat animals as pets and gain their trust and affection, and then just cold-heartedly kill them really turned my stomach. I hope I don’t see similar articles in Oregon Home in the future. That article was more appropriate for Farm Journal or Successful Farming.
—Shar Ludwig, Via E-Mail

I love your magazine. Today, while I was reading the Jan.-Feb. issue, I found the articles on artist studios (“House Calls: Home Studios”). I work with a dozen artists and I would love to send them the article via -a e-mail. They all have studios—or dining room tables that function as studios—and I think your photographs will inspire each of them. I know I’ll be keeping “The Landscape Painter’s Glass Box” for a studio I plan to build in my garden. And certainly this article will serve as a great introduction to your magazine. —Sue Reynolds, Portland

I was wondering if you could tell me who makes the bed on page 29 of the Jan.-Feb. 2008 issue (“Sleek and Modern,” Design Matters). Thanks so much! —Christine Ognall, Portland

Can you tell me where I can find the three-shaded pendant in Widney Moore’s dining room that’s on the cover of the Mar.-Apr. 2008 issue (“Woven Into The Pearl”)? It’s just what I’ve been looking for.
—Barbara Dans, Portland