Alder Burns

After some 25 years at the game of scrounging and dumpster diving, I will say this, organization is crucial!  One of the highest compliments I've ever been given was when someone said that I kept the most organized junkyard they had ever seen!  All off the ground or under cover, and usually under trees if possible so that grass and weeds don't grow up and cover it all and make future access impossible.   Some of the most consistently useful items, which I can usually find close by wherever I've lived, include the following:
---cardboard boxes....useful for mulch, insulation, and building projects (from roofing wood stacks to building cabins)
---big pieces of plastic.  Furniture and mattress stores are ideal for these, and also giant boxes.  Those items are often shipped in huge plastic bags which can be cut open and turned into large square or rectangular pieces.  I've even covered a small greenhouse with these by "welding" multiple pieces together with a candle flame to make whatever size and shape I want.
---carpet scraps...many uses from smothering weeds and stumps to various building projects.  Old carpet attached to a frame and stuccoed with cement makes a solid surface for dirt cheap...walls or roof.  My cabin and shed ideas usually use all three in combination...cardboard first, then overlapping plastic, then carpet last with or without stucco.  Moss will grow on it pretty quickly and it would be easy to go living roof.  Ditto for making enormous rainwater catchments with fencing and stakes...think of a carpet sandwich pond but in a wire basket and you've got the idea!
--long pieces of metal....pipes, bed frame pieces, etc.  These are handy, semi-permanent stakes useful around the farm for everything.
---wire and baler twine....also useful for everything.
With these resources, plus some tools and access to pole timber and or bamboo, I've basically built entire homesteads multiple times, with cabins, sheds, dry firewood "stashes", animal housing, and more.  And dumpster-diving food and feed helps subsidize the startup transition until the system becomes productive.

Why separate the seeds and skins at all?  I discovered the easy way to tomato sauce, at least, is to first dry the first few harvests, and then store these until the main crop comes in.  With the big harvest I just throw them in the blender whole and puree them, first having cut out the core if there is one and any bad spots.  As this is beginning to simmer in the big pot, I take some of the dried ones and powder these in the same blender, and then stir this into the sauce until it's the right thickness.  Then add spices, bring to a boil, and can away!  A huge sauce project now fits easily into one day since there is no hours and hours boiling it down, stirring the while to keep it from scorching.  And I've replace a bunch of propane with solar energy.

Do you have access to the attic space?  This is often the easiest place to add insulation, and it can be just about anything that traps air.  I'm right now in the process of putting just about anything up there...foam mattresses, styrofoam packing bits, bubble wrap and other clean plastic crumbled up, and cardboard. Yes it's all a rodent habitat but I've seen them nesting in pure fiberglass fluff too, so I just keep mousetraps set.
    My house also has a crawl space, and it has mold and damp issues.  Research has told me that attaching insulation directly to the wood under there will only make that problem worse.  The only way to progress is to add the insulation to the foundation walls, preferably on the outside....this means digging a trench, etc. which is beyond my schedule these days. So we're doing rugs!
     you've discovered the main advantage of wood stoves over fireplaces in heating efficiency.  Wood stoves have better air control.  One thing that would help would be to contrive a cold/outside air intake for the burn box of the fireplace...perhaps a hole through the floor?  This might mean chipping or drilling through brick or cement, but it's worth considering. Then you can put glass doors in front of the fireplace and burn it as an enclosed chamber, like a wood stove.  The goal is to heat up the thermal mass of the fireplace itself, which will then radiate warmth into the space.  The better option, though pricey, is to add a stove that sits out in front of the fireplace, or even partly inside of it, that vents up the same chimney, or else somewhere else in the house.  The issue to remember here is that for many people, firewood is nearly free, while other fuels aren't.  Even an inefficient wood burning system is often better on the budget than the alternatives.

For many years I've tweaked with my diet to reach the best compromise between sustainability, self-sufficiency, economy, and energy footprint. What it has led to most of the time is a diet relying on root crops (white and sweet potatoes, specifically) as the staple calorie source. In multiple climates that I've lived in, they almost overlap in season in terms of being available to eat from storage. Right now in the last few months I've succeeded in closing that gap by grating and drying the excess, which I can then rehydrate and use during any gap in fresh availability.  In previous years I've often grown or bought small amounts of grain or other starch sources, or else kindly dumpsters have subsidized with breads etc.  To these things then are added veggies and fruits depending on what's available...here again every climate and landscape offers several that grow easily...I'm long past the time of spending large amounts of effort trying to grow something persnickety....just buy it and let it be a special treat!  Protein sources....that's one thing that requires some stability and system maturity.  Laying hens are probably the first thing to add, except in situations where harvesting wild protein by hunting, fishing, or trapping is an option.  Having enough land to add small ruminants like sheep or goats is a game changer and a quick way to ratchet protein toward self-sufficiency. Vegetable protein sources, like legumes, are a lot of work.  You need space to grow them, and they take processing....which often seems out of balance with commodity purchased legumes that are never touched by human hands from seeding to market.  I did it a few years with fava beans....will probably try soybeans now that I live in soy country.  

I grew basil for market in a greenhouse for a couple of winters.  It wants as much light as you can give it....several hours of a south facing window at least, and temps. above 55F/13C at minimum and preferably above 65F/18C.  The warmer it is the faster it will grow.

Usually I see the potatoes in storage start to sprout.  Often I have some small, healthy looking ones sorted out separately for seed, small enough to fit into the pots I use.  Then I lay them just under the surface, sorted by variety marked with small labeled stakes, in shallow pots.  Trays or flats of some sort would do as well.  Then I keep them wherever it's warmer, in or out, bringing them in in cooler weather.   If it's too cold to plant them out when they are long enough (like3 or 4 inches with at least a couple of leaves), I will either cut them back or else break them off and move to another pot for later planting.  More sprouts will come off the same potatoes at least 2 or 3 times.   There are some varieties that simply don't want to sprout, and sometimes this changes year to year.  If I must have these types (I don't any more) I keep them going by vine cuttings as a houseplant through winter, then cut up the vine for more in the spring.

My partner makes a magical herbal mouthwash that solved my serious periodontal issues!  They were ready to do surgery and what all else, but the last time I went they asked me what I was doing and said keep doing that!  
The gist of it is good handfuls each of rosemary, thyme, calendula, echinacea, white oak bark or acorn meal, and smaller amounts of stevia, cayenne, and cinnamon.  Simmer all in a big pot of water for half hour or so and let cool.  Strain and mix with 30% minimum of strong alcohol (gin or vodka) and it will store at room temperature.  To use without adding alcohol, freeze in small containers, and thaw them at need and keep refrigerated.

Check out Koinonia Partners and Jubilee Partners.  Two Christian communities in rural Georgia, both doing organic gardening and service projects.  Both run visitor and volunteer programs.  If you can get to them you might well find a welcome.

If you have an area in mind, the narrower the focus the better, but even a general region is helpful, then you can do a lot of reading and research in advance about the climate, geology, soils, plants, wildlife, etc. about that area.  You can visit it whenever you can and try out this new knowledge in real time.  How many trees can you name on sight.  Same with weeds, wildflowers, common insects, mushrooms, birds.  What are the subtle differences when you go 20 or 50 miles away (this can be quite stark if altitude changes are involved).  This skill building can go on for months and years (trees are harder to call in the winter, without leaves!), and will prove very helpful when you actually get to searching for property and evaluating it's potential at a glance.

Though I've never seen them doing this for myself, I've read some papers recently describing several species of fireflies that forage on common milkweed flowers as adults!!  Apparently they are eating the milky sap as well and this makes them unattractive to predators, much like the monarchs.  So there is another benefit of having milkweed around and it is providing sustenance for another iconic, beautiful, and endangered insect!