Richard Henry

The oxalic acid in rhubarb tends to concentrate in the leaves.  Pretty logical, if a plant has to expend energy to make poison, concentrate said poison in the most likely portion of the plant to be eaten - the leaves!  Oxalic acid is not the only toxin found in rhubarb, many of those produce digestive issues and some crystal formations may damage the kidneys.  It is suggested to not exceed moderate ingestion to reduce potential negative effects.

I find some interesting and quite inventive ideas here, but wanted to drop in a low-tech concept and a slightly higher-tech one.
If you have cushions, and find access to a used mattress (anything that reduces mattress waste is a plus for the environment), it should be possible to cut the heavy metal wire from the perimeter of the mattress.  This can be added to the bottom of the cushions to make a metal wire frame with cushions between front and rear lateral wires.  Cushions can be snapped or velcro tabbed or even sewn onto the wire, your choice.  On each end, place a small vertical stand (perhaps a square wooden end panel for the seating area.  Screw small eye screws into the stand horizontal pieces front and rear.  Get four door springs and hang them from the eye screws and then slip over the ends of the bed wire.  Ensure the springs are a few inches (2" to 4") shorter than the distance to the RMH "seat bench".  In this way, the default, unloaded position of the cushions will be a couple of inches above the warm bench.  This allows ready air circulation and easier heating of the room while keeping any cushions above the fray.  Sit down, cushion softens bench for tush, get up and it automatically lifts off the surface of the bench.
Next hare-brained thought.  Make pex pipe frames under the cushions.  Connect with tees to vertical pex pipes along the rear of the bench.  Fill with fluid, could be oil, could be water, could be water and water-safe antifreeze.  Heat from the bench will enter horizontal pex and warm fluid.  Warmed fluid will become lighter and rise up vertical rear pipes where it will cool and flow back down pex returns as a thermosiphon system.  This is a permanent mount, transferring heat to the rear of the seat (making a nice, warm back heater) that can be made large enough to handle most heat from the bench.  If one wants to get real steampunk, add valves (suggest on reverse side from sitting) and different horizontal pex pipes to allow moving heating area up and down the back.

As I read this, I noted that my mind was making jumps not everyone may follow.  It would be useful to place a coarse screen material under either idea's cushions on top of major supports to allow cushion to remain stable when suspended or along the back if that option is used.  I really would consider use of wool fabric for covers and cleaned and otherwise unprocessed wool for stuffing.  Why wool?  ITS WOOL!  Great heat retention, fabulous hot and cold material, gives off heat if it gets wet.

Run the straw through a chipper and create a wonderful cover for new seeding.  This can jump start a green manure patch such as planting buckwheat.  If kept watered, it will provide for a higher rate of germination so the seeds do not have to be spread as thick.
Same chopped straw is great to create sun-dried clay bricks, cob walls, heat retention around a RMH exhaust, pizza ovens, a liner for large planters that retains moisture without allowing leakage of interior fill.  Infill between two solid wood walls for insulation to use as either root cellar or ice house (or both depending on season).

I live just west of the Catskills in a 200+ year-old farmhouse.  My father updated much of the insulation in the late 1960's.  That seems to be holding well, but a couple of notes.  Yes, the fireplaces are an energy hog.  They have large flues and the air exchange will suck air in every tiny crack or around doors and windows and cool the home.  Suggestion:  While living in Denver, we had an old parsonage with a fireplace.  I walled off the throat of the fireplace and installed stovepipe up the chimney.  This adds a firewall to any leaky portions of an old flue and allows better control of air infiltration.  I used two flue dampers to allow better control of exhaust air, it seemed each time I did that, that the heat retained was well worth the extra management time expended.  A relatively simple method to improve the warm "feel" of a room is to line the walls with construction aluminum paper (aluminum foil if you feel flush).  The aluminum tends to reflect infrared energy from all heat sources including your body back to you.  Since the oil heater in that parsonage was a glutton, I installed a point hear source by hanging a heat lamp on a pulley over the most comfortable section of the couch where we could snuggle in comfort even with the rest of the room frigid by most measures.
Much of that tech was developed in an old and dilapidated trailer during our first winter on our own land. There were mornings when we saw thick frost on the outside wall along our hallway towards the stove.  That was not too far from our farmhouse, but in the colder valley over 40 years ago.  My parents were still alive and in the farmhouse at that time.  We had little money, but we made it through.  As an example of how cold the site was, I had to sprinkle the garden in August to protect it from hard frosts.  Occasionally, I had to bend the hose to allow ice chunks to push out.  If the old insulation was blown in, it may have settled.  Use a cheap remote thermometer to check the walls for differences in temperature.  If the top is cooler, consider setting up a ceiling fan of any type to push heat back down towards the shivering bodies.  That way the rising heat of the room will be recycled a bit before serving to heat the cold upper walls.  If you have access to inexpensive newspaper, harder to get now than years ago, make temporary inner wall chambers of cardboard and loosely wad up the paper sheets and place inside.  That will provide some additional insulation.  It is possible to place foam panels of virtually any type (preferably closed-cell) in windows at night.  Excellent privacy screen and it is amazing how well it works to reduce drafts.  In one Denver home, we had metal frame windows and placing foam (recycled from maintaining a filled freezer from NY)in the window frame literally stopped a draft I had assumed was an invisible hole.  
Never fear to try any idea, no matter how hair-brained it may seem at first. That is how you learn what works and what does not.    

Wow!  I am glad someone has an easy time planting peach trees.  I live in Upstate NY and the plant zone maps claim it is fine for peaches, but the winds I get seem to sear them to the ground.  I expect using peach trees for wind breaks up here would be futile.  I find lilac more useful as they flex easily and eat energy from the wind.  Those peaches that survive the wind have fallen to the deer.  While there are thousands of trees of all sizes around my farm, the buck deer seem to prefer my isolated fruit trees to strip the velvet off their horns.  While performing their beauty rubs, they strip the bark to the heartwood and then disease slips through the cracks.  I have finally decided that, for many trees, I need to set solid locust posts with chicken wire and hardware cloth to ensure my fruit trees' get the personal space they require.  Thanks for the brown rot hints, if I plant some more peaches, I will add that to the protocols.

I notice some leaf and twig litter in your photos.  Treatment of brown rot should start with cleanliness.  Ensure all cherry tree litter is removed.  When pruning, ensure all cancers and obviously diseased branches are removed.  Pruning of dying wood should not lead to additional issues.  Brown rot is a fungus, so copper fungicides or pyrethrin w/sulfur are useful.  While Northern California is not subject to snow everywhere, it can fall and if it is wet or near freezing, breakage of main trunks. One of the last wet snows around here broke one major section off, but did not appear to really harm the remaining sections.  
Note:  Pyrethrin is a natural insecticide/fungicide from chrysanthemum flowers.

I would second the suggestions to clean and re-silicone all interior seams.  Some silicone caulks may cause allergic conditions.  I suggest using a caulking tool.  They are really cheap and the one I purchased has an angle that looks very close to these panels.  Nice addition, the tool can double as a cleaning tool for the seams, place a small cloth over the angled head and use it to ensure the glass is as clean as possible.  The water pressure will be pushing the caulk into the seam if installed on the inside, so it helps to keep the aquarium from leaking.

I remember reading a book on aquiculture back in the 1970's where a catfish pond used a drum of rock with a waterfall flowing though the drum.  Could not locate anything highly similar, but did find a similar setup with photos if you are interested.  https://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?36550-55-Gal-Drum-Sand-and-gravel-filter-DIY

Several years ago while deployed to a disaster, I erred in attempting to eat some under cooked broccoli and dislocated my jaw.  A co-worker loaned me his Champion commercial quality juicer.  That was a life saver.  I was able to cold press fruit and vegetables and then mixed the masticated pulp with the juice and ate - did not have to attempt to chew.  I was so impressed, I tracked one down to use at home.  Here is a site I found where one could be viewed and purchased.  Yes, it is expensive, but this puppy will laugh at raspberry seeds and keep on rolling.  It can be used for multiple things including wheatgrass juicing.  https://discountjuicers.com/championcomm.html

Back in the day (yes, I am nearly as old as the dirt I study), the most common freezer wrap was freezer paper and freezer tape.  It is a heavy duty paper with a wax coating on at least one side to reduce moisture transfer.  One of the common shopping bags we use for cold items in warm weather is made with an aluminized lining.  They are very rugged.  Perhaps it would be useful to identify how one wishes to store frozen items: meat; specific vegetable; or time of storage (that is one I like).  Wrap different items in freezer paper in a container, stainless would be wonderfully efficient here, and then remove from metal container and place wrapped item in a specific heavy duty cold bag.  That way, even when removing from freezer, the wrappings would be less likely to loosen and it would be possible to haul the whole bag to where the items could be easily removed before returning the rest to the freezer.

One issue I have with a freezer is that it can lose power occasionally and then everything starts to thaw, refreezing when power comes back.  I have also had a child fail to ensure the freezer is properly closed (imagine that!).  Transferring frozen items into a secondary cold bag would add a bit of safety buffer and possibly reduce moisture loss and resulting freezer burn.

Just a thought.