Before green houses

Found this interesting.

Before green houses

Look at similar fruit walls in the Mediterranean area. They look like stone silos with no roof. I guess they protect olive and pistachio trees??

I have sheep and long ago realized barns were never designed for sheep, but rather for the convenience of the Sheppard that watches over their sheep. To that end I went and designed something very similar to this taking into account the ultimate health of my sheep. From nitrate reducing drainage systems, to a round configuration since sheep hate corners; it was designed for them. It was not made of fruitwalls, nor masonry, but rather hedges and earth berms for windbreaks.

I went so far as to inquire about a SARE Grant to test my theory on how well it work work for sheep, but never got much further than that.

Honestly, I think it would work well. Sheep are easy keepers, they love it cold, but cannot tolerate wind, yet need gobs of ventilation. What you suggest is similar to my analysis on a different front.

I've visited that link before.  Some really nice ideas there.  Greenhouses, of course, do not have to be inefficient energy suckers as is described and shown in part of this link.  It's good to keep the ideas from these fruit walls and 'before greenhouses' ideas in your head when designing a modern greenhouse, since there are many great adaptions that can be made.  For instance, the flue wall, from England, is basically a mass heater, and a person could easily have a RMH incorporated into a North wall to be part of a greenhouse.  Also, any stone wall, or concrete wall, or sand filled wall, or rammed earth wall, or Earthship wall... etc... on your North side will absorb the South sun as a mass in the same way as the fruit walls, particularly if the wall is insulated behind the mass.