John Schinnerer

+1 and another +1 to the comments about quality of work and details of installation. Makes all the difference. Especially the one about materials overlapping correctly (flashing, roofing material, etc.). If that is done right it will not leak, even with no goop at all. If it's done wrong it will leak sooner or later and no amount or type of goop will permanently stop the leaks. Only taking it all apart and putting it back correctly will.

Also +1 for clerestory windows as another option. Mainly regarding being easier to install correctly, and, if under adequate eaves they won't leak even if installed poorly, just because water never hits them. Plus good for low-high ventilation flow if climate makes that desirable in some season(s). And can do that even when it's raining, if eaves are adequate. Skylights on the other hand usually have to be closed to keep rain out.

Note that any window up at top of a wall will lose more heat than a window lower down (because it's warmer up there and all else equal), so a clerestory right under the eave and a skylight just a bit up the roof will not see a huge difference in heat loss. Plus you will need more surface area for the clerestory in most cases to get the same amount of light as a given skylight.

If zero roof penetrations is easy and doesn't conflict with other important design parameters, sure, go with that. But I would not shut out beneficial and/or desirable design options that involve roof penetrations just because poorly done roof penetrations may leak. I would instead make sure any roof penetrations are done properly.

If you live somewhere with longish darkish winters, absolutely consider human need for natural light in dark times a design parameter. It's part of our health care. Especially if you are prone to seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or anything close to it. It is amazing how much 'better' (healthier) a closed/dark/gloomy space can be with some additional natural light, even (or especially) in mid-winter.

I used five gallon  bucket soaking for quite a few years when living off-grid in Hawai'i.
There is no need to do much (thoughtless and protracted) labor. The absurd amount of laundry labor you read about historically was mostly culturally imposed, not required to clean the clothes.
Soaking for ~24 hours, the water (an ultimate solvent) will do most of the work, in clean water with some soap in it. Put clothes & soap in, agitate by hand for a few minutes, come back 24 hours later. Or agitate a few times briefly in between if you want.
There's a book I've lost the title of, by an Amish woman decades ago, who says all this.

If you want to stack some functions, try something like in "Travels With Charley" - the protagonist puts clothes, water, soap in a 5-gal bucket with sealable lid, secured it in his vehicle, and driving (partly unpaved) to town for errands & supplies gave it plenty of agitation.

Ditto comments about not over-packing the clothes. Like cooking pasta, too little water is not good for the outcome.
Ditto the manual roller-wringer if you want to squeeze out max water with minimum effort.
Otherwise it's however much you can wring out by hand. Which, if you do it appropriately in terms of body mechanics/not hurting yourself, can be one or both of gym-free workout and emotional catharsis.
Also ditto the winter line drying outside works. If below freezing the water will sublimate (go from solid directly to gaseous form, skipping the liquid form) out of the clothing, unless you are somehow in an extremely humid but also below freezing context.
I've also used those great old style wooden collapsible indoor drying racks.

John Jeavons covered this topic well decades ago in his book "How to grow more vegetables etc. etc."
Speaking to annuals of course, which seems to be the main thread here. In the long run, yes, get perennials going!

A key point he makes that is hinted at in this thread but is not called out explicitly:

We need both calories and nutrition. A subsistence garden needs to work both parts of that equation.

So beans are a poor choice because they take a LOT of space for any significant amount of calories, whereas potatoes (or similar for other climates, e.g. yam/sweet potato, turnips, cassava, taro/kalo) provide lots of calories in a small space.

So calories needed from veggie crops have to be covered. You can have great nutrition but still starve if not enough calories.

Then look at nutrition per crop - cassava doesn't have a lot of nutrients, just calories, whereas potatoes, or taro, for two examples, are significant nutrient providers also (if you are at least subtropical and can grow taro you are blessed, you can create a large amount of calories and nutrients in quite a small space).
So some calorie crops are also nutrition crops, and some not so much.

And, just for nutrients we may, or will, need to grow some things that aren't calorie-efficient per area used, but we need them anyhow.

Once calories and essential nutrients are covered, then cultural preference and habit and so on can be catered to.

Another key point he makes is that none of this accounts for oils, which we use daily without thinking much of it, but are very challenging to produce at small scale.
And then he reminds us about spices/seasonings, which add to the complications of producing anywhere close to what we are used to eating daily.

Scarce mention of graywater here, not sure why. Generational memory loss? :-)

I saw a few comments about graywater problems and complications, which sound like they stem from lack of basic info. This ground is well covered. Perennials and graywater, if you've got any elevation at all to use, are pretty straightforward if the household greywater can be broken out of the plumbing system (that's the main challenge in most cases).
Recommended long-standing primary reference is still as far as I can see Art Ludwig's  book "Create an Oasis With Greywater":
http://oasisdesign.net/greywater/createanoasis/

And his related publications (one for builders, etc.).

You can get all direct from his site (link above) or from some other non-Amazon ethical source used, such as biblio.com:
https://www.biblio.com/search.php?stage=1&pageper=20&keyisbn=art+ludwig+greywater&omit_product_types=bp,bd,ns&strip_common=1&program=1005&order=

Not legal/permittable most places, but safe as can be, and he has the research to back it up. You will have to make your own choices in your own particular situation re doing what is ecologically regenerative and water-smart, or doing what is 'legal'.
There are a few places I'm aware of where something limited, like a washing machine barrel system, can be permitted, you'd have to check with your relevant authorities (city or county usually).
You could try to change local regulations. I've seen a few institutional/municipal graywater codes and systems, including one a guy I knew helped to make happen at county level. They are all about industrial technology - pumps and filters and tanks and so on. Common sense and gravity and natural biological activity don't seem to fit the 'wastewater engineer' paradigm.

Anyhow, Ludwig's site is a gold mine for catchment/fresh/potable as well as graywater resources. Also his "first principles" for ecological design are a nice complement/other perspective on essentially same concepts as permaculture principles.

FWIW I'm in the Rogue Valley, southern Oregon, drylands climate historically and more so in recent decades.
Official "extreme drought" announced in late April this year here in Jackson county, but we've had some level of drought for decades.
I can recall one fully wet year in the last 10 (meaning the reservoirs for regional irrigation all filled by start of dry season).

Not growing a whole lot of garden this year, some early season greens and peas and strawberries, long done. Also thornless blackberries which looked good but then the intense month-long heat 'wave' (more like tsunami, just kept coming and coming) fried most before they were ready to eat. Gets too hot here in summer for delicate temperate crops (e.g. most lettuces and the like).

Watering is automated drip type system, and as soon as a section is done producing (e.g. greens bolt, peas brown out) it gets turned off.
In terms of conservation, the prior drip system here 5-6 years back or more was a typical ornamental landscaper install, drip tape or tubing all over the place watering lots of area with nothing planted in it.
I re-did the system to cover just where essential and cut the usage by about 2/3. A few ornamentals are probably dying because of that, which to me means they don't belong in this climate.

In another location nearby I have a couple mature plum trees (two types), a mature apple and two young (4-5 years) apples (each a different type), plus two kinds of grapes. These are all on timed irrigation using a simple soaker hose ring at dripline (for fruit trees) or around root base (for grapes), they get a fairly deep soak early evening but only every 4 days. Changed it to 3 days back when the heat wave just kept coming, as they were looking stressed and the plums especially are loaded with fruit that I don't want to shrivel or drop prematurely.

Re the "landlording" part, the legalities and all that, Nolo press at https://www.nolo.com/ (self help legal stuff since like the 1970s or decades and decades anyhow) has excellent resources, general and state specific. All you need for reasonable prices, print and/or digital. Or check your local library (if they're open in virus times) as they may have or can get Nolo press publications.

That said, one needs certain social and emotional skills and awarenesses that aren't available from books or videos to be a capable landlord. If you are gullible, easily manipulated or intimidated, a 'dorrmat', or on the flip side harsh and judgmental and insensitive, you will have assorted challenges managing a rental property. You will get taken advantage of, or you will get sued, and so on.

Do a bunch of thoughtful and protracted observation (& research on what it takes) before jumping into managing rental properties.

It's possible to provide quality housing for people and generate some surplus, with integrity. It's certainly possible to be a slumlord, OR, to be a local high quality small operator alternative to your local slumlord.

I posted something a week or so ago and a day or so later got something called a "purple moosage" telling me that it violated standards, please edit and try again.
I edited out the indicated offensive part, and submitted again.
It never got posted, I never got any further information about the issue, and it no longer appears in the thread when I click on the link that was provided in the purple moosage.

Also I looked for a way to take any action to find out what had happened, from the purple moosage, but there are no links and/or email addresses to contact an actual person, as far as I can see.

Just wondering if that's how the system is supposed to work...seems broken to me.