sarah wilson

Anybody know any way its possible to clean it bottom up instead of top down?  I don't think its realistic for me to get on the roof a couple times a month because its high and steep...

I'm trying to make my porch into a seasonal "greenhouse".  I'm finishing up building my little house, and I'm in Texas so a big porch was obviously very important.  Now I'm working on gardening; I made a greywater bed (kind of like the earthship design) spanning the whole front length of my porch, facing SE.  Because its so hot here most of the time, and constantly getting water, I put a bunch of tropical food in there, and everything is growing beautifully.
Now, I know these plants can't handle a freeze.  It freezes here maybe a few nights (for only a few hours) in the winter, if that.  I guess I could just put a blanket on em and they'd be fine.  But, I'd be way happier if I could keep my porch/garden warmer than just "not freezing", not to mention the plants.
I'm looking into roll up vinyl curtains (too expensive, but I have sewing skills so maybe can make my own), or maybe can collect enough old windows to make removable "panels" and store em under the porch for the summer.  I know these options won't provide any insulation, so then I wonder about supplemental heat without racking up the utility bills?
I'm trying to balance ease of changing between seasons with durability and R-value.  It'd be a dream if I could keep it up to 40 or 50 in the porch garden on a cold night.  Any thoughts?
(Pardon the messy picture, its a work in progress)

I'm looking at a cubic mini, comes with a 3"flue.  Because the flue is so small, they say it needs to be cleaned more often (the manufacturer recommends once every 2-3 weeks!).  This seems impractical to me, and I'm wondering how y'all do it??
My little house is in Texas, so the stove will just be supplemental during a short few months we get of winter.  Its on pier and beam, so I'll just be climbing up on the roof to clean it.  But, according to specs, looks like I'll need 5' of pipe out the roof (because the pipe is supposed to be 1' taller than the ridge line) plus the 5' of pipe it will take to get from the stove to the ceiling inside.  I am only about 5' tall.  So I'm supposed to climb up on the roof and stick a 10' brush down the pipe that's as tall as I am, a couple times a month?  This just doesn't sound right.  How you y'all handle this?

I have a greywater growing bed attached to my porch in Texas.  It is set up pretty much like the ones in the earthships - the greywater goes into a bottom resevior with rocks, the dirt wicks it up/roots grow down to it.  It is mostly hot here, but I will close in the porch for our brief "winter" to keep the plants warm.  I want to try some more tropical plants.  Earthships usually put banana trees in the planters right away, which I have already done too.  Any experience with mango, avocado, papaya?  Do y'all think they would do ok in a greywater box or better to keep them in their own big pots on the porch?  (I'm very careful to keep chemicals and salts out of the drain).