Cristobal Cristo

Hi Keenan,

Do you stabillize the dirt with cement, or something else?
What material do you use as rigid insulation?
If you reinforce the exterior and interior wythes separately, are you pouring/installing a continuous  bond beam to tie them together?
Can reinforcing be adjusted to meet requirements in more seismic zones?

If everyone sells the same produce you will have to compete by offering lower prices.
In Illinois I would focus on bush fruits: currants and gooseberries grow wonderfully there. Also aronia, elderberry and black berries. They will start producing within two years.

Serena,

I would recommend to put a metal/wooden fence first and then start experimenting with live one.

I have experimented with native plants that supposedly would grow effortlessly, just to find later that they have no chance surviving in the open area without pioneering oaks. In high desert, or generally arid climates, everything grows very slowly, because favorable growing conditions are only a fraction of so called "growing season".
Sometimes not native species will do better than locals.
Establishing a functional fence may take the same amount (or more) of time as creating a food forest.

If you have a man-made fence you will be able to focus on producing food, which even with good working fence can already be frustrating enough.

Matt, I have checked the limewash from Lowes.  Someone surely found a way to turn limestone (in this case dolomitic) into gold. 1 liter costs $20 (if 15 l purchased). When I make it myself from high calcium line the cost per liter is $0.30. I limewash entire buildings.

You can build some brick pillars and span the ceiling with more bricks and then cob it over, or leave them as they are, because sitting on bricks is more practical than on cob, since they are harder and more resistant to damage.

John,

if you want to build the bench from the cob then you will have to work in increments, let's say 10 cm high per day or just cast some cob bricks and then use them as normal bricks. Not in all locations though, as cob bricks would be not the best choice to span openings unless some angle bar was used for support.

I have to irrigate all the plants so I plant everything in lines. It also helps when I have to till winter grasses/weeds between the rows of vegetable greens.
When plants drop the seeds and plant themselves without any assistance then they can grow the way they want.
Yesterday I just planted seeds of native nectar producing plants and because they have to grow on their own I did not care about any planting pattern.

Kristina,

Matt Walker's plans have the advantage that if you follow them strictly you will get proven results. If you are more adventurous then you can enter the rabbit hole of masonry heaters and build anything you like to better suite your needs.
If the chimney continues through entire house then an opening can be made on the first floor to connect the heater.

Directly heated kitchen wall would surely transfer heat better. it is a normal problem in masonry buildings and that's why old houses had a separate heater per each room. Without that the heaterless rooms would remain cold. I experienced it first hand. The hallway to our living room felt warm only within 2 m from the door. I'm facing the same problem as the interior walls in my house are 40 cm thick. I have placed the heater (yet to be built, hopefully this year) in the space between the kitchen and the living room, close to two bedroom doors. I'm also planning to utilize mirrors to reflect radiant heat to the bathroom and the third bedroom. On the other hand, I live in rather warm place, massive house never gets too cold and I like to sleep in cool air.
If the opening to the kitchen was wide enough you could extend the bell and position the heater door to face the kitchen, but it would eat at least 60 cm of the opening and would look weird and rather ugly.

Sometimes unorthodox approaches are not used, because people are stuck in the (imperfect) tradition, but sometimes that may not work. Are you doing it to save the material or to save 13 cm (12 cm Spanish brick + 1 cm bell/wall gap) of living room space? I want it to work for you and it would be sad if you had to disassemble the heater in a year or two to build the continuous bell. Of course we will not know until you try and operate it for a few years. I can imagine what kind of massive heart attack it would give to authorities here who already do not tolerate even single skin :) Your design can be called "half-skin". Please also consider that this region of Spain has some seismicity. Good masonry relies on gravity - so buildings and structures are designed to work even without the mortar, by interlocking pieces, thick walls for stability, erecting thick buttresses for vaults and arches, cornices with proper cantilever per brick, etc.
Have you checked if the floor will support the heater weight?

Permies is a forum where people usually do not boldly say "do not do it" assuming that there is some unexplored path that may be discovered. What I can only say that in hundreds of heaters and builds that I watched/studied all of them had a normal bell - similar like I never saw an engine with half an engine block - the other half being car body.

Despite the fact that I would never do it I remain curious of the outcome.