How to adapt to Windy Homesteads?

Long story short, I've been working on some dailyish themes and one of them is weather. I had the realization that some places in the world experience more windy conditions than others. The first question that came to mind is, how would I have to adapt to more frequent wind conditions? Then the idea for this thread arrived to me, and here we are!

For those who live where wind is a frequent factor, how does it factor in your daily lives and what permaculture-related things have you done to address it? Are there benefits to a breezy place? How much of a factor is it for you anyways?

Where I have located homesteads, it has always been well protected by trees and always on the upper east side of a hill. I find I am more protected from winds and flooding.   In my present location I have had at least one tornado skip over me. And , at least once, I have found myself living on an island,

We live near the bottom of a steep south facing slope on a mountain range that runs east to west. During the hottest parts of the summer, the air at the top of the mountain cools significantly as the sun goes down, then sinks and falls down the slope, bringing a very welcome cool breeze at a time of year when it is exceptionally welcome.

When we realised that this was a regular occurence, we put a window in the back, north facing wall of the house so that we could open it the moment the outside air cooled to below the temperature indoors. When all the windows in the house are open, the cool air rushes straight into the back of the house and carries hot air out through the front. Putting that cool breeze to work to cool the interior of the house overnight means that the house takes longer to warm up during the day allowing us to cope with the hot summers here with no air-conditioning and using almost exclusively passive methods to keep the temperature within comfortable limits.

My other half tells me this sort of wind is known as a katabatic wind.

Here's an image from the wikipedia page to show how it works...

Evergreen trees, hills, mountains, really big heugal mounds, partly or fully buried homes.

Wind is definitely one of the factors in my area. Due to our coastal location we have fairly high average wind speeds of about 15mph and usual winter storms can be up to 80 or 90mph. I don't usually worry too much unless the forecast is above 70mph. Because we get this all the time, the houses and trees are accustomed, and we don't see the damage that occur with these windspeeds further south in the UK.
When I designed the tree field I designed in thick windbreaks as I wanted to protect my coppice trees when they regrow. I made them multispecies and parallel to the prevailing wind direction. There are lots of factors to consider in the windbreaks, and my ideas have changed over the years. When you get really strong winter winds (as we do) but mainly want to protect crop growing (or tree regrowing in my case too) then evergreen trees are not neccessarily the best choice. They will be more vulnerable to damage in winter. My soil gets saturated and the trees can pull out of the ground with high winds due to root die off. Deciduous trees, as they lose there leaves in winter, are less likely to have this problem.
Shelter from winds is more important here than sun exposure for crop growing, and you can see how the local sheep appreciate a bit of shelter when we get a bit of a storm. Our summer daylength is pretty long, so I guess this helps. I also need to be aware of what I have left lying around - tools and plant pots don't stay put! Buildings and fences need to be built with windloading in mind and Scotland has special building regulations for wind and rain, particularly in roofing.
Apart from possible use in electricity generation, other benefits are keeping the dreaded Scottish midges away, drying things (if it comes without rain!) and superb conditions for flying kites

That photo speaks volumes!

I've spent quite a few years on the Oregon Coast (was born there, raised partly in Alaska), and I've seen the effects of constant high winds on trees, and even on the ubiquitous Scotch Broom that infests the coast. We lived about three miles inland, with a stretch of hill between us and the coast, so weren't as affected, as far as gardening and such was concerned. If we'd been closer to the beach, we would have needed a windbreak - fence or wall or hedge - around our garden.

We also spent several years living on a south-facing hillside in Eastern Oregon that got a LOT of high winds. The effect is a bit different there - the wind dries everything out. Remedies are still the same, though - windbreaks, and adapted species. Microclimates.

I grew up in the Minnesota-Dakotas region and was accustomed to wind....and learned early from Depression-era farming parents about the wind-break movements following the Dust Bowl days.  After living in Oregon/Washington for a while, Salt Lake City for a spell and central Wisconsin as well, it seemed blocking wind was a must and wind-breaks were the way to go.  (Salt Lake City living was a bit like what Burra described....hot by day, cooling breezes decending along the Wasatch front by night).  Oddly enough, while now living in the northern Red River Valley between Minnesota and North Dakota, we experience both the pros AND cons of wind-breaks.  It is much apparent in a summer like the current one....temps in the 80s and 90s that don't cool off much by night (just starting to now...) and bug populations to match.  When I walk up to the mailbox I'm naturally exiting the wind-break perimeter....and it feels gloriously refreshing!  The wind-break does such an efficient job that nearly all breezes are blocked....even ones that would be quite welcomed for cooling and chasing away mosquitoes.  Additionally, having wind-breaks means that if you desire wind-power, you may need to invest in a pretty good size tower to get above the 'turbulent zone' caused by the wind-break.  In fact, as much as I would have wanted a wind gennie in the past, it would not be practical with our current tree load.  That said, I have not given up on the possibility of a vertical-axis wind turbine of sorts that could be lower to the ground and yet take advantage of the very turbulent winds that blow through the farmyard, especially in winter with the wind-break more 'porous'.  So it appears that a judicious use of microclimates may be a good consideration for windy locations.

My place is windy.  The house has been here 50 years, and no one planted a windbreak.  The winter wind can be pretty cold, (and the house definitely leaks wind) but in the summer the wind is what makes things comfortable.  I’m on a broad gently sloping mesa.  I believe it’s the mesa in relation to surrounding land forms that accounts for the wind.


I have planted trees, but very small ones, so they can establish a strong trunk and root system for a lifetime of withstanding the wind.

My idea is not to divert the wind around my place so much as to slow it down and moderate it… creating enclaves of shelter, areas where the wind sweeps the snow clean, and taller bunch grasses in the pasture to hold the snow, and maybe capture the blowing snow from the neighbors’.  That’s in the instance that we get snow again, and we will one day😊

There are some things about a brittle environment that make it fun.  Foremost to me,  I can tell if I am making a difference!

John Weiland wrote:...  That said, I have not given up on the possibility of a vertical-axis wind turbine of sorts that could be lower to the ground and yet take advantage of the very turbulent winds that blow through the farmyard, especially in winter with the wind-break more 'porous'.  So it appears that a judicious use of microclimates may be a good consideration for windy locations.

They are doing a lot more innovating and researching on "non wing wind turbines" designed to be quieter, safer, and more tolerant of inconsistent winds. I am really hoping that at least some of the ideas will turn out to be viable at the home level, as we have 3 months when there's more wind and very little sun - the solar panel gap that can't be bridged with short cycle batteries the way the day/night cycle can be.

I think your point about "too much wind break" is valid also. The more recent literature I've read is often recognizing the benefits of "slowing" the wind, rather than completely diverting it.

Jay Angler wrote:

John Weiland wrote:...  That said, I have not given up on the possibility of a vertical-axis wind turbine of sorts that could be lower to the ground and yet take advantage of the very turbulent winds that blow through the farmyard, especially in winter with the wind-break more 'porous'.  So it appears that a judicious use of microclimates may be a good consideration for windy locations.

They are doing a lot more innovating and researching on "non wing wind turbines" designed to be quieter, safer, and more tolerant of inconsistent winds. I am really hoping that at least some of the ideas will turn out to be viable at the home level, as we have 3 months when there's more wind and very little sun - the solar panel gap that can't be bridged with short cycle batteries the way the day/night cycle can be.

I think your point about "too much wind break" is valid also. The more recent literature I've read is often recognizing the benefits of "slowing" the wind, rather than completely diverting it.

Yes!  I have enough consistent wind for a wind generator of some kind.  I just don’t know enough about it, and there’s so much solar the first answers are always “you should go with solar, it’s so much better”