Landscape wall: strawbale or rammed earth?

I have some property  in NE Nevada.  The harshest winter weather comes from the north, so was thinking about building a 10 ft tall landscaping wall about 50 feet long to the north and then putting my house and other living quarters just south of it, and close to it. I hope to build a natural fence for the rest of the perimeter, but that is going to take some years but I want to mitigate the effects of the weather asap.  I think I can talk a semi-retired farmer to grow the straw for me at a reasonable price - not much above his cost.  My initial concern with straw is mold developing inside the bales and the composting that will happen when it grows.  Straw would require some kind of covering - cob or stucco?  What would work for a foundation for straw?  For rammed earth, the soil is pretty void of organic matter, especially below 1 foot below the surface.  Hmmm maybe earth bags?  Suggestions?  Opinions?

10 ft. tall is pretty ambitious for a self supporting wall, as in cantilevered up from earth. A lot of sail surface. Be pretty wide at the bottom, have a lot of mass or be firmly anchored.  A 'wandering' wall would be a little more self supporting than a straight fenceline.
Don't know where you are at, but I worked up in the mountains out south of Carlin years ago, remember the wind can get clipping around Elko/Eureka at times.
Having said that, snowfences work, there are some along the 93, and you'll see them up in Idaho and Montana. Just need a fair amount material to build.

Without a roof to shed rain, or a truly waterproof cap, you'll have to get around to the idea that water will eventually find it's way in to your earth or straw.

True straw is the second cutting of grain, the stalk. Light, hollow, fairly inert. If the your 'straw' is being grown, and cut whole, it is more like hay. A lot of energy and biomass in whatever the seedhead contains.
Those are my first thoughts.

I was thinking maybe mud brick or regular brick could be something else to think about.

As a  Civil Engineer I can see all sorts of issues developing from this project.
I ask what is this mean? 'a natural fence'
Lets look at what you are trying to achieve.
- wind speed reduction
- weather protection
- 3M height

I dont build in a climate that you have, but I have learned a few things.
The scope is beyond strawbale or mudbrick from a weathering and moisture viewpoint.
Without knowing what size of property you are working with I suggest an earthern berm and mass planting around the area would appear to be what works well.
Space and time is required for this.
Anything constructed of timber etc will also fail over time.

The berm will require a large amount of material to get 3M high you may need a 12m wide  x 4M high pile.
50 feet long will require about 300 cubic yards of soil.
Such a berm will not move other than get a bit lower.

Rammed earth or light cob could work with a stone/clay foundation.

For the cob wall, there are clay mixes that withstand rain and freezing better than others, for example if you use clay with bentonite content the cob will have resistance to water damage.

I've tested it in hurricane conditions in the south and the cob blocks with more bentonite barely washed out. The other blocks made with the equivalent of baseball clay had more surface damage on the side receiving the rain drops and would required maintenance to keep the the initial look.

In your area I would worry about the spalling of the rammed earth during the beginning and end of winter unless you can seal it with a vegetable oil or other methods.

Whether I used cob or rammed earth, I would plant creeping juniper at the top of the fence to provide a natural hat during all seasons. I´d prefer cob because it is less technically demanding, doesn´t spall excessively and I expect it to survive washout for at least 10 years with the use of creeping plants as protection

Tom Connolly wrote: The harshest winter weather comes from the north, so was thinking about building a 10 ft tall landscaping wall about 50 feet long to the north and then putting my house and other living quarters just south of it, and close to it.?

What you want is a windbreak, the best windbreak is several rows of trees,  of several different species, some quick growing, some that get really tall. That will take several years to grow big enough to do the job. For immediate wind protection you want wind break panels like they make for cattle. They have a metal frame holding vertical wooden planks. There is 20-30% air gap between the planks. This reduces the wind speed to 20-30% for a very long distance. Solid walls funnel wind in unpredictable directions and can make wind issues worse.

Enhanced berm sounds promising to me, unless you're really going for an architectural landscape feature. On top of a mound of earth, say half your target height, you can mound up a mass of entangled woody debris if that's readily available, such as sage brush, after clearing an area. Plant on the lee side, and let things overgrow it as it breaks down. Could call that "bergenkultur" if hugel=hill, bergen=mountain??

Another idea is working from the earthship style of 'formed' earth fill, with tires etc, or bag it as with superadobe. Reinforced stucco coat would hold up well.

I have used hugelkulture beds for these purposes before, up to 7ft in height. Sepp Holzer and Paul Wheaton have done much larger.  They settle, but vegetation grown on them will make a nice weather break.

Allowing for drainage of potential flood waters—with all its debris—and for cold air, would be major considerations for me. A 1%+ grade for drainage around the hugel would be needed.

Another consideration might be how the ideal wind diffuser blocks about 60% of the air flow, not all of it. Behind a complete obstruction, air turbulence is increased relative to 60%. A full wall also requires much greater strength.

I would try to put as much curve and undulation as possible into the structure as possible to diffuse the wind’s force rather than try to straight up block it. Parallel straight lines create wind tunnels, and straigth walls are sails.

Whichever material you choose, you better make sure it is tough and durable. 10 feet is no joke for a wall. I've done keystone block walls, boulder walls, timber walls etc... Once you get over about 4', you need some heavy reinforcement. I'd suggest that you terrace the wall back in sections and not have a solid 10' plane.

Just as I always listen to builders with rough leathery hands, I implore you to listen when a Saskatchewan farmer speaks about savage wind.

" For immediate wind protection you want wind break panels like they make for cattle. They have a metal frame holding vertical wooden planks. There is 20-30% air gap between the planks. This reduces the wind speed to 20-30% for a very long distance. Solid walls funnel wind in unpredictable directions and can make wind issues worse. "

Also, Ben Zumeta is spot on, a serpentine structure will be better windbreak plus exponentially stronger than a straight wall