We live deep down in a valley (known locally as a holler) where we seldom feel breezes and even less seldom are faced with strong winds. So...I get lazy. I lay down cardboard kill mulches with just a rock or two to weigh the sheets down (if that), and this fall I minimized the number of bricks holding down the sides of our quick hoops to a mere six per 15-foot span.

But I've noticed recently that big changes in temperature do bring winds, even down here in our holler. And those roaring winds toss cardboard around the yard and whip right through lazily built quick hoops. The results are shown above.

When I went out to fix my quick hoops Monday afternoon, though, I still didn't increase the brick count. With one wind rushing through our valley already this winter, chances are we won't see another until March.

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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