If you are planting things in the open in a place like Kansas, wind is an issue. A strong gust of wind can break all of your plants in moments. While you could put up mechanical systems, it's better to grow your own. A hoop house will protect everything inside of it, but there are situations where you need to protect more than can fit inside of a hoop house.Paul Wray from the Iowa State University Extension service notes:
Some general rules to follow for farmstead windbreaks include: Plant at least two rows of conifers on the north and west side of the farmstead; to reduce snow drift problems, leave 50 to 100 feet between the windbreak and critical farmstead areas; plant at least two different species of conifers; choose species which are best adapted to your site. For some sites consider a strip of prairie or warm season grasses for both snow capture and wildlife habitat. (http://www.extension.iastate.edu/news/2006/jan/070202.htm)Windbreaks can provide natural fencing and privacy as well. I'm also wondering if they might be used to concentrate wind energy by funneling it towards your wind generator--it may be possible to take a 3 mph light wind and focus it to a 10 mph breeze.
Maybe you need a little bit of power to play your music to cover up the sound of the wind whipping around your house. Going offline mandates that you're going to economize on the energy that you need anyway, the less you require, the easier it is to provide for yourself. Some people believe that it is possible to live on 60W of available energy/day---which is what this wind generator will average with 15 mph winds. You'll still need batteries and control systems and towers, but hey, this will look really cool behind your Hexayurt or Tiny House. Small "netbook" style computers use 40W chargers. An LED lightbulb may only use 12W to provide 60W of "incadescent" light. Now you've got 8W left to splurge on--aha, you can