Submitted

The windbreak you see today at the home of Bryan and Janet Schmitz might look as if it came together perfectly, but Bryan would tell you it did not. Persistence paid off, however, and with a little help from his family, the final product has earned Bryan and Janet a 2025 Kansas Banker’s Association Windbreak Award.

Rewind to 2007. The home the Schmitz’s built atop a hill on their property northeast of Baileyville needed wind protection. Buffering cold north and west winds was the first priority, but snow protection was needed as well, and a well-designed windbreak seemed like a solution. That’s when the challenges began.

A spring 2008 planting went through some tough conditions and resulted in zero surviving trees. A second try in the fall resulted in the survival of just one tree. As 2009 approached, they still didn’t have a windbreak.

Anxious to try a different approach, Bryan contacted a neighbor about digging up trees from a nearby property. He would dig up and plant ten knee high trees on Saturday then repeat on Sunday, eventually planting 150 trees. It was a lot of work — larger trees require removal of a larger root mass when digging them up — but the larger trees gave them a bit of a head start. Weed barrier fabric helped keep weeds at bay and trees were planted close together to encourage rapid establishment. All the work paid off: the trees survived and the windbreak was off and running.

Longterm windbreak survival depends on planting conditions, weather and a lot of luck, but hard work helped this stand as well. Their four kids chipped in with weekly watering assistance, carrying one gallon of water to each tree through the summer and fall of 2009, repeating over the next couple of summers further encouraging the new tree planting on its way.

Continued maintenance is relatively low on a windbreak made of Eastern Red Cedars, but it’s not non-existent. Once the watering could be stopped, bagworm spraying began. Trees are sprayed annually — sometimes twice — for bagworms to keep them in good health.

Looking back today, Bryan would say the process worked out well and would maybe even be considered simple – once you got them growing. Anyone who’s planted trees, however, knows the family obviously invested a lot of time to get the good windbreak they enjoy today.

Congratulations Bryan and Janet Schmitz, 2025 Kansas Banker’s Association Windbreak Award winner.