Keeping weather statistics in the greenhouse has been interesting and after looking at nearly the entire month of January, I noticed something glaring at me. I almost said glaring mistake, but this is not a mistake.

Thus far through 29 days of January (our coldest month) we've experienced only four nights of below zero temperature and three in the single digits above zero. Our coldest temperature thus far this winter has been 17 below zero Fahrenheit. On the flip side of that, we've had one daytime high hit 60 degrees, three more that eclipsed 50 and several in the 40s.

Just to put that into perspective, the first 48 days of 1982 did not go above zero at all. In fact, this is the time of year when we can expect daytime highs to be 17 below.

It's been a strange winter thus far, but I think everyone in North Dakota is happy. After all, we deserve this after the past three brutal winters we've had culminating in the worst flooding in North Dakota history this past spring.

This is also the first winter I've grown plants in the greenhouse. If you're following this blog you know that I've been growing cabbages in our passive solar greenhouse. They've been doing well considering there is no outside heat, only sunlight that heats water during the day and releases the heat at night.

Because this is the most mild winter in my lifetime, my statistics probably aren't the best gauge. However, on two sunny days this month, the temperature has gone above 100 degrees. That tells me that even during a cold winter, sunshine is going to minimize any heating costs incurred.

And now that January is just about in the record books, I intend to get some seeds started in the next couple of weeks because I get the feeling we will have one more week of cold, then we're getting an early spring.

I'd love to be seeding peas in March. Time will tell.