Sustainable Farm Journal

Today's high at 50 degrees was a welcome relief from the bitter cold of the last week. The low tonight will be in the 20s, though. The weather forecast calls for a general warming over the next few days. The direct sunshine today helped seedlings in the greenhouse put on more green and stand up a little.

Last night's snow has melted away today. Some still lingers in the shadows of trees and buildings. Today was in the upper 30s, and tonight will be in the mid to lower 20s.

After a brief reprieve yesterday of temps in the upper 40s, a cold front moved in today, sending temperatures back into the 30s by midday and into the 20s tonight. Warmer weather will not return until the weekend.

Colder winter weather has moved in after a weekend in the 60s and 70s. The high today was 28 degrees, and the lows are in the mid 20s. The greenhouse ran out of propane last night, and the temperature inside was about 54 when I discovered the heater was out at 3:34 A.M.  Even with the Mr. Heater Big Buddy propane heater on its high setting, the temperature inside only reaches 60 when it's 28 outside. At night, the heater keeps the greenhouse in the 50s. A tray for sprouting peppers is near the heater so that it can stay in the 70s to aid germination. The rest of the plants and germinated seed should fare well in the 50s. Elsewhere, rain barrels have frozen over, and icey precipitation has accumulated on the ground.

So far, the month of January 2015 has started off the year cold and wet. The 18,000-gallon capacity of the rainwater collection system is almost full, in part from December rains. Most of the nighttime lows have been in the lower 30s, with an occasional dip into the 20s. A frost blanket over a raised garden bed of artichokes has so far proved competent at keeping them alive through the freezes.