Hey, we’re the land of fruits and nuts, you should like it here,lol.
We have a “hobby farmstead “ in west central MN at 46deg 34’ lat in lake country near ND border. In recent years it seems we get snow early before the ice thickens which results in flooding as water is pushed up above the ice making it unsafe and difficult to navigate on. In the past many winters started with little snow with the ice thickening rapidly which allows one to fish earlier in the winter season when fishing is best. We are fortunate having purchased a “greenhouse in the snow” kit and are attempting to grow citrus trees. We have lemons and limes produced on 3 yr old trees and got our first mandarin orange. We are doing this with no external source of heat- just a fan which pushes air into tubes buried in the ground- we have had -20 F with wind chills of - 50 F. So far the lowest temp this winter is 33.9 F. It was -10 F this morning outside and sunny in the afternoon - temp got to 70F mid day in the greenhouse. When it is cloudy it some times only reaches 36 F mid day. It has hit 100 F in January when totally sunny all day. I was working prunning citrus, grapes, kiwi and pomegranates - in a t-shirt today. I do have 5 50 gallon barrels and 30 5 gallon buckets of water and a number of rocks to work as a heat sink- makes the winter “shorter” we start planting veggies mid March and have tomatoes and cucumbers starting late May until early December. Kale grows year around. Outside we have 1000 honeyberry plants and 80 apple trees and 300 raspberry plants- we sometimes have frost until mid to even late May and a killer frost by Oct 1 usually - can’t always count on a 120 day growing season outside-
Our climate zone is 4a - just 15 miles from zone 3- have lots of honeycrisp apples just coming into production on Bud 9 dwarfing rootstock which increases cold tolerance- best tasting apple in the world- the greenhouse is about like a zone 9. Google “greenhouse in the snow” to get the history of Russ Finch’s invention. The greenhouse may work in parts of Alaska- not in the tundra.
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So far (knock on wood) this has been a super mild winter, probably 10’s at night and 20’s during the day, with last week experiencing a bit of a meltdown which is normal at some point in January.
Winter is still young (frozen ground until May) so we should get a few dips in the negative side of the scale before everything is said and done.
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What’s winter? Enjoy the season because you don’t realize how much you like them until they start to disappear. I’ve already had flowers coming up in January that’s a first for me. R.I.P Kentucky winters of yester year.
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You mean there is a chance my soil may not be frozen solid in early May? Say it ain’t so! 
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I usually aim for tax day for the frost being out enough to plant bareroot trees/shrubs here. There’s been a few years I’ve had to wait 1-3 weeks.
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I’ll take issue with that statement, but everything else you wrote is great info.
I’m probably 90ish minutes SE of you.
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Welcome to the forum! I’m looking forward to your future posts. What does a greenhouse in the snow kit cost? Did you buy the materials on your own? Does he just sell a building blue print? Are there different sizes? Were local people able to install it without any problems. I’m assuming the gentleman in Nebraska sold the kit? Please dont answer anything your not comfortable with.
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Planting time here is mid May or later.
Two years ago I was moving a large haskap mid May. While it was already fully leafed. Well over half the roots where still encased in a slab of ice. I had to chip around the slab and then lift the whole thing from the ground. Transplanting it was burying the slab of ice on the new location.
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Can’t imagine what is -60 feel like. We usually get down to -20s , occasionally to -30s which is extremely cold.
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I think he was referring to a -60 wind chill factor.
We have seen it here albeit rarely, temperature at -20f with winds at 50+mph. I don’t know what it feels like because I don’t go out those days.
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wind hast started yet but will tonight. most businesses including my wife’s credit union is closed fri. and sat. can you say ground blizzard. i like extreme weather as long as i dont have to travel in or shovel it. luckily my property is surrounded by trees and bushes and we are at the bottom of a hill so drifting should be minimal. all the animals got some fresh bedding. dont think im letting them out for a few days. after this next weeks back into 20’s and low 30’s.
we had a 28 f frost June 14th last summer. it doesnt always happen that late but about every 5 yrs it does. 1st killing frost late sept- early oct. my painted mountain corn was 1-2’’ and was unaffected. good ol’ northern Montana genetics.
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i remember some -100 windchills when i was in my 20’s. out of all the vehicles in the yard, my dodge dakota was the only one that started. you couldnt go out for more than 5 min. and had to wear a scarf or you would frostbite your lungs and throat. i bet we hit that in 08’ when we got that -50f record cold temp. that was the worst winter i ever remembered in my 52 years.
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We spent about $25,000 for an 84 ft one. The kits have the steel frame and the Lexan -polycarbonate glazing- we also got the two large squirrel cage fans and thermostats for heating in winter and cooling in summer. We bought the poly tubing “ drain tile” from Menards, window and doors were “free” salvage from a home which had a fire and metal sheeting and retaining walls built from a turkey barn being dismantled on our farmstead site. We hired the excavating $5000. Waterline dug in and we had it wired by an electrician $3000 , spray foam of inside walls $2000. The steel framing slides together easily, the metals self drilling screws come with the kit. You need an east west orientation and avoid shade trees and buildings to the south and can’t have a high water table. My wife and I put it together during the summer of the pandemic restrictions we were in our early 70’s no building experience. We had the materials shipped from Alliance,NE - got a very good price on the shipping since I think things were really slow for them at that time- the kit was about $13,000. Unfortunately everything has price inflated since 2020. You can check out WyOasis at Medicine Bow WY and ar Trailbreak farms in Utah for good videos and explanations- I wasn’t confident we could grow citrus here but it looks like we can- some risk the fans could fail if power goes out - thinking about some kind of wbackup system. You can buys mandarins which tolerate 18 to 20 F -Kiwi, Pomegranates and Figs we have planted would be fine even without the fans operating- we have blackberries and grapes which would be ok - need to plant grapes intended for areas farther south - MN grapes won’t produce according to Russ Finch the inventor since no sufficient chill period. Tomatoes peppers and cucumbers from like they are on steroids- we got 12 full sized lemons 
the second year and lime tree also produced - waiting for pomegranates and orange trees to fruit-
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I don’t know what kind of day it was in Alaska today, but I happy to report that we had a gorgeous day today around the puget sound. Just lovely. It felt like spring working around seattle today. There was an energy in the air and everyone seemed to come out of their bat caves. I just love when the weather starts to change.
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Think @fruitnut will be very interested in some of the details on the geothermal pipes you installed. Im interested as well to know more specifics with photos if possible. That is very inexpensive for a large greenhouse. What is the coldest it has been there since you installed it? Would love to see a whole thread just on your greenhouse.
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Still cold, but the highs are nudging 40 F fairly often. Yesterday we saw mallards pairing up and a muskrat gathering nesting materials. Days are getting longer. It feels so nice!
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