Hi nhrdls, you questions are good ones and reflect the searchs you have made. Good on you. As you will come to realize, there is no single right way and very few wrong ways to compost. My opinions are. (1) What you suggest with the solar oven will likly kill many seeds but avoiding weeds that have matured to seed might save labor and browns in the form of paper and cardboard are easy to find. (2) I think the majority of those who microwave do so to speed up breaking the food down . Freezing access food for later use serves double duty,stockpileing food plus causing faster breaking down. I wouldn't reccomend the solar oven because I don't think it adds value and might actualy dehydrate and extend time required for it to rot. (3) Ahh,finaly something I have actualy done several times. Doing as you describe imo avoids some heat generated as the food starts to decay. I'm in Tx and I notice you are in zone 9 where summer temps are high to begain with. BTW posting your zone will help those answering your questions and giving advice. In addition to "staging food" in the compost bin I often seed near finished compost with worms if the compost is to be stored for later use. I would like to suggest a composting arangement I believe well suited to adding material to a small bin at regular intervals. Construct your bin so a spade or fork can remove material on one side at ground level. Occasionaly pull material from the bottom and place it on top. That alows checking progress,airating the bin and seeing if moisture,brown or green % needs reduced/increased.

Is it the norm to be a jerk to new people before making sure they're spamming? There are plenty of long time bull crappers on this site to mess with. Why not go after them? Oh yeah, because the clicks unite if you do. . . Even if he/she is selling something somewhere, it wasn't in the post. It's just as legit as both of your rude comments and certainly much nicer.

I use two solar ovens all the time - almost year-round. They are convenient, easy-to-use, most food cooks/bakes in a NORMAL time frame - although you CAN use them like a Crock-pot for slow cooking. I can easily reach temperatures between 350° and 400°F. I even bake yeast breads in them. The open parabolic reflectors are more difficult to control the temperature. I keep my solar ovens on a cart on wheels so it's easy to turn to follow the sun and they are waist high for stirring or turning items being cooked. I also have the ovens tied down to the carts so the wind doesn't turn them over. So-called "special" cookware is readily available and most of it is inexpensive, it needs to be dark and thin. I also use quart canning jars painted on the outside with black heat-resistant paint. The jars work well for heating water and cooking food. The Tulsi Hybrid Solar Oven came with an assortment of pans and I can make 4 things at once in this oven. The Sun Oven didn't come with any cookware and the cooking space is more limited. The Tulsi is about the size of a small suitcase and is easy to pack with everything you need and is ready-to-go for you campers out there. It will also run on electricity, so you can cook/bake in it ANYTIME - day or night - using electricity, or use solar only when the sun is shinning. Once you've invested in special pans (many I already had), they quickly pay for themselves by the energy you save using solar. I suggest wearing dark glasses when working with ANY kind of solar cooker/oven, but especially homemade versions. You CAN burn your eyes if you aren't careful. A hat with a brim will also help shade your eyes when moving food in and out of a solar cooker. In the homemade version shown in the picture above, you will find it handy to raise pans up off the ground by using a trivet or rings from canning jars. Most food will also cook better and quicker in this type of cooker if you place the pan in an Oven Bag (the kind you cook a turkey in) to help keep the temperature even and the steam from escaping. You can place an oven thermometer inside the oven bag to help make sure you are cooking at a food-safe temperature. Quick tip... I bake SMALL whole potatoes in black socks (purchased new and used for potatoes only). Large potatoes don't work as well as small ones, and foil-wrapped potatoes don't bake well because the foil is reflective. If you use an open parabolic reflector, place the potato-filled socks in an oven bag. -Grainlady

Here is a question for those pro. plant propagators out there: I tried something new to sterilize my used propagation mix (80% perlite, 20 % peat). I read that adding 1 tbs of Hydrogen Peroxide to a qt. of water and pouring that over the media will kill most pathogens. I tried it, but don't think my cuttings like it. Some of their leaves are browning up earlier then normal. I checked into solar sterilization and found out that you only need about 160 for a few hrs to kill the pathogens. He are my thoughts.. I have a 12x16 small green house which I can't use in the summer because of the extreme heat. Could this be used as a solar oven. A few minutes ago, when I dared to walk into it, the temp was 188 when the sky was partly cloudy. I think that if I left my propagation media in there and only pulled it out when I needed it, it would be OK. What are your thoughts on this???