Certainly you can compost with out a thermometer. I have also done it for many years. From my experience, I would say it is much easier for a beginner to learn so many things when they have the right tools. In fact, a compost thermometer is the only thing I have ever paid for to put "into" my compost piles. As you gain experience, you may find yourself relying on it less. But it still does come in handy. Call me a fool, but I think putting your naked hand into an active, working compost pile (read as growing bacteria) is not unlike sticking the same naked hand into a petri dish. Tho, You may if you choose. You should just know, there are other options. And certainly other senses can be used (sight is one) that will help determine if the pile is heating up. Of course, you will have no idea just how hot it is. Only that it is heating up. Above & below the white board is 4ft. You can see how I wound the wire for the external probe on the Radio Shack (RS) thermometer. The tip of the probe was secured with a tie wrap & a screw to keep it in place. There is quite a bit of force on the probe when pushing it into the pile. The wood was cut to form a point (cut at an angle) also to help penetrate the pile. The black mark on the white stick just below the thermometer is 36"in. mark. The space above the thermometer is much needed as a handle to push into the pile and otherwise handle it. The RS is real slow reading and also goes blank when we have a heavy rain. It is battery powered. I simply let it dry out & it comes right back. > I had trouble finding a compost thermometer longer than 18". The one pictured is 2ft. & requires NO batteries. The gray bin was free from a friend who found out just how much work was required to compost. The wire bin also was free and is 30" high (4ft dia.) Here you can see all the composting tips right on the dial. This pile is cooling down. I am not affiliated with anyone selling any composting materials but just feel people are able to make better choices when they have some good info. The white board & RS Thermometer both have marks every 6in. as a guide. I have used that white board for quite a few years now in the garden. It came in real handing when laying out the SFG beds and determining the walkway or plant spacing. HTH, Gumby_CT

the soil blocker is now taken and possibly the soil thermometer if she wants it. I think I found a way to keep the seals from leaking so I will keeping most of the quick connects. If you are still interested in quick connects, I can trade off some. I have more than I need.

Thermapen is not the right piece of gear if you want to check an oven temp. It is designed to be inserted into food. I have one, but have only had it since late last year so no comment on durability yet, though it seems well built. It is VERY accurate, 207.5F for boil, which is what it ought to be at my altitude and I get a solid reading out of it within a couple seconds. So, so far I am happy with it. Yet I still miss my old Polder, a two piece affair with a probe designed to be left in the food while cooking and a remote display and alarm that you could set to go off when the food had reached the proper temp. It was a degree or so off, but no big deal, and it was convenient to shove it in the bird and walk away, knowing the alarm would go off when it was time to pull dinner out of the oven. I melted the probe lead using it in my BBQ and haven't replaced it, but I probably will. Some cooking chores are better accomplished with the Polder Alarm setup than having to use a one-shot, hand-held, device like the Thermapen.

When I'm making fudge I also use the soft ball test,but I'm not as good when it comes to had ball or crack stage. I have yet to make a single batch of peanut brittle successfully, no matter whether I use cold water or the thermometer. I use the frozen plate test for jelly. I used the thermometer when I first started making long cooked jams without commercial pectin, just to give me a clue of when I was getting close to jell stage. I can tell pretty much by the way the stuff looks now but if I'm trying to teach someone else to do it, I use the thermometer. However, I mostly use the thermometer when deep frying, to tell me when the oil is at 350 or 375 or whatever temperature I want to cook at. A Thermapen would be nice but the original poster said a "reasonably priced" thermometer and I don't think the $100 or so for a Thermapen is at all reasonable. They're nice, I know, but they're pricey! Annie