Today’s guest is Jeff Gage, Director of Consulting at Green Mountain Technologies and a Certified Composting Professional. One of the major themes of Season 4 is listening closely to deeply experienced composters, and Jeff fits that mold perfectly.

I’m finally learning that when it comes to these revered, long-time practitioners, the best thing to do is ditch my question script and let the stories unfold. That’s exactly what happened in this conversation.

We talk about Jeff’s background and dig into a wide range of real-world case studies — from turned aerated systems to managing water and oxygen, controlling odors, pile heights, adding air when you don’t have power, composting grape pomace, why is compost black and so much more.

Jeff was awarded the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award by the US Composting Council in recognition of  ...