The Bass Coast South Gippsland Food System Alliance has launched a new citizen science project called "Soil Your Undies" designed to test soil health and activity.
The experiment helps participants assess how active and healthy their soil is and provides guidance on improvement if results show the soil is inactive and needs work to support worms and organisms.
According to Green Earth Organics, one teaspoon of healthy, organic soil contains more organisms than there are people on Earth.
Full instructions, kits and examples of results from other participants were displayed at the BCSGFSA stall at the Foster Show.
Volunteers have sewn 100 per cent cotton undies for the experiment, though participants are welcome to use their old cotton underwear one last time instead of sending them to landfill.
Testing backyard soil, vegetable patch soil, or farmland soil provides a way to gauge what is happening beneath our feet and start or continue the journey toward healthy soil and healthier people.
After completing the experiment, participants can share results via an interactive online map, allowing the alliance to identify where poor soils might need extra help in the Bass Coast and South Gippsland areas.
The map will provide interesting comparisons between towns and neighbours across the community and is available at cottoninfo.com.au/sites/default/files/tools/cotton-soil-map/index.html.
