Have you ever been told that if you throw an idea or desire out to the Universe it will come back to you if you deserve it? Have you ever doubted that? Well here’s a little story about when a dream became a reality.

Soiling your undies

When CottonInfo started to use the #soilyourundies as a soil health engagement activity I imagined that at some point it might become possible for everyone who had been busy soiling their undies to share them with the world. Now, thanks to CRDC and KEO, this vision is a reality.

Why you might want to get involved

The purpose of soiling your undies is to give you an insight into the biological health of your soil. Put simply, you bury a pair of underpants five cm deep in the soil and then dig them up eight weeks later. The more degraded they are, the healthier your soil is because it takes a diverse and active microbial community to degrade the cellulose in the cotton.

People often bury a couple of pairs of pants in different areas to test a hypothesis. Now, you can bury one pair and, using the map, compare them to other pants. How healthy was your soil?

The CottonInfo #soilyuorundies map page

Who’s been soiling their undies?

In addition to a number of cotton farmers, we have had contact from several groups out with the cotton industry getting involved in soiling your undies and looking at the health of their soil. A number of farmers in Ganmain did a great job for last year’s Ganmain show. There have been some going down under pasture thanks to the LLS and we’ve had a few school groups soil their undies to, which even included a request from a school in Germany for assistance. It would be great to see some of those pants again, so if you have been involved, please upload your soiled undies.

Mapping your pants

To put your soiled undies onto the map is straight forward. Simply navigate to the CottonInfo web page, under the ‘Tools and Trials’ tab select ‘Soil your undies’ and on that page select the ‘Soil Your Undies Map’ link above the instructions.

Now all you have to do is ‘SUBMIT YOUR RESULTS’, fill in the form, upload your picture (smaller than 3 MB is needed to work) and submit your results. Once approved, your soiled undies will be there for the world to see.

The submission form. Looks easy, because it is.

Now, how cool is that?