Launching the Healthy Soil, Healthy People, citizen science project “Soil your undies”

The Bass Coast South Gippsland Food System Alliance (BCSGFSA) team will be launching a citizen science project called “Soil your undies” at the Foster show on the 28th March 2026. 

The experiment will help to test how active and healthy your soil is, and work on how to improve it, if your results show that it is inactive and needs some work to help feed those wriggly worms and organisms. 

“Did you know that one teaspoon of healthy, organic soil contains more organisms than there are people on Earth” - Green Earth Organics

Full instructions, kits and examples of the results from others will be on display at the BCSGFSA stall at the Foster Show. 

Our volunteers have been busy bees, sewing up 100% cotton “undies” for this experiment for citizen scientists to use. Or you are welcome to put your old grundy undies to good use one last time, instead of sending them off to landfill. 

Testing your own backyard soil, the soil in your veggie patch, or soil on farmland is a great way to gauge what is happening beneath our feet, and start or continue on your journey for healthy soil, and healthier people! 

After you have completed your experiment, you can share your results via an interactive map online. This map allows us to see where poor soils might need a bit more help in the Bass Coast and South Gippsland areas. It will be very interesting to see and compare the difference between towns and neighbours in our community. 

You can check out the map now via this link. 

An upcoming event is planned to follow up these results, soil experts Peter Reynolds, of the Western Port Land Care Network and Chris Alenson, author of "Deep Time", will guide you to build healthier soil based on your results from the Community Citizen Science Project. Keep an eye out on our website for upcoming dates for this workshop on biological activity in your soil and what this means.

A great activity for children to get involved in, we are looking for support from local schools to get kids learning about the importance of soil for our health and environment. We are able to provide kits upon request to schools in our region. Please contact us for more information.