Not to worry. This is not nearly as shocking as the ice bucket challenge despite its name.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I just love listening to National Public Radio. I heard a story recently entitled, “How Healthy Is The Soil On Your Farm? ‘Soil Your Undies’ To Find Out.” It’s a three minute listen, and it’ll make you smile.
What you do is get some cotton underwear, dig a hole about the depth of your fingers, lay the underwear flat and cover it up. Go back in 8 weeks and dig it up. If you have healthy soil, you should only find the elastic band and the stitching. The fungi and bacteria should have broken down the cotton to its basic sugars, and eaten it.
This challenge is a great way to teach people about the importance of topsoil, the dangers of erosion, and the fact that topsoil is essential to grow food. It also teaches you that there is a biological process to soil. There’s a lot of life there. It’s all around us and yet we cover it up with concrete or douse it in poison. Something’s got to give.
I think this challenge would make a great science project. If I decide to take it on, I’ll try to remember to post before and after pictures here!
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The View from a Drawbridge 