On Thursday, April 18th, at the RCAFA, Women Empowered of Cornwall & Area had an exceptional guest speaker come and talk to the group. A guest speaker who also made them soil their undies.

Alan Kruszel and his family operate a small 1st generation cash crop farm as well as a crop consulting business in Newington. They grow primarily corn, soybeans and cereals as well as many types of cover crops using no-till practices. The farm philosophy is to keep something living on the land at all times of the year.

Alan is also the Past Chair of the Soil Conservation Council of Canada and came to WE to launch the “soil your undies” experiment as a way to kick off of the national soil conservation week, which happens next week. This exercise was started years ago in the United States. It was initially called the “cotton test” and was a way to check the activity of healthy soil. But some folks in Ontario thought of making it more viral–no pun intended– by using underwear and giving it a catchy name. “The soil your undies experiment works like this: you basically bury a pair of white cotton underwear in the soil and dig it out two months later,” said Kruszel. “If they come out looking like a g-string, that’s fantastic, lots of biological activity. If they come out looking like you could wear them, not so good. Your soil is definitely missing something.”

People can go and have a look at the area of burial all summer long at the RCAFA. A big sign marks the spot and explains the experiment. But WE asks people NOT to touch the underwear! WE will be unveiling the undies in July and again in September, showing the results.

“If you can, follow the hashtag #soilyourundies on Twitter. It’s a blast to see,” ended Kruszel. To learn more, visit the National Soil Conservation website at https://soilcc.ca/programs/soil-your-undies/

Women Empowered of Cornwall and Area is a Non-Profit organization that offers monthly meetings and a safe environment where women from all walks of life can come and be themselves. Visit http://wecornwallarea.ca for info and to become a member. Membership is free.