Lifestyle DIY Soil Sample Kit

Product Overview

Your life sustaining block:
The lifestyle block is as important as a big farm for it has the ability to provide nutrition to many animals and people, as well as the joy of producing your own food. These days as people are turning to providing for themselves, family and friends and it makes sense to promote the best and fastest growth possible that is healthy, nutritious and fit for purpose to sustain life.

Your Soil Sample Kit:
The DIY soil sample kit provides all the tools and instructions and protocols you need to correctly sample your farmlet. We provide you with the soil testing probe and guidelines to accuately take the samples, how to package them up and send them back to the office.

Once your samples get to the office they are prepared for a trip to Ohio, USA where Brookside Laboratories test them to the unique specifications required by Ecofarm Aotearoa. (The same tests that are required for farms too).

It takes about 14-20 days to get the results back (depending on shipping).

Your Soil Sample Results:
The results are then analysed and recommendations are made to create a customised blend for your lifestyle/life sustaining block.

When we know the starting base material of your soil we can identify:

• The existing nutrient status of your soil and pasture.
• Any excesses, deficiencies or imbalances.
• The biological activity that may or may not be present already.

Directions for use

Supplied in your Soil Sampling Pack

1. A 150mm soil probe
2. Brookside Laboratories brown paper soil sample bags
3. Rubber band
4. Plastic Bag for completed Brookside submission form
5. The return to Ecofarm Aotearoa office Courier label [supplied]

You will need a clean bucket. Wash with water only.

Keep the original box this all came in – you will need it to return the probe and samples.

Collecting Soil Samples
Collect 2 or 3 x 150mm deep core samples from each paddock, avoiding the areas indicated in the diagram. You will need at least 10 samples over the whole testing area. Place the cores in the bucket as they are collected. Remove any excess vegetation and foreign bodies. Thoroughly mix all cores together and place about 300 grams (¾ full) into the Brookside sample bag. Fold the top over and seal closed, using the rubber band. Fill out the form and place in plastic bag. Seal.

Sending the sample to Ecofarm Aotearoa

1. Reusing the original box, wash the probe and place it in the box with the sealed and labelled Brookside Laboratories bag with your samples in it, the completed Soil Analysis Request Form & the instruction card. Seal the box.
2. Remove the original address label from the outside of the courier box.
3. Place the supplied courier label on the box (for returning to Ecofarm Aotearoa 1 Railway St Paeroa 3600). There must be NO confusion as to where this is being posted to, hence the removal of the original posting label.
4. Post from any post shop.
5. Email the office (office@efa.nz) advising us of the date that you have sent the samples.

Technical Notes

1. If a core of soil gets stuck in the probe use a stick [nothing metal] to poke it out.
2. We measure trace elements in Parts Per Million (PPM), so beware of contamination!
3. Do not collect samples when soil conditions are extremely wet or extremely dry.
4. Avoid urine or manure patches.

Soil test results generally arrive back at the office 14- 20 days after the samples are dispatched from Paeroa to America. Brookside Laboratories are based in New Bremen, Ohio, USA.

We will contact you with the sample results and suggest a way forward so that your land becomes more productive, a home for healthy animals and a source of healthy produce.

Thanks for working with us!
The Team at Ecofarm

Interpreting Results

But a word of ‘warning’! The results that are emailed to you may not make sense to you. There is no graph to show whether the soils are average, above or below. This is because there is no ‘average’ to compare with.

We will need to talk you through the results so that you fully understand the limitations and benefits of your land.

The quality of your soil depends on so many factors. The results may show that you have loads of nutrient (and that is usually the case) but we must always ask ‘why is that nutrient not available?’. It’s like a box of tissues – you have 99 tissues sitting in the box just waiting to be released but only 1 tissue is available at a time. We therefore have to look at the factors that keep the nutrient locked up. As biological activity increases, nutrient availability usually increases which will quite often create a cascade of events in the soil nutrient cycle.

This information has helped many lifestylers and farmers get a head start in remedying their soils thus growing resilient pastures and plants which in turn grow disease resistant animals and plant produce. Watch the vet bills reduce to zero. Notice the animals and plants thrive.

As you start the process of improving the soil quality and biology we suggest that you supplement your animals with Vitus Animal Lick. As the soil improves, their consumption of Vitus reduces as they ‘self medicate’ and you get to a point where they don’t need it at all – the soil provides everything to the plant and they get the nutrient they need from that.

An Ecofarmer’s Discovery is a book written by Ewan Campbell and it describes and explains the science and observations behind his blends that include Probitas and locally resourced materials, blended to a prescription that fits your lifestyle block. You may like to order this with your Kit.

Order your Ecofarm Aotearoa Lifestyle DIY Sample Kit today so you can get started in the process to grow faster and more nutritiously dense produce.

Please note:

* The DIY test is for ONE set of tests. If you wish to have separate tests done for different areas, there will be further costs incurred.

* There will be spare bags in the kit for either different samples or if a disaster strikes with one of the bags.

* Please be VERY clear with the information you return to the office.
* If you want herbage tests done, these are picked up through your rural supplies. They go to Hills Laboratories but you must specify on the form (included with the test), that you want Molybdenum, Cobalt, Selenium, Iodine and (Other) Nickel tested for. You can sent the results to us as they help to refine your blend supplied. The cost is paid to Hills Laboratories.

The Science

Physics:
Probitas soil conditioner is incorporated into our custom blends to facilitate the revival of the soil’s natural electrical and magnetic production. This is important because, in a lot of cases, natural soil energy is inefficient due to past farming practices that have damaged silica’s ability to hold and amplify energy.

Chemistry:
Our custom blends contain calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, silica, and sulphate sulphur. All are vital for effective photosynthesis to provide the energy that soil biology requires to recycle nutrients and create soil organic carbon. Trace minerals are included where necessary.

Biology:
Our inoculum product includes cyanobacteria, nature’s most effective nitrogen sequester and absorber of carbon; Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza (VAM), a regulator of soil water and the provider of the components for solubilising soil minerals and transporting those minerals to the plant as well as other digesting and detoxifying fungal species.

Customised Mineral and Conditioning Fertiliser Blends
Our fertiliser blends are unique to your soil test results. Our code-cracking analysis will diagnose what the limiting factors are in your soil that will elevate your farming and growing experience. Your unique Ecofarm fertiliser blend is customised to address deficiencies and/or excesses that are reported in your soil test and pasture test results.

This is where the magic of your management and our analysis and insights meet to correct the biological function and energy systems of your farming operation. Unlocking your soil’s potential enabling you to achieve faster, smarter, healthier production AND make a significant impact on your bottom line!