Bioflix competition - give it a go!

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Have you seen the Slopes to Summit (S2S) film competition? It's about amateurs creating short films (less than eight minutes) on biodiversity within the project area. That's Mount Kosciuszko to Corowa along the Murray and north taking in the towns of Culcairn, Holbrook, and Tumbarumba. Woo hoo - Albury's in that mix! They suggest films might depict a particular native animal or plant, a special natural place, or what you or someone you know is doing to conserve local biodiversity.

They're offering $5,000 in prizes across four categories: Open (amateur), Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, and Tertiary (Uni/tafe). Entries close 5pm, Friday 31st of May - which means there's still about five weeks to get something together.

I'm excited as it gives me an excuse to spend some time putting together some photos and thoughts that I'd like to share. And with the best entries being screened at Albury cinema in June, I'm even more thrilled to think about the great films we're bound to see. Whispers from others working on their entries suggest there'll be tales of regeneration, favourite critters, folks doing awesome work and more. Afterwards the organisers plan to share the collection of local films online too. 

You don't even need lots of film-making experience. I'm using mainly still photos and maybe a little bit of video (pushing my skills there!), some sound and the help of some software to create my 'film'.

If you need some inspiration, or aren't likely to enter but wonder what all the fuss is about, take a squiz at the links provided by way of background for the competition ... lots of ideas and inspiring tales, plus some tips on making a short film.

All the official stuff and more info about the competition is at: http://www.greateasternranges.org.au/s2s-bioflix-2013. Note that entries need to be shot in, or depict the biodiversity of, the project area.

I'm going to give it a whirl and I think you should too!

When the heat is on: chooks & worms

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Our house doesn't have evaporative cooling, but our chooks and worms do!

The problem with hot, dry heat like we experienced over summer is that even in the shade (or the chook shed) it was very hot. Up to a point, chickens are quite capable of coping with heat. Their feathers not only insulate them from cold, but also protect them in hot weather. They don't sweat, instead they pant in response to hot temperatures. They struggle when the mercury climbs into the mid-30's and beyond.

To assist, we not only wet down the dirt where they were hanging out and kept up lots of water for drinking, but we provided them with their own evaporative cooling system. It's not nearly as flash as it might at first sound.

Some removalists' felt was draped over structures that the 'girls' could hang out under. We wet it down periodically and the temperature under there was four to ten degrees cooler than nearby in the shade. Not bad! We would re-water it several times a day on hot days. Suggestions online are to use frozen water containers to more slowly release moisture to do the same job, if you're not at home throughout the day. Note that this approach isn't suited to humid conditions, but it worked a treat in our dry heat.

Photo: Felt draped over the fox-proof tunnel that links the chook shed and the mini-orchard. A subsequent structure was more of an 'A' frame from mesh, to allow cooling on three sides. 

Photo: Looking into the 'tunnel' with felt covering toward the back. This chook wanted to find out why I was taking pictures, while the other two are sipping water as it drips from the wetted felt.

We also made frozen 'pecker blocks' and even fed them cooled food (think grated carrot, zucchini, lettuce, cucumber, etc) to help reduce their body temperature and keep them hydrated. I know others who hose their chickens down with water, but ours really don't seem to like that. If we do wet them, it's by giving them a cool (but not too cold) bath in the outdoor sink. The girls also seek out cooler soil to dust bathe in, and even dig themselves holes to sit in.

Photo: digging in to create cooler spots to sit.

In the week we hit 43 degrees (according to the BOM), I moved the girls into the bottom of the shed for a few hours in the afternoons. The relative oasis of 23 degrees in there gave them a break from the heat (and we considered joining them, as the temperature in the house was nearly 10 degrees warmer than that, at times in that same week). Side note: I don't think Build-It Bloke was convinced that 'chook respite centre' was consistent with the functions of his 'man-cave'. But then consoling me, had we lost chooks to heat-stroke, probably wasn't a particularly appealing proposition either.

Incidentally, we used similar techniques for our out-of-ground worm farms as for the chooks. We gave them cool food and water, and wet down felt that was draped over their homes, which in turn were located in the shadiest spot we could find for them. 

We heard some sad tales of chooks and worms that did succumb to the heat this summer. Have you got other suggestions for helping them to cope when the heat is on?

Note: this post is part two of a little series, if you missed the first one, head here to read it. Next up, honeybees in the heat.

The angry summer

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You might have seen media coverage this week of the Climate Commission's report The Angry Summer, which details 123 weather-related records broken across Australia over summer and the role climate change played in this extreme weather. It's pretty full-on.

Image source: http://climatecommission.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/The-Angry-Summer-Map.jpg

Our local climate action group, WATCH (Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health), had a local angle on the effects of the hot, dry summer in a media release last week. WATCH are compiling a database of local impacts - refer to the previous link for more details. The Border Mail ran a story and video, featuring Rob Fenton of the National Environment Centre's organic farm, discussing some of those local impacts. 

Image source: http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/1332487/video-these-pigs-were-bakin/ 

Meanwhile, in an informative Living Lightly article recently, Michelle Wilkinson discussed strategies for effective energy use at home in summer.

I thought I'd note a few of the things we did in our backyard in response to the heat. Some were tried and tested from previous hot, dry spells; others were new. I'll look at chooks, worms, honeybees, plants and other visitors in coming posts.