I've heard it said this summer that 40 degrees Celsius is the new 37 degrees C and this season is living proof that's the case. We seem to be having heat wave after heat wave and each time the temperature races up over 40 degrees. Just this week Adelaide broke a 117 year record of the number of days over 40 degrees. Living in the hills the temperatures aren't quite so bad but since we first moved up here the nights were regularly cool but that's changed over the years. Now the airconditioner runs 24 hours straight until the weather cools. We provide water for our stock and the local wildlife. How the sheep cope is to fill up with water from the troughs early in the morning, then briefly graze and then retire under the shade of the gums. Due to the heat the gums are shedding their bark in great quantites.
It's been a battle to protect our vegetables. We have shade cloth over the plants and a new dripper system for watering. As for our fruit trees we tried to protect them from the parrots having not bothered in the past. We covered the trees with birdnetting on a support made from polypipe and star droppers, then watched the fruit start to grow. However we also found parrots caught in the netting some dead, others alive, which we then had to cut free. This was a difficult process with the birds struggling and trying to bight us.
After one too many deaths we gave up and removed the net and let the fruit fall
So the heat waves keep coming and we've started hand feeding the sheep. The latest forecast is for cooler temperatures and even some rain, we'll wait and see.
