Ceres Community Environmental Park

As it was downshift Wednesday, Kim and I took Ben on a home school excursion to Ceres Community Environmental Park.  We had a great outing, picked up some organic fruit,  some seeds and plants for the garden and checked out all the fantastic eco stuff.

Let me take you on a little photo expose courtesy of Ben himself.  He was the designated photographer for the day, and he has a great eye for detail!

Then there were lots of chickens that looked like they were very happy.

The organic shop was so full that we couldn’t get in the door, so we had to skip it.

There were a few craft stalls selling clothes and things.

There was a bakery, that was not in use on the day.  The oven was massive, and just a little bit larger than my one!  I was impressed.

This is the renewable energy education classroom.  There was a high school class in the room at the time.

We then headed towards the market garden and on towards the cafe for a organic coffee.

Along side a neglected area, but it was home to quite a few more chooks.

There was even some chook art!

And a shade house for seedlings.

We came to the cafe,

round the corner,

past a very old workshop covered in a grape vine and lots of very old solar panels,

on to the cafe for a muffin and a coffee.  We talked and ate, and noticed that all the local mums used the cafe as a meeting place, as there were so many enjoying the surroundings with their little toddlers and babies.

There was lots of art work dotted around the park.  This mosaic piece caught our eye,

as did this beautiful sacred kingfisher.

After morning tea we stopped past the bicycle repair area, where there were lots of spare parts.  I believe that this is open on weekends for anyone who wants to fix their bike.

Then there was a lovely gravel path meandering towards the community gardens.

This sign told us all about storm water and what gets washed into the sewers and local waterways.

There were maps of the park at most locations so that you did not get lost.

This grand old fellow must protect all of the trees in the park.  He does a great job.

This is one of the community gardens.  It had tomatoes, pumpkins, and a very large grafted eggplant.  It was at least 5 foot tall and very healthy.

Kim fancied this old wrought iron gate for our yard, but it was just too heavy to carry in my backpack! 😉

This billabong had lots of creatures swimming around and very healthy plant life.

We approached the energy park.  There are large mounts that hold many solar photovoltaic panels.

Here they are in more detail.

 Part of the energy park featured wind power, including a water wheel and an old school wind mill that was used to pump water from bores.

We moved on to the inverter room which had a display with gauges that I believe once worked.  It was broken which was a bit of a disappointment.  I would have loved to know what the output of the energy park was at the time.

Then on to the nursery.

There was just so many plants,

and fertilizer and wind chimes.

The wheeley bins were converted into basic water barrels.

 These chairs were made entirely from old tires.  Ben said that they were very comfortable and bouncy.

It is a beautiful nursery.  So many things to look at.

Of course everything is for sale, and the plants were quite reasonably priced.

I spied these massive specimens, which look quite like a zucchini and I have seen these on other gardening blogs.  What are they?

The final picture is of a wise old owl that was protecting all of the plants from the mice.  It must have worked because I didn’t see any sign of mice anywhere!

We had a great day out, and if you in the city of Melbourne, or more specifically Brunswick East, then pay it a visit.  It is free and open every day.  Here is a link to their website.  It was just like visiting a great big version of my place!