Fun at CERES Community Environment Park

Well, what a great day out we had on Saturday!  Only a few members came along, but we had a great time at CERES this weekend.

There was Gavin, Michael, David, Kim and Ben and Liam.  Kim was taking the photos.  We spent about 3 hours walking around the Community Environment Park, and it was great fun.  Here are a few photos of our visit.

Renewable energy galore!

Now that is what I call a bakery.  Ben sampled a croissant and said it was yummy!

This is where the Cafe gets most of its food from.

Fresh organic fruit.  The labels even had the food miles listed on them.

Organic Free Range chickens of the ISA Brown variety.  They had so much land to run around in.  About 2 acres I reckon.

The cob oven was pretty cool.  It even had its own herbs growing on top of it.

  With wonderful mosaics.  Kim wanted to give it a go.  There were mosaics all over the park and it added a lot of colour to a winters day.

Michael and Gavin checking out the greywater pond after it had been filtered by reed beds.  The water was used to irrigate the Village Green.

The propagating tables were to die for.  Such a large area to grow seedlings in and so well organised.

And of course what would an Environment Park be without a Yurt.  It looked very cozy.

The mud brick house was well constructed, however it was put together using concrete mortar which kind of defeated the purpose.

There were so many community garden plots that we lost count.  Mind you, we looked at every single one to check out what was growing and if our veggie patches were on par!

We learnt that you can grow garlic in any sized spot.

Early broccoli under netting so the cabbage moths don’t get to them.  Beautifully grown, and pest free.

Some exquisite photography by Kim in the other grey water pond.  The Egret looked very much at home.  I love the reflection in the water.

The Sustainable House with Zero Emissions Vehicle (Electric Car) in the driveway.  This retrofitted house was state of the art about 10 years ago when it was first fitted out.

The waterwheel had a 200 litre header tank that was filled by a massive windmill.   The water was acting like a big battery that made sure that the waterwheel kept the generator supplying electricity.  I think that I could rig up something around the pool to generate base load for the house at night.

There is a massive solar PV farm.  Unfortunately the meters that tell you exactly how much energy they are generating were broken.  Such a shame as I would have loved to know whether CERES was a net exporter.

This small wind turbine was spinning so fast, but difficult to see.  It was so quite as well.  Perfect for a residential area.  I believe that it was producing about 400w.

And the recycling areas were very comprehensive.  Michael noted that one of the bins was a worm farm and you simply throw your organic waste straight to the worms!

And finally we ended up at the nursery in which all the plants were edible.  There was not one ornamental in sight.

Well that is the end of the tour.  For those who missed it, I encourage you to take the time to visit this wonderful park. 

I felt like I was amongst likeminded people who really cared about the planet.

Gavin

President.