The CERES aesthetic is best described as reused or reinvented, but much of the CERES sensibility also stems from necessity.

There is an abundance of uncut bluestone boulders, from the site’s early days as a quarry and loads of building materials either donated or reclaimed from projects on s ite. In the right hands, almost everything has been transformed into an object of beauty and interest.

For site gardener and general inventor Tarron Stanley, limited materials are the key to the CERES’ aesthetic. Tarron made the dipping bluestone speed hump that also acts as drainage for water coming down from the energy park. He also made the reception desk in the Visitors Centre from recycled wood. Off-cuts from a timber mill provided the materials for fencing built on sharp angles and in waves for the market gardens and cultural villages. That’s what you get with a team of sculptors and carpenters moonlighting as an outdoor maintenance team.

In winter, textile artist and long-serving CERES volunteer John Corbett turns the limber fruit tree prunings into woven fencing and hangings. You can see John’s work on display at the nursery. John is also responsible for rearranging rocks in the energy park into Andy Goldsworthy-inspired patterns around the base of the gums.

The magnificent Mosaic gates at the entrance of the park were created by Gordon Mandlich and Paul Jesse. Mosaic is widely used at CERES in plaques and tables at the Café and the village green. Lounging around the pond is a lizard made from recycled tyres and wood, while a corrugated iron fish looks benignly over the ‘pobblebonk’ frogs in summer.

Mr and Mrs Cactus - two towering wooden figures guarding the entrance to the bike shed- made by Glenn Baulch, remain a favourite of children. A baby member of the cactus clan appeared sometime last year.