(Post 4 of 5) Lauga hooks the milking machine overhead and gets to work. While she milks and feeds the cows, she is also checking on the new calves and the pregnant mothers. She shows me where to place my hand, near the base of the cow’s tail, in order to assess when labour will…
farming
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(Post 5 of 5) You can’t mistake love when you see it. Guðlaug Sigurðardöttir and Jóhannes Eyberg Ragnarsson, Hraun-Háls, West Iceland. Thank you. Photo Eric Guth.
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Stóri Kambur Farm, Snæsfellsnes Peninsula, Iceland
(Post 1 of 4) “When we walked into this house and looked at the view, we had already decided.” That was ten years ago when Eyguló and her husband moved to Stóri Kambur farm. Eyguló is a cousin to Olga, who sent us here from the sheep round up a couple of days ago. This…
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(Post 2 of 4) The wind is strong here, but so is the community. It has been a good place to raise four children, despite the isolation (you need a car for everything). And: “It’s nice to be close by where we were born and bred.” I feel very relaxed in this house, and our…
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(Post 3 of 4) Leifur is the youngest entrepreneur on Stóri Kambur farm. He is seven years old. His grandfather gave him the first two chickens, then he sold cookies to tourists last summer to raise money for the rest. Now, he sells the eggs. They cost 500 kroner (or “one red note”) per dozen….
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(Post 4 of 4) It’s time to hit the road, and we’ve got breakfast for the next couple of days. Thank you, Leifur, for these beautiful eggs. 450 kroner well spent. We are bound for the north side of this peninsula to meet Eyguló’s sister-in-law on a dairy farm. Follow us . . . the…
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A night at the farm, Minni-Mástanga, Iceland
(Post 1 of 5) This is the Minni-Mástunga family farm, an hour and a half inland from Reykjavik. It’s the day of the annual sheep roundup which one son, Gummí, says is like a second Christmas. We have spent the day with the sheep, and now it’s time for supper. The farm’s matriarch, Olga Andreasen,…
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(Post 2 of 5) It’s not quite supper time in Olga’s kitchen, but it’s time for cake. When Eric and I arrive, she pulls out three different homemade desserts, plus cheese, butter and hot cocoa. All six of Olga’s children are home for the sheep round up, along with some of her grandchildren. The lamb…
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(Post 3 of 5) “When I will die, I want to be cremated and to have my ashes spread here.” Guðbjörg Finnbogadóttir has brought us to the canyon on her farm. We never expected something so beautiful. “Growing up in this place, a belief in elves and trolls was really great.” As a girl, Guðbjörg…
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(Post 4 of 5) “My grandmother’s best friend was a hidden person. There are hidden people; I believe in it. I grew up with it, and my favourite stories are stories about this.” Before dinner at the farm, Olga Andreasen continues our education about the spiritual life of Icelanders. Hidden people are much like us,…
