By Jessica Harris

On the eastern shore of Lake Lagarflot, near the town of Egilsstaðir, Iceland lies an historic farm named Vallanes.  Thirty years ago, Vallanes was a very quiet place and had been so for at least twenty years prior.  There sat a quaint church, an old priest’s house and a couple of trees in the cemetery.  There was no water, and no electricity.  Sitting on 350 hectares of virgin plain, the farm had never been cultivated and the only action it had seen in recent memory was revealed by the crumbling old cow house.  It was as if the farm was resting, waiting. 

It is people who bring a landscape to life and in 1977,  Eymundur Magnússon came to Egilsstadir with his wife and family, and a dream.  For two years he searched for the right farm.  After two years of searching, Magnússon says it was if the right farm found him.  

As a young boy,  he spent a lot of time at his grandparent’s dairy farm and knew, by the age of six, that he would be a dairy farmer.  As a young man, he went to Norway, Denmark and England to work on the dairy farms there.  Two things stuck with him from his experiences abroad: the forests, which were virtually absent in Iceland at that time; and that the farmers would feed the whey from the milk to the calves - something Icelandic farmers did not do.

This year, 2009 marks the 30 year anniversary for the present farm at Vallanes, under the stewardship of farmer Magnússon.  The farm is also known as Móður Jörð, or Mother Earth. 

What began as a conventional dairy farm, has transformed into an organic vegetable and grain farm; a forest of over one million planted trees with products ranging from energy, medicine and food; and a manufacturing base for after-market products based on products of the land. Their premier products are fresh vegetables and herbs, whole barley flour and barley grain, vegetarian bean and barley burgers, massage oils made from the wild plants, and mushrooms from the forests.  At present there are more organic products being developed, such as barley milk, a similar concept to soy milk and rice milk for dairy sensitive people.

Mother Earth is devoted to the organic way of life.  Magnússon was the first farmer to grow and market barley for human consumption in Iceland, and continues to be the only organic producer of barley for humans.  It is an interesting bit of history that puts such a delicious grain into the category of animal fodder for an entire nation, but at the turn of the last century it was associated as a cheap survival food shipped to nations in poverty.

From the perspective of national food security, barley should be considered a very important food source because it grows very well in Iceland, is highly nutritious and affordable.  It is a delicious and versatile grain.  It can be used many ways such as in breads, soups, breakfast porridge and salads. 

Magnusson has seen this all along and continues to bring barley into the awareness of the people and to the supermarkets of Iceland.  For fifteen years now, he spends the wintertime in Reykjavik giving samples in the stores, and feeding people the products and homemade recipes from his organic barley. 

Working a farm requires a lot of labor and many hands are needed to make a family farm successful.  For the past eight years, Magnússon has been hosting volunteers through an International organization known as  WWOOF - World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, and more recently through the Icelandic non-profit,  SEEDS - SEE beyonD borderS.  

The WWOOF organization hosts a directory of organic farmers worldwide, and people who are traveling with the interest of volunteering or learning about organic farming can contact the farms and request a stay in exchange for their help on the farm.  Volunteers are affectionately called ‘wwoofers’.  This added volunteer work force has enabled him to grow his farm’s capacity and diversity.

This year he was able to add separate quarters to the farm and hire Lilja, the lady of hearth and home, who welcomes and feeds the volunteers as well as a bevy of others who come to the farm such as journalists, photographers, filmmakers, and food enthusiasts.  Undoubtably, something special is going on here that those with their eyes on a viable future for humankind are interested in.

One can easily imagine the challenges inherent with keeping each and every busy work day flowing while hosting so many strangers of all ages, who are coming and going for different lengths of time, and with all levels of experience from none to lots.  Yet from the moment a person arrives, they are welcomed, fed and treated like a friend.  After you drop your bags off and have a bite, you’re given something to do.  There are plenty of smiling faces all around and Magnússon’s humor and clear direction will put one at ease right away.  The workday doesn’t skip a beat.

One of the ways the holistic nature of the farm is apparent is in how he keeps all aspects of farm, family and work integrated over meals.  Like a giant family, eating and working together create strong bonds and resilience.  Work happens six days a week, and each morning Magnússon himself feeds everyone Gabriel’s Breakfast, a barley porridge with fruit and spices, and freshly baked barley bread.  At times there are more than twenty people at a meal. 

His gratitude for helping hands is generously reciprocated.  The living quarters are clean and the kitchen a hub of happy people.  The food is always hearty, delicious and organic: fresh homemade breads and hearty soups, barley breakfast, fresh veg from the farm, and dinner delights from Lilja’s culinary imagination.  The farm work is steady and respectful; and the Icelandic tradition of mid-morning and mid-afternoon coffee/tea are strictly adhered to!  After the workday is done, he often leads hour-long sessions of Kripalu yoga for everyone to relax and rejuvenate. There’s comfort in the rhythms at the farm and Magnússon is steady and holds it all together no matter what mother nature or other humans might be up to.

All in all however, farming still provides farmers with plenty of challenges and Magnússon states, “that’s one of the most interesting things in farming, you can be trying new things, and even if it doesn’t work out you have to try it.  I guess it would be boring if everything was perfect and just worked out.  I like the challenges“. 

New things are in the works.  Someday, there will be more ways for people to be at the farm as a health center and spa are in the planning.  It is something special to experience the way this farm is developing around the forest, with the added shelter and micro-climates, the wood energy available to heat the greenhouses, and the wild foods such as the mushrooms and berries. 

Some of the things happening at Vallanes may be unusual for Iceland, but Magnússon is part of a growing movement of farmers worldwide who are being inspired in similar ways to ensure that their family farms flourish.  There is no one recipe for success but, organic, quality and farmer-consumer connection are some of the common themes in a changing world.

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This article was originally published in the 2009 autumn issue of Iceland Review – IR 47.03. Four times a year the print edition of Iceland Review brings you a wealth of articles on all aspects of life in Iceland including Páll Stefánsson's latest images of the country's majestic landscape. Click here to subscribe and here to browse through a selection of pages from the current issue. Photos by Aslaug Snorradottir.

Jessica Mycelia is a gardener and fiber artist with a passion for Permaculture and lives in Southern Oregon. Jessica designs and installs food systems into landscapes, and creates practical and beautiful pieces of art from found objects in nature and recycled materials. As a parent, she spends a lot of time in the surrounding nature with kids and facilitates occasional permaculture workshops for kids.  She recently spent the summer in Iceland visiting family and checking out the permaculture scene there.

Visit www.restorationfarm.org about permaculture education in Ashland, Oregon including the Permaculture Design Course, June 13-26 at Restoration Farm.