Iceland review - 2013, Síða 41

ICELAND REVIEW 39
tures from the frosty morning air outside,
all this greenery amidst the snow—rows
upon rows of cucumber plants are sus-
pended from the ceiling—seems unreal.
At Gufuhlíð, every day is cucumber sea-
son, because, as with most other green-
houses in Iceland, electric lighting makes
sure they grow year-round, even in the
darkest hours of winter, casting an alien
orange glow in the snowy landscape.
In Iceland, greenhouse farming is a
family affair. At neighboring flower farm
Espiflöt, Axel Sæland is preparing to take
over the business, which his grandfather
started, from his parents. Espiflöt produc-
es a range of flowers, including gerberas,
lilies and roses, and also sells ready-made
bouquets. The Icelandic market is domi-
nated by locally-produced flowers.
Nearby tomato farm Friðheimar, among
the largest in Iceland, is run by cou-
ple Knútur Rafn Ármann and Helena
Hermundardóttir with their five kids
taking active part in farm work. Moving
from the city, they bought the abandoned
farm in 1995 and restored the onsite
greenhouses, the oldest of which was
built in 1946. “We needed a place that
could combine our interests, horticulture
and horse breeding, a place where a cou-
ple of 25-year-olds could settle down,”
explains Knútur. They started dating in