Iceland review - 2014, Qupperneq 46

44 ICELAND REVIEW
these ones are almost ready,” proclaims gerhard
Plaggensborg, pointing to a row of deep yellow gouda
cheese rounds in the cooling room at Skaftholt organic
farm. as he runs me through the three-month process, he drains
the next batch, removing the whey from the cheese milk. “For one
kilo of cheese, you need ten liters of milk,” he explains.
as the only organic iceland-made cheese on the market, it’s prov-
ing popular, manager guðfinnur Jakobsson says proudly when the
photographer and i pay the farm a visit in early august. the cheese
is only sold at a few locations and they don’t advertise. “good
products sell themselves,” he says. “making food with passion and
love makes even more of a difference than the ingredients.” the
farm, located in the countryside of inland South iceland 95 km
(60 miles) east of Reykjavík, sells up to 600 four-kilogram (8.8-lbs)
rounds annually. “We used to take the summer off, but now we
make cheese the whole year round. We sell about 70 percent of it,
and we need to have enough for ourselves,” gerhard adds.
While the farm sells most of its cheese, only some of the fresh
produce harvested ends up on the market, with the farm preferring
to keep most for its own use. “We’re good at eating our vegetables,
and we need to have enough for ourselves. it’s the same with the
herbs for making tea.”
sustainable Future
established in 1980, the 200-hectare (490-acre) farm is a home
and workplace adhering to the Rudolf Steiner philosophy, which
guðfinnur describes as having four main aspects: art, creation, the
environment and providing the disabled with the opportunity to
lead a normal life. the farm, guðfinnur says, allows people with
disabilities to live without the pressures or stresses that exist in the
rest of society. each disabled person is teamed up with an able-
bodied worker to complete tasks. eight people live full-time at
Skaftholt, while a total of 20 are employed at the farm.
With Steiner, known as the “father of biodynamic farming,”
strong emphasis is placed on environmental sustainability. the
farm is seen as an organism with animals, crops and soil treated as
In South Iceland lie two organic communities
focusing on the growth and development of man
and nature, teaching others that thriving
independently is possible. Iceland Review
visits Skaftholt and Sólheimar—both nominees
for the 2014 Nordic Council Nature and
Environment Prize—in late summer.