Iceland in Pictures

You’ll often see a small house up in the hill above Icelandic farms. These are old home made hydroelectric power plants. Most farms in Iceland are just below a mountain and early in the last century, many farmers harnessed the power in the streams above their farms. This was usually the first time the farms were connected to electricity, so the change was great. Later once powerlines connected most areas with cheap electricity from the large public hydroelectrics, most of these small private ones fell into disrepair. Some are still running and some farmers have large enough generators to sell electricity back into the public grid.

Photo by Adam Witten at the Tiny House Blog.

(Source: emilialua1)

This swing set is right by the old farm next to the famous Seljalandsfoss waterfall. Although Seljalandsfoss is today one of Iceland’s most popular tourist destinations, it is not that long since the area around it was just a farm field. The farmer would drive around it in his tractor perhaps taking a glimpse towards the waterfall every once in a while. I’m pretty sure the swing set is older than tourism at Seljalandsfoss. I actually do have one picture of the waterfall (in pink…) from before many visited it.

See more of Joseph’s interesting pictures of Iceland on his flickr.

corals:

Iceland 01: Slide & Swing Set (by josephx)

Naked farmers head for town

I reported a while back about a group of farmers in northern Iceland which set up an Icelandic version of the Full Monty. Now after 40 performances in Hörgárdalur valley, the gang is headed for fame and riches in Reykjavík, the big city.

The performance revolves around a fight between the farmers and a bank, essentially portraying the reality of their lives. The characters in the play decide to pay off their debt by stripping, perhaps not all to different from the actors themselves.

Even though there isn’t much left of 2011, they’ll be bringing with them what’s left of their nude calender if anybody is interested.

This farm’s name is Hólmur. It is in South Iceland just outside the town of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. It may seem deserted but the old man, Sverrir Valdimarsson that you can see in the middle of the picture if you look closely still lives there. Hólmur used to be a school of handcraft and was run by Sverrir’s father. It was the first farm in Iceland to be powered by electricity. It is still powered by the same little home hydroelectric station.

(Source: 11lightbulbs)

ilikechameleons:

North-east Iceland, 1979.

(Source: skinks)

This is a farm by highway number 1 in South Iceland at the foot of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

It is no longer run as a farm, but instead used as a summer house by the descendants. The trees above the farm are to stop rocks that tend to fall down from the cliffs above.

(Source: love-ballad)

One of my favorite pastimes when travelling around Iceland is visiting abandoned farms. There are abandoned farms in every inhabited region of Iceland, although the more remote places such as the Vestfirðir in the North West and the North East corner of Iceland are most abundant in abandonment.

This is not the USA so don’t be afraid you might meet an old stubborn farmer with a shotgun enforcing his no trespassing rights. If you are sure it is abandoned you can go have a peak. Just be careful to leave it exactly as it was. Close all gates and doors you open and make sure you do it well. Nobody is taking care of the farm so be careful where you step. If the floor or staircase is rotten don’t step on it you might end up discovering the basement. Even though nobody seems to care for the farm descendants might visit it and consider it somewhat a family memorial so be respectful and never take anything with you no matter how insignificant it seems.

Have fun and be careful. These farms are a photographers dream.

(Source: Godspent.deviantart.com, via cupcakesandcoffeestains)

Yes we have cows in Iceland. Skarphéðinn Þráinsson met this cow in a field in Húnaflói, Iceland. Check out more great pictures on his flickr. 

Iceland has farms all around the country and often they are a great place to stay at when you are travelling. In nearly every fjord or farming community there is at least one farm that will offer you a place to stay. Icelandic Farm Holidays is an association of these farms.