[PDF]Solheimer by Hildur

Photographs by Hildur Jackson



Hildur Jackson describes Solheimar, meaning 'home of the sun', one of
the oldest and most developed ecovillages in Iceland. Its main focus is the
integration of people with special needs into the wider community.



This story begins many years ago.
Sesselja H. Sigmundsdottir was
13 and lived on the Thingvellir
Plain where her father was the local
minister. Since 881, the Vikings have met
here and practised direct democracy
and conflict resolution. This is also the
place where the American and European
tectonic plates meet and actually drift
apart by about 2cm every year, creating
some very special effects, such as ther-
mal springs and rock formations.

Sesselja had just been confirmed by
the Christian church and sat staring
pensively at the high black rocks. Here
she saw the vision of how she would
spend her life, creating a place for
young children. This is a vision which
she has remained true to all her life and
which is now called Solheimar. It is a
home for people with special needs,
here called the 'home people'.



Solheimar was founded in 1930 by
Sesselja who studied the care of children
and the mentally challenged in Germany
and Switzerland. Sesselja was fascinated
by the vision and theories of Rudolf
Steiner, and based her work primarily
on his methodologies. She emphasised
organic horticulture, healthy food and
artistic expression in her work with
children with learning difficulties along-
side those without. Today, Solheimar
is a charming village of about 100 inhab-
itants, renowned for its international,
artistic and ecological atmosphere which
prides itself on its varied cultural,
social and sporting activities.

Solheimar, and indeed all of Iceland,
celebrated Sesselja's 100th birthday in
2002 with the issue of a postage stamp
printed with her picture.

Although enjoying a growing recog-
nition, Solheimar has also had its share



of hard times. In the beginning it was a
home for orphans and Sesselja wanted
to feed the children vegetables and fruit.
In the 1920s and 30s in Iceland the
local diet was potatoes, fish and lamb.
Eating fruit and vegetables was looked
upon with suspicion. Many people did
not want Sesselja to take care of the
orphans for that reason alone. Later
she took in children with special needs
and, as they in turn grew up, also adults
with learning difficulties. The public
then condemned her for mixing the
two groups (orphans and those that
were commonly termed 'retarded').

Today, Sesselja's house has for years
been home to the project's offices, but
you can still see two rooms with three
small beds in a row under the roof close
to where she used to sleep herself. The
whole house is now slowly being
turned into a museum.



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Left & Top: Iceland's rugged landscape.

Centre: Sesseljas's 100th birthday
celebration stamp.

Bottom: Five orphans on a horse.

Icelandic Wilderness
Iceland is a country with a harsh and
grandiose nature with much lava and
very few trees. The light changes
constantly and awesome views appear
continually. The early April snow has
not melted entirely, streams and rivers
are vigorously making their way to the
ocean, which is never far away. Rocky
and mossy covered mountain sides alter-
nate with plains covered with yellow
grass. Not one blade of green grass has
survived the winter. Waterfalls and geys-
ers add to the shifting scenery. Sturdy
Icelandic horses and sheep roam every-
where, birds feed and fly in flocks and
all contribute to a feeling of wilderness.

Arriving at Solheimar, my husband,
Ross, and I drive down a long road into
a sheltered valley with many big trees
and houses close together. The name
'Home of the Sun' seems well chosen.




Top: The education building.

Centre: Solheimar 's director Agnar
Gudlaugsson.

Bottom: Gulfoss waterfall.

We are directed to one of the two guest-
houses and given a small flat all to our-
selves on the other side of the valley.
Up to 30 guests can be housed.

The director of Solheimar, Agnar
Gudlaugsson, is leaving for a small
holiday today but takes his time to help
us get some food in their local store
filled with many of their own products
including handicrafts, foods and art.
Edda Bjorgvinsdottir, a well-known
actress in Iceland and summer resident
of Solheimar, has promised to take us
on a guided tour. But first she needs to
finish the instruction of a play with a
group of the 'home people'.

In the meantime, we get a key for
the outdoor swimming pool and relax
for an hour in the geothermally heated
hot water surrounded by leafless trees.
Several other visitors and some child-
ren share the experience. More people




Top: Sesselja's father's ministry.

Centre: The geothermally heated
outdoor swimming pool.

Bottom: Solheimar.



arrive, among others an athletic man
of 50 laughing heartily with a friend.
I recognise Reynir Petur from a book
I was given on a previous visit. The
book was about his two months walk
around Iceland to raise money for a
new theatre at Solheimar. We laugh
and talk and enjoy the swim. He tells
us about his new computer and DVD
and about his love of numbers. He has
been here since he was three years old.
That is 50 years ago. His partner is
sitting on a bench smiling.

Art St Ecology

Edda is a lively actress from Reykjavik,
who spends time here setting up
theatre shows and helping to promote
Solheimar to the public. Right behind
the guesthouse she takes us to the
education centre: Sesselja House, which
was inaugurated at Sesselja's 100th



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No. 44 Permaculture Magazine 27




birthday celebration in 2002. It is
covered with silvery driftwood, has a
sod roof and, being on the top of a hill,
it has a magnificent view The walls are
insulated with Icelandic lambswool,
and the roof is insulated using recycled
paper. Many ecological features make
the building itself an attraction.

£800,000 was raised, including help
from the state, to build the centre. It
has a big auditorium (for 100 people),
an exhibition area and several smaller
meeting facilities. All the furniture has
been designed locally and produced
with local wood (quite exceptional for
treeless Iceland). Edda proudly gives
us a small publication about Sesselja
produced for the opening and later
reprinted and distributed throughout
all of Iceland as an insert in one of the
major newspapers. On the walls hang
homemade musical instruments.

Behind the education centre Solheimar
has purchased 400 hectares (1,000 acres)
of land. Every year they plant more trees
here. Some of the trees grown in Olur
are planted under Iceland's south-west
forestry reforestation programme, in
which Solheimar takes an active part.
Yearly, some 17,500 trees are planted on
the Solheimar estate, and in addition,
many are planted around the village
itself. Around 450,000 trees of different
species are envisaged for the Solheimar
reforestation area.

Next to the centre, a new building
is growing out of the rock. From the
shape you recognize a church. The archi-
tect is Ami Fridriksson, who also designed



Sesselja House. The church seats 200.
There is an emphasis on good acoustics
because the church will also be used
for concerts. The walls are constructed
of concrete, but with a turf exterior,
and the roof will be made of driftwood.
It has not yet been finished.

Houses Of The 'Home People'
The home people either have their own
homes (if they are able to take care of
themselves) or share a house with
others and trained staff. The houses
are cheerful and brightly coloured.
When they work in protected jobs (like
in the greenhouse, dining hall, the
shop, cleaning or producing art) they
earn a wage and pay for rent, food and
goods like everyone else. Everybody
eats lunch together in the dining hall.

Work

Solheimar has many different work-
places where people with special needs
work alongside those without special
needs. This variety of opportunities for
work, particularly in creative employ-
ment, is unique in Iceland. Some of the
workplaces are run by Solheimar Day
Services, an independent company,
but there are four other independent
companies. Five international volunteers
from different countries assist in the
workplaces when needed.

There is an art workshop, ceramics
and weaving studios, soap and candle
factories, a carpentry workshop, an
organic tree nursery and reforestation
centre, organic horticulture and farming,



Left: The well landscaped church.

Centre: Sculpture.

Above: Home produced plants.




Left: Using the old greenhouse.
Centre: Watering lettuces.
Below: A productive polytunnel.




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Above: Greenhouse cafe.
Centre: Solheimar's geese.
Right: The theatre.




Above: Morning circle gathering.
Below: Ceramics workshop.
Centre: Candlemaking.
Right: Sesselja's room.



a hotel, cafe and restaurant, a general
store and crafts shop, a maintenance
department, plus cleaning, telephone
and postal services.

On our tour, Edda shows us the two
big buildings for workshops for the
'home people'. Seven workshops run by
Solheimar Day Services have a creative
focus. Solheimar is perhaps the only
place where people with special needs
can develop their art, working every
day under the instruction of accomp-
lished artists - and many residents have
developed their artistic talents to a
very high level. Their arts and crafts
products are sold in the local store.

A hexagonal hall with a stage was built
using Steiner-inspired architecture. Out-
side a sculpture garden illustrates the
emphasis put on art in this community.
This focus on art has also raised much
controversy... "Why do retarded people
have to have art around them?" ask some
outsiders. Edda explains how important
art is for our well-being. Hearing her,
we have no doubt it is true.

Greenhouses, Vegetables &c Trees
I ask to visit the new, big greenhouses for
which Edda, however does not have a key.
Luckily, we find Rosa working here on
Easter Friday. The plants do not take
breaks! They are tall and tomatoes and
cucumbers will soon be ready for harvest-
ing. Bumblebees take care of pollination.
Seaweed mixed with porous pieces of
lava help to fertilise and aerate the soil.
The hot springs are abundant so that
only the amount of sunlight limits the



growing season. They plan to buy lamps
when they can afford to and then they
will be able to produce year round.

Every day in the growing season they
take organic produce to Reykjavik, being
the only organic greenhouse growers on
Iceland. They also propagate plants and
trees in the nursery to be planted outside
later in the year. They have 40 varieties
of trees. I also sneak a look at their stables.
They have chickens, geese and cows
for meat, eggs and fertiliser. They supply
the whole of Solheimar with their own
eggs and also sell them in the store.

Energy Produced
In The Community
Solheimar has a hot spring that generates
near boiling water at prodigious rates -
55-70 litres (12-15 gallons) per second.
This is more than adequate to provide
central heating for all buildings, including
the greenhouses that grow vegetables
and nursery trees year-round, a warm
swimming pool with a hot tub, and hot
water for the community.

This innovative community has a five-
stage reuse of geothermal water before
final discharge. Water enters from a
nearby hot well at 83°C (180°F). Anew
well needed to be drilled after the earth-
quake in 2000 reduced the flow of the
original one. The heat is harnessed by
use of a bimetallic heat converter that
passes cold water over an opposing
microcircuit, generating an electrical
current based on the temperature
differential. The initial prototype is
small, but a next-stage 1 kW converter




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No. 44 Permaculture Magazine 29



will eventually supply much of the
power for interior lighting, airflow and
projection. Given Iceland's enormous
geothermal and snow resource, practical
devices that tap temperature differ-
ential offer a significant advance over
the steam turbine methods used widely
in Iceland.

Second stage water leaves the conver-
ter at 80°C (176°F) and is used for hot
water in the kitchen and bathrooms, or
alternatively run through the radiant
heating system. Third stage water is
captured in the grey water drains and
from radiator exhausts at 60°C (140°F)
and run through a heat exchanger for
convective airflow at the underground
point of entry for incoming air. Fourth
stage water at 35-40°C (95-104°F) is
sent under the outdoor paving (for
deicing) and then, stage five, flows by
gravity into the biological digesters and
constructed wetlands where it keeps
useful microflora active year-round.

The Funding Of Solheimar
What is the secret of Solheimar? Edda
explains that being a well-known actress
people listen to her. She can reach
people who might normally not care,



so now almost everybody on Iceland
knows about Solheimar.

The chairman of the board, Petur
Sveinbjarnason, also deserves great
credit. His vision and persistence has
been a vital contribution. He is a
businessman (in real estate) living in
Reykjavik. He knows people and can
cultivate funding sources, which
would be difficult for somebody living
at Solheimar.

Petur heads a rather hierarchical struc-
ture. The people living at Solheimar
do not even have a representative on
the board. For many ecovillagers this
is provocative but, like it or not, it often
takes a 'bulldozer' to get things done.
Several successful projects I know of
have had similar people with a lot of
focused male energy as initiators. The
development of the project often
depends on their capacity to materialize
a vision, attract the right people, raise
funds and step aside when that too is
needed. Peter Caddy at the Findhorn
Community had this role. Edda talks
very highly about Petur and feels
confident that in some years the
inhabitants will have representatives
on the board and Solheimar will have



a more democratic structure.

Can Solheimar be replicated? Is it a
model for others to imitate? There
seems to be a growing interest in
modernising social welfare. We cannot
just buy a good life for the handicapped,
the old and the infirm. We have to get
involved and take a direct responsi-
bility in creating communities.

Several Steiner Camphill projects in
Norway, Denmark and Sweden have
managed to develop working models
that are also ecologically sustainable.
In Hertha, Denmark they coined the
term 'social ecology' about this rever-
sed integration of people with special
needs. When you visit Solheimar, you
have problems distinguishing who is
'handicapped' and who isn't. If in
doubt, you will usually find it is the
most friendly and loving ones who
are the 'home people'

Contact

Solheimar Ecovillage

801 Self oss, Iceland

Tel: +354 480 4400

Fax: +354 480 4402

Email: solheimar@solheimar.is

Web: www.solheimar.is



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