House of Sun

 We ended the trip round the island with a night at Solheimar, or "house of sun". We were tipped off to this magical place by our good friends, who live in a very similar community in eastern Pennsylvania. 

Like our friend's community in PA, Solehimar is guided by the teachings of Rudolph Steiner (hence no ninety degree corners on the dresser below) while also embracing green living/self sufficiency as much as possible while living in community with mentally challenged adults, who actively participate in the various programs Solheimar offers).

They have the biggest greenhouse in Iceland, and they are already more than doubling it in size soon.

Just look at how huge that thing is! The forests around it were planted by the organic tree nursery, which is also a part of the community. Forests were startlingly absent from most of the Icelandic landscape we encountered. From the beginning, it seems, the forests endemic to the island were doomed. The first viking settlers of the island used many to build homes and boats and the ash and lava from the frequent volcanic eruptions really help in the deforestation process. The nursery at Solheimar has its work cut out for itself.

We got to tour about inside the greenhouse.

And learned about geothermal energy wranglin'

 And enjoyed the artwork of the residents of the community

Weavery!

We strolled the gorgeous grounds

 Saw sculptures on said stroll

And climbed our way up to this. Solheimar, of course, has it's own spring fed hot tub, which we enjoyed that evening. After about an hour soak, one of the residents of the community, along with his parents, crammed into the tub with us and talked to us for the next hour and a half. They eventually invited us to see their son's apartment. We drank and talked and their son showed us his quite impressive/obsessive collection of various weaponry. A perfect way to end our stay in the house of sun.