The Thingvellir National Park holds an abundance of importance to Iceland’s history. Visiting the park in person and experiencing all that it has to offer, put the significance of the site into perspective. Thingvellir national park is where Althing, Iceland’s first form of government, assembled. The assembly only meets once a year for two weeks to decide on legislation and dispense justice. For me, the most memorable part was seeing the podium where I learned about Logberg, law rock. At the site, the speakers would speak into the wall which would cause the sound waves to repel and echo louder, so the bystanders could hear. In that area, I learned it was modified by humans to remove the undesired larger rocks and build temporary housing. The temporary homes, booths, had turf or stone walls and were roofed with woolen cloth. Learning about the history of the park helped further my studies and understanding of the culture in Iceland.
I also had the opportunity to visit Friðheimar, which is a greenhouse growing mostly tomatoes. The challenge with traditional farming in Iceland is a combination of multiple factors. The first being the season changes where in the harsh winters, the sun is only out for four hours a day. Thus, plants would not be able to undergo photosynthesis and generate the proper nutrients that they need to grow. The second challenge is the weather, the harsh winds along with the snow, hail and rain make the environment difficult for any plants to grow. The third challenge, and arguably the most important, is the soil lacks proper nutrients to allow for plant growth. Friðheimar uses different techniques to combat all three challenges. They use LED lighting, 1000 [W], to synthetically generate the effects of the sun, specifically using red light, which allows the plants to grow despite the season changes. Intuitively, the greenhouse is a closed shelter, therefore the effects from the elements are negated. The greenhouse pumps nutrients along with warm water into the soil every 45 minutes to allow for proper saturation. The environment is controlled by a computerized system where parameters for humidity, temperature, fertilizer concentration, and other climate control factors are set depending on the season and outside conditions. This approach of tentative farming is quite unique and could be applied into other parts of the world.
Swanson School of Engineering 