Meet Halla Steinólfsdóttir, the heart and soul of Ytri-Fagridalur Farm in West Iceland! On her farm, rare Icelandic Settlement goats produce fine wool, and soon, Halla plans to craft delicious goat dairy products like ricotta cheese and goat Skyr. 

"Look at their fine cashmere wool," says Halla Steinólfsdóttir, pulling off a loose tuft from one of the goat kids before it jumps off to play with her grandchildren. "It's like the eiderdown; it's worth bending down for!"   

Halla lives with her husband, Guðmundur Gíslason, at Ytri-Fagridalur in West Iceland. In addition to 50 goats, they have 470 sheep and a small pack of dogs. Halla and Guðmundur are innovative farmers at heart, always coming up with ways to increase the value of their products. A few years back, they experimented with feeding angelica to their sheep, which resulted in especially flavorful lamb, and they've also tried beekeeping.   

As for the goats, Halla sends the fleeces to be spun into yarn at Uppspuni in South Iceland – but she has bigger plans. "I'm preparing to set up dairy production at the farm," she reveals. Halla milks her goats and is waiting for her production license to make her own products and start churning out ricotta cheeses, goat skyr, and other delicacies. Goats are rare in Iceland. The Icelandic settlement goat, the breed that Vikings first brought to Iceland over 1,000 years ago, is at risk of extinction, and goat milk products are hard to come by.  

Then there's the eider ducks. "This is a wonderful time of year – this is what I live for!" says Halla. Following spring, the birth of kids and lambs comes eider season. Halla looks across Breiðafjörður Bbay and indicates the islands where her eiders nest. She scouts a large bird with an impressive wingspan in the distance. "There flies an eagle, wretched thing." It hunts the eiders, she says, but invasive non-native minks are more of a pest. In the past, they have swum out to the islands and destroyed the nesting grounds.   

All seems quiet now, though. Halla looks forward to taking her grandchildren and other little helpers out on a zodiac to collect the down like she once did with her father. Halla grew up at Ytri-Fagridalur and then lived elsewhere for a while but couldn't stay away for long. Farm life suits her. "I love keeping myself busy with different things."  