Cabbage garden

In the historic cabbage garden, the peasant grew everything the familly needed cabbage, root vegetables, onions, leeks, potatoes and herbs.The white cabbage came to Denmark with the Dutch in the sixteenth century. Potatoes came to Fredericia with the Huguenots in the year 1720. It took the potato 100 years to become a natural part of the peasants’ kitchen garden.The peasants
saw the potato as unhealthy: "It gives fat belly and provides no strength" they said.
Today, the peasant’s kitchen garden is met with renewed interest. Many consumers prefer the vegetables and fruits in season to all the fruits of the world.

Orchard

As well as the cabbage garden, the orchard belonged to the traditional farm of the 19th century. Fruit trees like apple, pear and cherry but also redcurrant and gooseberry bushes were the orchards constituents.The fruit and berries were either eaten raw, dried, or pressed. Next to every farm grew an elder tree or bush, in which the so-called ‘Hyldemor’ (Elder-Mother) lived. She protected the farm from bad luck and sicknesses. Both berries, leafs and bark of the elder were used for medical purposes, i.e. tea and ointment. Today, the ancient fruit sorts are finding their way back into the orchards, along with a range of local quality products, e.g. juice, cider, chutney, and vinegar.

Hop garden

What did the peasant's family drink in the nineteenth century? Milk and fruit juice, of course, but mostly they drank beer.Wine came to Denmark with the monks, but the grapes were only grown near the monasteries. Instead, the monks showed the peasants how to make schnapps from potatoes and grain, and it quickly became popular both as medicine and as prevention of diseases. Denmark is changing. Microbreweries are flourishing throughout Denmark.The same goes for local productions of herbal schnapps and liquors, and even vineyards are to be found, on hillsides protected from the hard eastern winds. 

Beehive and chicken run

Not only the cultivated plants but also the small animals were kept in gardens at the peasant’s farm.
In the middle age, the brown honey bee was moved from hollow trees in the woods into the peasant’s garden, where it found plenty of flowers and herbs. It supplied the peasant with honey and beeswax. The honey was an important sweetener, and it is not easily perishable. Today, bee-keeping and honey products are becoming more and more popular, and the range of local honeys from Møn and South Zealand is wide.

Cattle and sheep

Cattle and sheep also belong to the farm.They had their own fenced gardens, under trees and shrubs.
November was the traditional month for slaughtering, where sausages and other meat products were produced. Today, free-range domestic animals have become important elements in the landscapes of Møn and South Zealand, where they contribute to the maintenance of the extraordinary nature areas.

Eel fishing - the farmer and the sea

On Møn and South Zealand, fishing played an important role in the peasant’s life, as it often presented a significant part of the income.The farmers on the islands were often farmers, hunters, fishermen and - as on Nyord - pilots.They were fishing close to the shore and out on the sea.They caught garfish, herrings, mackerel and codfish. Today, the fishermen are rediscovering the possibilities of local production and direct sale of the freshly caught fish of the season.

Breakfast and sweets

In the nineteenth century, the peasant got up early in the morning.After 2 hours work, the breakfast was served. It consisted of rye bread, pickled herrings and curdled milk. Milk and beer was on the table for the thirst and after the breakfast was eaten, the coffee was served. The coffee came to Denmark in the end of the seventeenth century and was sold at pharmacies at first. It quickly became popular at the court, but the peasant found it too expensive and troublesome to make. Sugar
and candy was also sold at pharmacies. Today, the old recipes have become popular again. Old
sorts of flour, as spelt, are used for baking breads.And on Møn and South Zealand, hard candy and exquisite chocolate are made in small productions based on old methods of handicraft.

The mixed bag

Plants and animals were not just for food, but also for a lot of other necessities as textiles, tools or building materials. The more we, today, take interest in the recourses of the nature and more careful production methods, the more the focus will return to these products.The unique nature areas on Møn and South Zealand offer plants and raw materials to a lot of different products, such as herbs from woods and tidal meadows, which are used in natural cosmetics and skin care products. Every year, the ocean contributes with large amounts of seaweed and algae, which are used for compost.Today, willow growsin fields and is used for wicker baskets, wicker hedges and sculptures.