The Farm Karensminde
CULTURE HAS LEFT ITS MARK
Go for a stroll in the beautiful landscape between meadow and heath, where you see the marks that man has made on the land through millenia.
Enjoy the view across the centuries old irrigation channels in the meadow north of the museum.
Feel the fresh and calming smell of old pine trees in the plantation a short walk south of the museum.
The Museum Farm Karensminde is an attraction worth visiting for the whole family - children and grandparents alike.
FACTS ABOUT THE MUSEUM FARM KARENSMINDE
- The history of the farm can be traced back to the mid-17th century.
- 1776 - 2nd half of 20th century, there was always either a wife or a daughter named Karen on the farm, hence the name ‘Karens Memory’ (registered 1914).
- The farm has been in the same family for 8 generations from 1698 to 1981.
- In1981, the local municipality purchased the farm, and the Museum Farm Karensminde was established with the help from the volunteer association Karensminde’s Friends.
- Today, the Museum Farm is part of the Mark Museum and is run with great help from the association Karensminde’s Friends.
SENSING HISTORY
It smells with fresh air, hay, and a bit of manure. From inside the barn, you can hear the pigs grunting with joy, because the manager is bringing the food. In the meadow you can glimpse the cows munching on juicy meadow grass. The sheep will meet you bleating and the geese will hiss sourly as you approach their enclosure by the lake. The children are preoccupied with soft rabbits - and have no idea that it is the rabbit's cousin, they ate with great relish in Kaffestuen's tartlet filling last time they were here for an activity day. You can see the heavy workhorses in the meadow, and in front of the machine house, you notice the gray Massey Ferguson, which later replaced the horses in the field. The Museum Farm Karensminde is a family-friendly attraction where history comes alive, offering a unique blend of nostalgia and inspiration for the future.
VISIT THE HISTORICAL ANIMALS
Horses, pigs, cows, and sheep - and goats, chickens, geese, ducks, and rabbits. All the animals at the Museum Farm Karensminde belong to old historical livestock breeds, which the museum helps preserve through a comprehensive breeding program.
CAUTION
• Please remain calm and cautious around the animals.
• Entering the cow shed/pig sty is at your own risk.
• Maintain a distance of at least one metre from the cattle.
• Children must not enter the cow shed/pigsty without supervision.
• Please, do not cross any closed fence.
The meadow, the moor and the plantation
The Museum Farm Karensminde exudes coziness and idyllic scenes of happy summer days, with rolling fields of grain, festivities, holidays, traditions, and well-stocked pantries. But life hasn't always been this way. Over the past 400 years, life on the farm has also included child labor, hunger, fear of witches, goblins and fires, people living in earth shelters, covered in lice.
You can feel the history in all its forms when you visit the Museum Farm Karensminde, experiencing Danish agriculture as it was practiced from the 1930s to the 1950s. During this period, agriculture underwent mechanical and operational leaps forward, which also greatly affected farming at Karensminde, where traditional farming methods were adopted. Marshall Aid after World War II, for example, made it possible to purchase a tractor, thus streamlining and industrializing agriculture.
During a tour of the Museum Farm Karensminde, you'll also experience the exhibition 'Man and Nature,' which focuses on humanity's use and exploitation of nature. The landscape around Karensminde bears clear signs of how humans have utilized nature's resources over time: the traces of meadow irrigation channels in the field; the long straight rows of fir trees in the plantation; the heath, created by the first Danes' forest burning thousands of years ago, are all signs of the interaction between humans and nature, which is a highly relevant topic today.
