More than a Market… Meet Hyldemarken
From two kilos of nearly discarded seed potatoes to a farm covering more than 30,000 square metres, Hyldemarken has grown into something far beyond what Leon and Ninna first imagined.
On one of the hottest days of summer, we visited the farm on the west coast of Zealand, where Leon, Ninna and Rasmus were busy harvesting fresh produce for the market the following day.
Leon took us around the farm, talking enthusiastically about the fields, the greenhouse, the ducks, the potatoes, and the many projects that have taken shape here over the years.
A return to farming
Hyldemarken sits close to the sea, in the area of Slagelse. When Leon and Ninna moved there, it was simply an ordinary house, and the farm had been closed for many years.
Leon’s family comes from generations of farmers, but his father was the first in one hundred years to step away from farming. Leon was always warned away from farming and took a path working in IT instead. Something reliable and steady. But sometimes, it’s in your blood and you can’t ignore it.
Once the family settled at Hyldemarken, he started digging. He began with just 100 square metres, planning to grow a little lettuce and some cucumbers. It didn't stay that way for long. Today, Leon and Ninna farm more than 30,000 square metres, still working mostly by hand or with small machines.
Two kilos of potatoes
The potatoes came about almost by accident.
One late May day, Ninna sent Leon to the supermarket to buy a round of groceries. There, he spotted a nearly discarded bag of seed potatoes. He bought the bag of seed potatoes, thinking “How hard could it be?”, and brought home this new project.
That small experiment grew into something much bigger. Just a few years later Leon planted around two tonnes of potatoes, and he has since become something of a potato expert among both restaurants and regulars at Grønt Marked.
Hyldemarken grows 61 different potato varieties. Some are planted in larger quantities, while others are grown in such small amounts that they might only make it to the market for a single day.
There are familiar varieties like Annabelle, Ditta and Maris Piper alongside less common ones such as Ramonet, Purple Rain, Chateau, Glorietta and Alouette. Later in the season come Carolus, Fontane and Irish Rooster. Red Emily is red all the way through, while Leon's personal favourite, Langeland Æggeblomme, is what he calls “the king of potatoes.” Which, funnily enough, has also become Leon’s own nickname among market goers.
Learning by doing
Leon calls himself an ecological farmer, but he didn't learn farming from books. Much of what he knows has come from watching the land, experimenting, and learning from the traditional farmers around him. The advice was simple: look at the soil and do what it needs.
After around 30 years of working the land, Leon knows his soil well enough to feel when it's ready. But experience doesn't mean everything goes according to plan. He remembers one year when he removed the plastic covering from his early potatoes too soon and lost the entire crop. The following year, he waited too long, and the field filled with weeds instead. For Leon, that's simply part of farming. When something fails, there is always another project waiting for the following year.
Walking around Hyldemarken, it's easy to see this attitude reflected in the farm itself. There is always something happening: new ideas, experiments, crops, animals and projects taking shape alongside the established fields.
Part of Grønt Marked from the beginning
Leon has been part of Grønt Marked since the very beginning. Back in 2019, a call from Mia of Lille Bakery, brought him to the very first market held on Refshaleøen just outside the bakery. At that point there were only a handful of producers. Leon brought 30 kilos of potatoes in the back of his car, not knowing that 7 years later he would be loading a full van each week to come to Grønt Marked every Sunday.
Today, on a good market day, he sells between 250 and 300 kilos. Everything the van can carry. Around half of his customers are regulars who return to the market again and again, often buying a little more each time. Leon talks fondly of his customers, and looks forward to speaking to friendly faces and new people alike. Each Sunday you can spot him under the stripped yellow stalls, sharing thoughts of his latest harvest and produce.
Know your farmer, know your food
What Leon values most about Grønt Marked is the opportunity to tell the story behind what he grows. People want to know why he grows different varieties, how he works with the soil, and what makes one potato different from another. They want to know the person standing behind the stall.
“Know your farmer, know your food,” Leon says — and to him, the idea is more relevant today than ever.
After spending a day at Hyldemarken, it is easy to understand why. There is a whole world behind the food that arrives at the market each Sunday: years of experience, experiments that work and others that don't, thousands of decisions, and a constant process of learning from the land. When shoppers stop and ask a couple of questions, they can discover all this and more about the farmer that grows their food.
Maybe the next time you visit the market you can ask Leon about what is on offer, or what his favorite time of year is. Come learn about what drives his passion for growing. By shopping directly from Leon at the market you are supporting small scale farming in a meaningful and impactful way.
The work continues. There will always be another season, another idea, another project to start.
Find Hyldemarken at Grønt Marked on Sundays throughout the season.