Village life in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Before refrigerators and because of the high summer temperatures it was impossible for villagers to keep meat, and vegetables were the staple diet. To make flour and also provide feed for their few animals, large areas were set aside for the growing of corn. Several corn mills were built alongside fast flowing rivers, and it was waterpower that drove the millstones.
Bread Ruins of these mills can be seen in various places, and some of the best are seen in the Orb Gorge between Roquebrun and Tarrasac. An area of outstanding natural beauty. Whilst walking it is still possible to see the wild corn growing on the sides of the road, a relic of the past.
Until relatively, recently, every family kept a pig, also chickens and rabbits. Pigeons were another source of meat. In the villages pigs were kept in small cellars below the houses. Chickens ran loose in the streets, but came home to roost each evening in structures that looked like a large stone carbuncle on the sides of houses. The only clue in modern times to their former use are the small holes about the size of a dinner plate, through which the chickens entered or departed their home.
The slaughter of the family pig was a moment of fete, and the whole family and even the neighbours were involved. It normally took place at the start of the cold winter weather, when the butchering could be carried out over several hours without the meat going bad. All parts of the pig would be used and provided a substantial portion of the meat eaten during the year. It was smoked by hanging it in the chimney of the fire, or hung to dry on special hooks from the kitchen ceiling. {short description of image}
In addition most families kept ducks, who spent most of their day swimming and feeding in the nearby rivers, returning each evening to their respective cellars. With good imagination it is possible to see a procession of ducks wending their way from the river up the narrow village streets, peeling off in twos and threes to their respective abodes.