“When my mother was in the kitchen, we all took turns in the kitchen to tell her about our day”

I spent my childhood on an isolated farm in Haute-Corrèze. It wasn’t great luxury, but we lived peacefully, surrounded by nature, with my parents and my four brothers and sisters. It suited me well. I went to the village school, a few kilometers from our house – a one-room school. My grandfather was a landless shepherd, in Lozère then in Languedoc: he had a small flock, took in sheep from other local breeders and took them to the commons – the roadsides, the vineyards, the edges Woodland.

My father was a more traditional sheep farmer, but he also practiced mobile grazing. From the age of 10, I often replaced him by leaving for the day with the herd and the dog in the valley floors. I took a snack and some books, and I relieved my father who could do other things on the farm: repair equipment, take care of the vegetable garden, make hay. I liked going with the sheep, even if, sometimes, I would have preferred to go out with my friends. Generally, loneliness didn’t weigh on me.

I owe a lot to my father. Despite his modest peasant origins, he managed to study law and had strong union and political commitments. He is notably one of the founders of the Confédération paysanne, in 1987, the union of peasant farmers which opposes the FNSEA. Considered a “neorural” by certain neighbors, he nevertheless made a real “return to the land” since he was born a peasant, with all the will and self-sacrifice that this may require.

“Adapting to nature”

He did not give me an injunction, but encouraged me to read a lot, by providing me with a myriad of books. And, when I had finished a work, we would discuss it. It nourished me enormously. Through contact with my father and nature, I developed my political and ecological awareness, before leaving to study agronomy. I have always fought to show that agroecology and organic farming are techniques that work and offer the possibility of reconciliation with the living world. As long as we are ready to adapt to nature rather than trying to adapt nature to the laws of the market…

My mother, an English teacher, has always cooked a lot, and very well. When she was in the kitchen, we all took turns in the kitchen to tell her about our day. It was time for confidences. Then we sat down at the table together. My mother was a specialist in omelettes and fruit crumbles, preparing superb stews, stews, pies and soups with vegetables from the garden. I love soup. I’m making it for four days. I cut the vegetables into very small pieces like for a minestrone, I add barley and legumes, lentils or peas, for creaminess, taste and protein. It is a rustic, complete dish, which changes according to the seasons and tastes.