La Basse-Cour

THE BASSE-COUR is not like either the pigsty or the garden which you can point to as physical parts of the farm. It is more of an activity than a place, denoting the rearing of rabbits and poultry, including the larger birds such as geese and turkeys. This is exclusively the domain of the mistress of the house and explains why on old postcards showing geese being stuffed with corn, it is the women who are doing this very hard work.

The peasant community is to us highly sexist; the roles of men and women are clearly demarcated and the basse-cour is allocated to women. On the other hand, they literally ‘rule the roost’; within their own sphere their word is law. Our nearest neighbour across the valley was told, when he ventured to comment on the ripe aromas wafting from the duck sheds into the kitchen, ‘If you want to have some confit de canard, you will have to make some small sacrifices’.