“I would do everything like before, with just a little modernity”

Lucien Bouix, 86 years old, and Yvette (née Boyer), 84 years old, spent their lives on the farm. For sixty years, they have lived in La Chaulière, near Chambon-sur-Lignon. This is where they raised their four children, Jean-Pierre, Michel, Daniel and Hélène. We met them in the living room of the farm where a beautiful Godin stove sits. Yvette likes to talk about her life as a farmer. Lucien often completes his remarks.

“We made the animals dance so that they packed the hay”

How did you start your life as a farmer?

“Oh my! You can arrange the words, I don't know how to explain… I was born in January 1940 in Freycenet (Saint-Agrève, in Ardèche) to farmer parents. I was the third. I stayed there until the wedding. We did everything by hand. When I was very little, I turned hay in the…