VIDEO SCRIPT

ERNEST:

Hello, my name is Ernest and this is Maria my wife. We are the Can Pi de la Serra tenant farmers or the country-house keepers. A friend has told us to tell you everything about our life, isn’t it true Maria?

MARIA:

Yessssss! And we are pleased to tell you everything, the first thing is that today Friday 19th of February 1954 is a beautiful day and we have already done part of our daily tasks.

Perhaps you don’t know but the owners are the Can Pi de la Serra family, they are very rich... They live in the city, in a big House in Terrassa, they also are the owners of Can Riquer, another country house. They come over here once or twice a year, because they have other businesses.

ERNEST:

We take care of their country House: The House, the animals, the fields.... We’ve been doing this work for 25 years and when the owners’ older son inherits the property we wish we could go on working for him.

Talking about the tasks, I can tell you that we wake up at 5 in the morning, light the fireplace and have breakfast all the family together. Our daughter Sílvia, who is 14, helps the mother and Jordi, who is 19, helps me in the fields.

They went to school only for three months in order to learn everything about the bible and to prepare them for the communion, the boy also learnt the minimum about numbers, because we sell part of the products we grow, and buy the products we can’t produce on the farm like tools for the farm, clothes, some grain...

My tasks are very different, depending on the day and the season, but I usually go to the fields with my son Jordi and we take the horse and plough the fields, where we grow fodder for the animals. If it is necessary I add fertilizer / manure from the poo of the animals especially from the chicken, pigs and cows. I also go to the vineyards and have a look to the plants.

MARIA:

Ok, ok dear, let me tell a little about my tasks.... After breakfast, I and my daughter start milking the cows by hand, of course. We feed the farm animals, the chicken, hens, goats, sheep and the pigs... After that I take the horses out of the stables to the fields, pick the eggs and clean the barn and the farmyards.

When it is 9 in the morning we have a break and have some milk with toasts , honey or home-made strawberry jam... but Ernest and Jordi usually eat bacon with eggs and a little of wine.

From this moment to the lunch time we do the housework, we do the beds, clean the bathroom, do the dishes and wash the clothes by hand with soap that I do myself with pig fat. We also make the bread with our own flour. I bake it myself!

In the afternoon we take care of the green garden where we grow vegetables for the family daily consume: lettuces, tomatoes, onions, garlics, beans, pumpkins....

And at the end of the day, when is not possible to see outside, we lit the oil lamps and sew our clothes, prepare marmalades and other canned food for the rest of the year, like fried tomatoes, cooked meat marinade in oil, canned pickles....

ERNEST:

Delicious, the bread is delicious! And also the food that MARIA prepares every day for all the family. At midday, we usually have meat and bread and a lot of legumes with potatoes and in the evening soup and cheese or beans.

If we talk about the seasons the work is different:

In spring, we prepare the vegetable garden. It is also the time when a lot of animals have their breed: little lambs, piglets and chicks are born in spring.

In summer, we do the cereal harvest for the animals and most of the vegetables are picked in summer; we do tinned food with them. We also pick the potatoes and use them the rest of the year for cooking.

We sell part of our products on Saturday morning in the local market. With this money we can buy other products we need for the country house. The money from the wine and the oil is for the owners; their accountant is in charge of this money.

In autumn, we pick the grapes and do our own wine. We also pick the olives but we do the oil in winter using our press. There are a lot of autumn fruits: pomegranates, sweet potatoes, quinces, pumpkins. We also pick almonds and do sweets with part of them for the winter and Christmas.

In winter we don’t have a lot of work in the fields because nothing grows in this season, but we trim the trees and the vineyards, clean the tools, take care of the animals… And the most important task in winter is to kill the pigs and do cold meat: sausages, salt ham... And we keep this food in the cellar in oil for the rest of the year.

MARIA:

That’s the point. We work six days a week although at the weekend is a little different. On Saturday we go to the local market and sell and buy the products we need and on Sunday we usually have a market and go to the church. After praying we meet the other people from Rubí; most of them are peasants like us. Sometimes we have lunch together, for example in Sant Jaume and Saint Pere festivity, because Sant Jaume is the Rubí Patron Saint. We talk about all the local issues: the news, who has died or who has born, who is ill and how people are doing.

Another important festivity in Rubí is Saint Galderic. A lot of farmers and peasants from around come to Rubí -people from Sant Cugat, Terrassa, Castellbisbal- come walking or on their carts. We meet in a big terrace and buy and sell vegetables, fruits, animals, farm tools... and there is also a band playing music. People get dressed with their best clothes and dance sardanas. We drink and eat.... Everybody has a good time!

I think more or less this is all. We have explained everything about our lives. We hope you have enjoyed our conversation!

ERNEST:

It’s true ...that’s all .... now we have a lot of other tasks to do ...

BOTH ERNEST & MARIA:

Good bye everybody!!!

Bye!