Friday, July 8, 2016

Goats

I like goats. I like goats as much as I like berets, but living in Wellington doesn't make for good goat keeping... I already look forward to move back to the "country" once all my daughters have left home, and can have some goats again. 
Anyway, nice to find some visual evidence of the great combination of berets & goats of years long past. 
In the period 1880 - 1930, it was typical to see travelling goat herds with their chevrier (goat herder) roaming the roads of France, selling fresh goats milk at the door of the privileged children's houses.
Typically, these were called "Basque goatherds", but they weren't necessarily Basque at all. However, the herder would always wear a Basque beret, and in a good sized diameter too.
They were a common site in the streets of Paris and even travelled much further to Belgium and the Netherlands.
Yes, easy to romanticize, but I can picture myself doing this job quite well and happily, had I been born a 100 years earlier.

2 comments:

  1. As a Spaniard, i too agree with your passion for goats!

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  2. Fresh goat milk at your door - what could be better? We have 5 goats, all rescued from other situations. All are tame and too friendly. We don't milk them but just give them a good life. I must wear my beret the next time I tend to them to see if they notice.

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