The life of yesteryear
 

Mountain farmers organise their work around the necessity of providing forage for livestock feed. Their very houses depend on this vital obligation: it used to be said that they had three houses between which, each year, they took their families, herds and equipment, searching for precious grass.
The first, the main farmhouse, is situated in the plain or on low hillsides: the grass is mowed in the summer (hay) and autumn (aftermath) to be stored for winter feed.
Spring is a time of movement for the farmers: they lead their herds to the "foris", small houses surrounded by the "eating" meadows, located at intermediate altitudes. They complete their cycle by climbing up to the higher pastures at the start of the summer to altitudes where the grass is sufficiently high and nutritious, after the snow has melted. When the snow comes back, they head back down the mountainside to the village to spend the winter (démontagnage). All of these changes are necessary, but respectful of nature...
Houses of course are not built today as they were in the past.