Story of a mill, story of a life.
This text was written by Lucie Henry on December 26, 1989, on the occasion of the mill's sixty-seventh anniversary. Lucie is the daughter of Joseph Paschetta, founder of the mill in 1922, and Michel Henry's mother-in-law. Her children, Françoise and Michel, then Virginie and Vincent, have carried on what she so accurately describes here.
I was born with my mill in 1923.
My father's father-in-law operated a "blood mill" in the old village of Oraison. After returning from the war, my father learned the miller's trade from him. He got married and, in 1923, set up a very modern mill for the time, where it still stands today… imagine: "everything runs on ELECTRICITY."
My earliest memories are of hide-and-seek games among sacks of olives… of the delicious piece of warm focaccia drizzled with new oil and devoured at four o'clock, after school… of my big, devilish godfather, majestically enthroned among the wooden vats where the oil decants and "picking" this precious oil with religious gestures, using the "leaf"...
What wonderful winters, the winters of my childhood! when, my homework done, my lessons learned, I would join my parents, who were busy among the customers…
A huge fire kept the water warm in a black vat; there was steam, smoke, heat; bursts of voices… laughter! The sound of the grinder, and above all this floated, deliciously enchanting, the aroma released by the paste of olives crushed by the heavy millstones.
The war, rationing, the mill
Years pass… I leave school at eighteen. I had obtained my elementary certificate in June 1939. I had prepared for the entrance exam to the teacher training college in Digne: admitted in 1941, I ran away two months later—my independent nature could not adapt to the strict boarding school, the walls lined with sandbags in anticipation of potential bombings, the promiscuity of the dormitories…
So I dedicated myself to managing the mill in Oraison and the one in Les Mées, which my father had just taken over. This was the period of rationing, of the compulsory requisition of oils from the mills by the General Supply Services, with all the hassles that entailed, and also the tricks to ensure that the good oil remained in the olive growers' jars. A tough era.
The Transmission
The war ended, I got married and transmitted the mill "bug" to my dear husband… As a family, we operate the Oraison mill… we have continued ever since.
It's already been forty-two years that we have been living to the rhythm of the olive harvest campaigns, forming a solid team, sharing responsibilities… So much hardship, so much joy around this mill… But what pride in having been able to continue, together, my parents' work.
We have two children. Our son, passionate about the mill, created a new one in Peyruis; he dedicates his life to it… Our daughter, now a doctor of pharmacy, chose olive oil and its biological effects as the subject of her thesis…
A simple but fascinating life that didn't leave me time to see "time fly by."
Lucie Henry
Moulin Paschetta-Henry, Oraison (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence)
December 26, 1989