Portraits of local people: Dominique Rondot, farmer and presenter

A farm, animals, landscapes, and a character. Dominique shares her passion with a positive and committed energy. Her motto: simplicity, nature, animals... real life! Meeting Dominique is a good way to appreciate the simple things in life. Here's her portrait in the series "Portraits of Local People."

Watch the interview with Dominique Rondot

Mixing breeding and animation

I recreated the farm in 1997. The farm itself was small, with about twenty hectares of land, it would have been a little difficult to restart a dairy production activity. I have always been in animation, I was an animator then director of a holiday center. So the project of recreating the farm was to mix breeding and entertainment.

My livestock business focuses mainly on veal production. I also sell some beef breed animals for beef. Otherwise, I have pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, rabbits, all the farm animals. The particularity of this farm is also that in bovine breed, I am in multi-breeds, it is a multiracial herd, ,.

I am also mayor of the commune of BarbouxDeveloping my village and participating very modestly in the development of the community of communes are actions that motivate me. I also have a group lodging activity, where I also participate in radiation from Pays Horloger, through these activities more linked to tourism and which are totally different from welcoming schoolchildren.

A permanent story of adventures

My life is extremely rhythmic, between the activities, the life on the farm, because there are still all animals to manage, to pamperWhen a group arrives, I'm bound to smile, I'm smiling almost all the time. I like my life.

It really is a permanent story of adventures diverse and varied. Here we have made the choice not to have television, but, I don't want to say every day, but regularly I tell myself, that I don't need television. We experience so many things with our audiences who come here, whether it's the children, or the people who come to the cottage. We live permanent adventures, we live slices of life are great. Then with animals, it's the same, there's always something happening.

From 1 and a half years to 90 years old

I absolutely welcome you to this farm. all types of audienceThe youngest children come from daycare centers, they are between 1 and a half and 2 years old. The oldest children are up to 90 years old. We welcome schools from the region, from Strasbourg, Paris, Lyon, Switzerland, from all walks of life. During a typical day at the farm, everything is perfectly orchestratedI start by introducing the people and animals that the children and adults will meet, I present the day's program and we begin.

A cathedral atmosphere

As children, adults go go into the stable to get to know the animals, without a noise, without a word, against a backdrop of classical music, it's a moment that is quite magical. 8 times out of 10, it's super vibrant. We feel like enter a cathedralPeople are struck by the atmosphere that can be discovered in the stable due to the fact that there is great silence.

I have a lot of animals that live in freedom and perfect harmony. Among the donkeys, the pig that comes to see us, very calmly, very peacefully. The hens that sing to let us know that they have laid their eggs. Then, I have the goats that also live freely, I have a lamb sometimes that comes to say hello to us...

The smile from ear to ear

Then we learn the names of the animals, the children will pet them and give them, as I like to say, huge hugs. We're going to take a little walk in the fields to discover the flowers. After the picnic, we'll discover how the cow makes milk. Each child will introduce themselves to the cow, and will taste the milk. They will also harvest grass or ash leaves, which they then very peacefully redistribute to the animals. We end the afternoon with afternoon snack: pastries and syrup.

My mom has been making cakes for a very long time, and it's always a walnut cake. She's made them for maybe 15 or 20 people since 000. They're still the same nut cakes, delicious, succulentThe syrups are the ones I make: mint syrup, elderberry syrup, rhubarb syrup.

The children leave with smiles from ear to ear., images full of the head and new knowledge. When I have adults, it's the same program, it's the same entry protocol, it's the same type of animation.

Exceptional simplicity

The contact between children and adults with animals is striking. I'm not a specialist, I don't necessarily have the technical terms, but I see it, I feel it. When children enter the stable, they're a little excited, a little disturbed, and two hours later, I see them petting the animals. completely appeased with another perspective, it's magical. And for adults, it's the same, I also welcome a lot of adults with disabilities, it's absolutely fabulous. And once again, it's a extraordinary simplicity.

I have nothing, well I have my speech, my personality, which I think is quite whole, my passion that I try to share, my ideas, my convictions, which I also try to convey quite energetically, and then there are these beasts. The beasts who are there, who don't have a particular opinion on anything, who are neutral on many things, who are waiting for caresses, hugs, who are waiting food, the simple things in life, love and sharing, and food.

Besides, we are well placed to talk about it in our pays horloger with all the succulent dishes that we can offer our visitors.

A slice of peaceful life

Coming to experience a slice of peaceful life, that's the message I want to convey. We are lucky to have extremely protected landscapes, ultra landscapes varied, and to have a dynamic agriculture. It's not overpopulation, we don't have large urban centers, so we're really in a peaceful environment. Come and experience a quiet moment, a peaceful moment, and I also insist a lot on disconnecting. It's very fashionable to say to disconnect, but it's still a damn reality. To arrive at a given moment at unhook among other things screens and rest, and relive the essentialListening to a bird, watching a cow eating its grass, taking a walk, sitting quietly. And I think that's really essential for finding yourself. feet on the ground, move forward in the right direction in terms of our operations, live together, of the evolution of society in general.

Land, the working tool on which we must refocus

Agriculture cannot be separated from the working tool which is the soil. Before the tractor, before the agricultural equipment, which is gleaming in our region, including in my region, there is the earth, there is the soil. There is flowers, landscapes, sinkholes, rocky outcrops, which can sometimes be a bit annoying for a reaper, but which are essential for diversity, for this whole chain of life that we have around us. We really need to refocus on the soil, on the earth. We come from the earth, especially in these times with climate change, we all have to get involved and respect it 200%.

This is real life!

I don't want to come across as the average dreamer, but we're already in something that's good. We can always do better, but I think thatwe can already be largely satisfied with what we have here, of what all the partners are doing, whether it is linked to tourism, to agriculture, even if there too at the agricultural level, I think that there are really efforts to be made also in the management of landscapes, in protection, It is still essential to protect the environment. So how do I dream it? pays horloger ? Perhaps to have more educational farms, to open up our lives, open our farms, open our landscapes, welcoming the public and sharing even more of the simplicity of our lives here, real life. Real life is invented here, with us.

“Portraits of local people” series

Find more portraits of enthusiasts, residents of Pays Horloger, who share a little of their lives. Because before being a tourist destination, the Pays Horloger is a living, vibrant territory. These women and men are the Pays Horloger as well as our must-see natural sites! Meet them!