Vézac (France) (AFP)

Dressed like a miller of yesteryear, Elie Coustaty keeps a close eye on the millstone which turns slowly to grind the white gold of confinement: the coronavirus boosted the activity of its 14th century water mill, located under his house in the Dordogne.

With the explosion "overnight" of the demand for flour, illustrated by the empty shelves in the supermarkets, this septuagenarian from Vézac, near Sarlat, had to meet the demand and mobilize his wife, daughter and son-in-law .

"All the equipment was there when I bought the house, including the miller's outfit", but the "Moulin de l'Evêque", powered by the Pontou, a small tributary of the Dordogne, was no longer used since after the war, he explains, pants and long white shirt, red scarf around his neck and wooden clogs on his feet.

"It's not folklore, he really dresses like that to work," says his daughter Marie-Rose, who manages orders and distribution, in short circuits via basket systems.

Now that the French have discovered the talents of bakers and pastry chefs, with flour sales which have increased by 168% compared to March-April last year, the Coustaty family produces up to 150 kg of flour every day organic, old fashioned.

- Think well, eat well -

"We were in great demand with the crisis, it allowed us to really put the mill into production," says Marie-Rose while her husband Serge helps her father to adjust the stopper, which will separate the flour from the bran.

Elie, a retired farmer, laughs: "People have to go back to the bakery, we won't be able to produce for everyone".

In this Dordogne spared the virus, the Coustaty family cannot meet demand and had to say no to a local organic baker. The flint wheel turns at 60 revolutions per minute, nothing to do with large automated industrial flour mills which produce daily by the ton.

"Our idea is not to make it a big company, it is to be useful to the territory and to restore the heritage", summarizes Marie-Rose who runs with her husband a gîte and an organic farm in the surroundings.

His father, a small man with thin glasses and president of the young "Association of the black Périgord mills", explains: "We calculate our price (from 3.50 to 3.80 euros per kg) so that the grain producer is properly paid (500 euros per ton) and that we keep a small profit "in order to pamper the mill.

"Behind our approach, there is well-thinking, with correct remuneration and prices, and good eating, with quality products", underlines Marie-Rose Coustaty who wants to believe that the health crisis has enabled the taking "good habits".

"There has been a thrill in recent years but the confinement has put the church back in the middle of the village," she said. "People now know that they can support local producers who take care of their environment."

"A market gardener from here told me recently: + this virus is still nice because my neighbors buy my vegetables from me. Otherwise, they would go to the supermarket and it comes from Rungis +".

© 2020 AFP