"I was born among sheep and the sheep give me freedom". This is how Marina Vilalta, from Ripoll, summarized the spirit that had led her to be the longest-active shepherdess in Catalonia. Born into a very humble family in Solanguit (Ogassa), at the foot of the Taga, almost a century ago, in 1927, she passed away this Sunday night into Monday at 99 years old, as confirmed by her family. Until her final days, she continued to lead her flock of Guirra sheep in the village of Bruguera (Ribes de Freser), on the other side of the Taga, in sun, rain, or snow. In 2022, ARA interviewed her on a rainy autumn day while she was grazing, shortly after she received the Creu de Sant Jordi for being an "example of the importance of work in the rural world, and of the resilience of the people who dedicate themselves to it".

Ada Parellada (Granollers, 1967) comes from a family that has been serving food for seven generations and over 250 years and is a great advocate of recycled cooking. As a summer read, she recommends A life in the mountains (Now Books), by Abraham Orriols. The journalist and writer born in Berga in 1996 collects in this book the life of the Marina Vilalta, the oldest shepherdess in Catalonia. "Marina is almost 100 years old, and she goes out to graze the sheep every day," Parellada recalls.