The lords of Le Canourgue had to live on the income from their lands, meaning the rents paid, especially in kind, by the peasants who farmed the estate's lands: sweet chestnuts or rye (grown underneath the chestnut trees), nuts and fruit (walnuts, plums, etc.), wine (not much) and meat products (essentially pork). Once a year, on a fixed date, the peasants living in the valley’s various mas or farms came to bring the rent they owed. Some farmed the terraced crop land near the castle and lived (among other professions) in the village built at its feet.