JANUARY! You have to be in it, to win it... Hi again, to all of you darlings, standing patiently on Platform 13, nodding politely to 2026 and all she promises. The middle of January doesn't announce very much to the kitchen - the farm is not really yet on its way to our forks, AND... darlings..Kris and I are moving house.. Oh the stress and the strain of it. But good discovery... you really get to see all the stuff you have accumulated, not just kitchen stuff, darlings, but 9

Each year, we leap forward with enthusiasm, believing obstacles will vanish with the turn of the calendar page. We think that with the change of date, the obstacles in our paths will miraculously disappear; life will be different. And you know what? It is, and it isn’t. Today is different than yesterday. Even if invisible, the planet has shifted; the sun rises earlier and sets later, and our cells regenerate. However, our challenges may remain the same because we haven’t chan

Hello and Seasons Greetings to all of you standing on Platform 13, in your woolly hats and Christmas knitwear. It's cold out there... Many of you will be looking forward to the usual Turkey for your festive holiday dinner this Christmas, which is fine - if you enjoy that dry old buzzard of a bird.

Hello again dear Platform 13 readers. Is it December already? Wow. . where did the year go? Christmas ... Some, like my husband Kris, just don't like it, but most people love that dark period of the year where lights and candles shine and give us a special feeling. Our eldest son especially loves this time of the year, just because of the lights everywhere. On the streets, in the gardens strung around the house …

"We have two ears and one mouth, so we can listen twice as much as we speak". - Eptictetus. - Family gatherings are an opportunity to connect, make new memories, and share old ones. They can also serve as a mirror for our spiritual growth. There is no better place for t

Hello again dear members and readers of Brave Seeds - "La voix de Platform 13" - That is a free French pun, by the way - Voix means voice, and Voie (pronounced the same) is the railway line that runs along the patform.. funny non? Maybe it is Belgian humour, which is more sophisticated..

"Labeling makes the invisible visible, but it’s limiting. Categories are the enemy of connecting." ~Gloria Stienem www.theletgo.com Everywhere we turn, there’s a statement about who we are—based not on our being, but our doing. And often, those statements trace back to childhood trauma, as if our adult choices are merely echoes of early wounds. We are constantly offered explanations, often unsolicited, that attempt to decode our lives through the lens of lack. But what if our

Hello to Platform 13 and to their dedicated readers... So a brief intro to me... I am first and foremost a food lover. Originally from Antwerp in Belgium, I trained as a chef in the culinary schools of France, but the kitchen garden is where I feel most at home. All that is cooking for me and for my partner Kris, is about love, feeding our guests, friends and family with the goodness of our adopted French seasons. Simple stuff, done with love.

Ah, the walnut tart - that quietly confident dessert that needs neither hot custard nor sticky jam to make its entrance. Born in the hills and valleys of southwest France, it’s what happens when fistfulls of rural walnuts meet a good curl of butter, a wide ribbon of cream and a decent crackle of sugar. No drama, no tiers, no soufflé to collapse — just a golden crust holding everything in perfect balance.

Platform 13 CEO Vanessa Grant sits down with the a local artisan who shares her story of creativity and community. In a sun-washed workshop on Rue Notre-Dame, in the beautiful bastide village of Monpazier, jewellery designer and maker Claire Lamouroux shapes stories from natural materials. Her boutique, Semilla (“seed” in Spanish), is shared with her partner Jean-Luc Pigeat — together they create wonderful, original jewelley pieces that feel both ancient and utterly present.

Our Brave Seeds "Women of Note" posts were originally conceived around a focus on the women who shape our regional community - social and entrepeneurial movers and shakers, whose gifts of giving back are, well... noteworthy.

Giorgiana Viou - First woman chef of color to receive a Michelin Star - Nimes, France Georgiana Viou, the self-taught chef born in Benin, has made vital history as the first female chef of colour in France, to earn a coveted Michelin star for her restaurant, Rouge , in Nîmes, South West France. Her cooking blends the sun-kissed freshness of Mediterranean ingredients with the vibrancy and soulful spices of her West African heritage—what she once described simply as, “a mix of