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Brave Seeds - The Voice of Platform 13
Brave Seeds is the journal of Platform 13 — a collection of reflections, field notes, and stories gathered from life in France and the shared human experience. Some arrive here to read quietly. Others return often.
Let curiosity lead.
The Myth of the fixed path" - Lets see where this goes...
From a fairly young age, I always felt the need to choose a direction. A kind of path. A version of myself that made the most sense to whatever situation I found myself in. We moved around more than most, so adapting was a key skill I had to learn early. And once I chose that direction - once I rearranged my room to suit me, I set my personal sails to suit the local wind, the expectation was simple: stick with it, Vanessa. There was a comfort in that idea. One that I definite
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3 min read
Owning it - "The Magic you are looking for is in the work you're avoiding"...
I have always loved books of quotes. They sort of sit for me, in that realm of "things I just really wish I had said". Mostly because they are either clever or beautiful or deeply deep. And I think deeply deep down, we all crave being thought of as any of those things. Good quotes - the ones that resonate the deepest - engage us the mostest, because the psychology within them connects directly with how our grey matter processes good information and worthy feelings. Our brains
-
4 min read
"This Looks Familiar"... - Coming Full Circle..
I n almost every film that involves the use of a map, there always seems to be a moment when one character looks around, stops the group and exclaims, “Wait… I recognise this.” It’s often a tree or a bend in the path, or some feature that painfully drags out the conclusion that everyone has just completed a giant, waste-of-timey circle. There is no sense of metaphor or philosophy here. It is entirely literal. How did we end up back here? It is generally framed as a cross bet
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4 min read
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This month's articles open to Members
"Suspending Disbelief" - How we get had...
There is a very sober, serious show on the BBC called "Panorama". It covers studious subjects, in great depth and head-nodding sincerity. On April 1st, 1957, Panorama ran a segment calmly informing the British public that spaghetti grew on trees. Literally. It showed a group of Swiss farmers (you might think that would have been a red flag..) harvesting strands of air-dried spaghetti from the low hanging branches of, well...a Spaghetti Tree. The BBC, certainly then and I thin
-
3 min read
"Attention" - Is it the New Status Symbol?..
The word "Status" is probably still synonymous with a centuries-old meaning around something that can be physically seen . Things like rank, title, land, or visible wealth. It comes from the Latin verb "Stare" - to Stand. It is where we much more than figuratively stood. Status was a marker of position - worn outwardly and instantly understood by all. The trappings of status were the Bentleys, the Castles and the cash.. ..Our status symbols. It's a bit quieter these day
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5 min read
The Clarity inside the Quiet - On being still, looking and listening..
Being still, looking, and listening activates the non-conceptual intelligence within you. Let stillness direct your words and actions. ~Eckhart Tolle The world is testing our mental soundness. Fueled by the dramatic and life-changing weather patterns, coupled with disinformation and misinformation propagated by mass media, the collective atmosphere has thrown many off-kilter and left many feeling out of sorts. Yet, the quest for Equilibrium is always present, and a quiet call
-
4 min read
Active Listening - Who gets to decide?
Have you ever been told you weren’t listening… when you absolutely were? It’s a strangely frustrating accusation. You were there. You heard every word. You could probably replay the conversation back if asked. And yet, somehow, the conclusion is the same — you weren’t listening .The difficulty, of course, is that you don’t get to decide if that is true, or not. Listening is one of those curious things that feels entirely internal, but is judged almost exclusively from the ou
-
4 min read
French Kitchens - In praise of "proper butter".
There was a time, and I might be showing my age here, when butter became the subject of a deliberate, fatty witch-hunt. It seemed to be a hearing behind closed doors, for us butter lovers. It was accused and found guilty of shortening our lives and making us fat. The Western world fell under a wave of nutritional anxiety. Butter, which had been besties with bread for such a long time, was suddenly recast as the insidious villain of the kitchen. Into its golden yellow slippers
-
4 min read
Women - Are we strong enough to stop?
I have always admired strong women. The ones who hold things together. The ones who don’t panic. The ones who say, “It’s fine, I’ve got it,” and somehow do. The women who show up, not just as a statement of bravado, but as proof of real life. I have also been one. At times. I am clearly not talking about lifting weights here - at least not physical weights. I am leaning into character strength. Core values. That kind of strength, in its healthiest form, is a thing of beauty.
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3 min read
Brave Seeds - The Archives
Articles By Category
Field Notes
Observations from the ground up - living seasons, the countryside and the beauty in the everyday.
At the Table
Food as memory and connection - French flavors, simple recipes and stories from the kitchen.
The French Connection
A love letter to French Life - culture, language and moments that make this place endlessly fascinating
The Spirit Level
Where beauty meets balance - reflections and essays on the inner journey.
A Sense of Place
Stories of home, design and character of life in the French countryside
Guest Appearances
Voices from the wider Platform 13 community - shared stories, perspectives and lived wisdom
Brave Seeds Member's Library
Brave Seeds - The Members Library
All Articles
The Myth of the fixed path" - Lets see where this goes...
From a fairly young age, I always felt the need to choose a direction. A kind of path. A version of myself that made the most sense to whatever situation I found myself in. We moved around more than most, so adapting was a key skill I had to learn early. And once I chose that direction - once I rearranged my room to suit me, I set my personal sails to suit the local wind, the expectation was simple: stick with it, Vanessa. There was a comfort in that idea. One that I definite
-
3 min read
Owning it - "The Magic you are looking for is in the work you're avoiding"...
I have always loved books of quotes. They sort of sit for me, in that realm of "things I just really wish I had said". Mostly because they are either clever or beautiful or deeply deep. And I think deeply deep down, we all crave being thought of as any of those things. Good quotes - the ones that resonate the deepest - engage us the mostest, because the psychology within them connects directly with how our grey matter processes good information and worthy feelings. Our brains
-
4 min read
"This Looks Familiar"... - Coming Full Circle..
I n almost every film that involves the use of a map, there always seems to be a moment when one character looks around, stops the group and exclaims, “Wait… I recognise this.” It’s often a tree or a bend in the path, or some feature that painfully drags out the conclusion that everyone has just completed a giant, waste-of-timey circle. There is no sense of metaphor or philosophy here. It is entirely literal. How did we end up back here? It is generally framed as a cross bet
-
4 min read
"Suspending Disbelief" - How we get had...
There is a very sober, serious show on the BBC called "Panorama". It covers studious subjects, in great depth and head-nodding sincerity. On April 1st, 1957, Panorama ran a segment calmly informing the British public that spaghetti grew on trees. Literally. It showed a group of Swiss farmers (you might think that would have been a red flag..) harvesting strands of air-dried spaghetti from the low hanging branches of, well...a Spaghetti Tree. The BBC, certainly then and I thin
-
3 min read
"Attention" - Is it the New Status Symbol?..
The word "Status" is probably still synonymous with a centuries-old meaning around something that can be physically seen . Things like rank, title, land, or visible wealth. It comes from the Latin verb "Stare" - to Stand. It is where we much more than figuratively stood. Status was a marker of position - worn outwardly and instantly understood by all. The trappings of status were the Bentleys, the Castles and the cash.. ..Our status symbols. It's a bit quieter these day
-
5 min read
Agency - What deserves our attention?
Vanessa and I were recently speaking to a company that was offering some service provision around "Digital Marketing" . It's a curious term, which commands respect from me, simply because I have no idea what it actually means. I think it might be a buzz-phrase that we just need to have access to, conversationally. It deals mainly with harnessing the might of Social Media. Digital Marketing is a quiet power, that sits beneath almost everything we scroll and scan and click.
-
4 min read
The Clarity inside the Quiet - On being still, looking and listening..
Being still, looking, and listening activates the non-conceptual intelligence within you. Let stillness direct your words and actions. ~Eckhart Tolle The world is testing our mental soundness. Fueled by the dramatic and life-changing weather patterns, coupled with disinformation and misinformation propagated by mass media, the collective atmosphere has thrown many off-kilter and left many feeling out of sorts. Yet, the quest for Equilibrium is always present, and a quiet call
-
4 min read
Active Listening - Who gets to decide?
Have you ever been told you weren’t listening… when you absolutely were? It’s a strangely frustrating accusation. You were there. You heard every word. You could probably replay the conversation back if asked. And yet, somehow, the conclusion is the same — you weren’t listening .The difficulty, of course, is that you don’t get to decide if that is true, or not. Listening is one of those curious things that feels entirely internal, but is judged almost exclusively from the ou
-
4 min read
The thorns of the Olive branch
Everyone makes mistakes. We recognise them on a bit of a sliding scale of real-time . Often they are seen immediately as glaring errors of judgement, sometimes only after months or years of emotional, financial or physical investment, give way to a proportionate sense of "Ooops".. and of course, an important learning and growing opportunity. A mistake is something we generally only recognise after the fact. It's often accompanied by a "wake-up" moment - both literally and fi
-
6 min read
French Kitchens - In praise of "proper butter".
There was a time, and I might be showing my age here, when butter became the subject of a deliberate, fatty witch-hunt. It seemed to be a hearing behind closed doors, for us butter lovers. It was accused and found guilty of shortening our lives and making us fat. The Western world fell under a wave of nutritional anxiety. Butter, which had been besties with bread for such a long time, was suddenly recast as the insidious villain of the kitchen. Into its golden yellow slippers
-
4 min read
Women - Are we strong enough to stop?
I have always admired strong women. The ones who hold things together. The ones who don’t panic. The ones who say, “It’s fine, I’ve got it,” and somehow do. The women who show up, not just as a statement of bravado, but as proof of real life. I have also been one. At times. I am clearly not talking about lifting weights here - at least not physical weights. I am leaning into character strength. Core values. That kind of strength, in its healthiest form, is a thing of beauty.
-
3 min read
Field Notes - The Sides of March
March 15th sits in that peculiar place in the French culinary calendar where winter has not quite finished and spring has not quite sprung. The markets still have a bit of an Irish feel to them - with much space still given over to leeks and potatoes. But you can sense that local market aficionados are sensing an arrival of sorts. The first crop of bright, green asparagus. The French love their asparagus. They have been cultivating them since the 15th century and their popu
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3 min read
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