The Camont Journals with Kate Hill

Alone or Together? There is much written about being a writer, and the solitude needed to allow those few precious words to tumble from the brain to the page. I, too, appreciate my quiet times after years of hosting and organizing groups of avid travelers, cooks, bakers, butchers, both on my barge and then in the farmhouse.

Kate Hill in her Gascon Kitchen at Camont, Photo: Valentina Solfrini I probably shouldn’t write this at all, as a food writer, as a cookbook author, as someone who just sent four cherished recipes to a major print magazine for an upcoming feature on my kitchen, but I hate to write recipes. It is like going down Alice’s Rabbit Hole—do this, than cut that, no bigger, now smaller, don’t stir so much… There should be large orange “Danger Danger!!!” signs.

Change of Season- Au revoir Summer 2026, Kate Hill As a new month, a new bright moon, and the next season arrives, life at Camont rolls on, slightly slower, perhaps more thoughtfully as I look forward and back at the same time. While this month should start seamlessly into one third of the French l’Automne season (Sept, Oct, Nov.) it will in fact be another very hot weekend here in Gascony as Sunday crests at 100’F/ 38’C before it breaks again.

August 19 Almanac for Belonging. Le Retour du Marché-Summer Food. A bursting full basket of fragile ripe flat peaches and fresh vegetables perches on a weighty rolling trolley of heavier sturdy foods—a two story rolling shopping list from today’s village market.

August 15. Almanac for Belonging. If you assume the best will happen. I woke yesterday morning to that now familiar acrid smoky smell coming in under my bedroom door. I jumped up and grabbed my drying laundry off the line—now tainted with a far off forest fire 🔥 100 kilometers away. This is what I woke to this morning— cool mountain air, green hills, sheep on the hill outside my hotel room, church bells at 7:00, and the boulangère’s truck delivering fresh croissant and bread to the dining room.

Each week through the seasons I note the little rituals and small moments that help me stay anchored to my private corner of Gascony in Southwest France at Camont. Follow along by subscribing as I write my newest book- My Gascon Kitchen throughout these French seasons. August 1 Almanac for Belonging.

Lavardac Wednesday Market- July 29 2026; Kate Hill One of the recent comments on my instagram account asked, “What will you create with these vegetables?” My initial flippant answer was “How about breakfast, lunch, and dinner?” But I actually directed this follower to read this post to discover what I had planned or stumbled upon on Wednesday to make with all this peak-of-season, locally grown, mostly organic Summer goods.

July 16 Almanac for Belonging. Insult to Injury in my Hot Gascon Kitchen. You can’t imagine the hurt I feel as I empty shelf after shelf, sort out the vegetable bins, rearrange the Tupperware, and take the frozen goods down to the other kitchen and other refrigerator. (yes, I have two.) The very high end side by side refrigerator has for the second time in 6 months stopped defrosting and stopped cooling. All that food has to be sorted, eaten, or stashed in another place.

Here is one of my Summer Stories from my new book “My Gascon Kitchen” as well as a field guide for those experiencing their first summer in rural France. Each summer is different, no two the same, but the accumulation of 35 years of summering in a village square with friends and neighbors is a longer work I hope to share in my on going legacy project. The Camont Journals with Kate Hill is a reader-supported publication. To receive all posts, recipes, and support my work, become a paid subscriber.

Today is La Fête Nationale—July 14th. This year fireworks are banned in most places—the risk of fires under this heat dome is so dangerous. Besides, France is playing Spain in the World Cup tonight and who will be not be watching? So while this might not seems very festive, these Summer words on Summer foods is as French as you can get—simple, available, and delicious.