After you’ve been away, isn’t it nice to get back home? Home is where the heart is — it’s your sanctuary, it’s where your family is (even the four-legged ones). Home is a special place. So, each year, we celebrate with our Homes and Gardens Special Issue. And this is it — 37 pages of great content, wonderful advertisers, and so much more.

Let’s start with the cover. What a beautiful retreat that backyard must be! We thank John Nicolaus for the image, as well as his story filled with great gardening tips and more. He’s joined in this issue by Michael Sestak, who writes about the importance of lighting — both indoors and out. Tammy Sons, all the way from Tennessee, shares pointers and insights about planting and caring for trees in the city. There’s more home content, but you’ll need to click through to read it all!

On page 6, the #IAm campaign announces its launch, with ideas on how you can help and get involved. Fred sits down with Scott Robertson of Tri Counties Bank to talk about their Small Business Empowerment program on page 11. And three Outword readers shared photos from the peaceful protest that took place in and around the Capitol on April 5 — thank you so much for sharing!

Keep an eye out for “Walk Like A Girl,” “The Friend,” “Holland,” and “Sacramento.” We wave hello to the new baby giraffe at the zoo and take a look at the winners of the State Fair cheese competition. Matt Burlingame checks in on page 26 with his fabulous “Out & About,” and Fred stopped by Octopus Peru for a wonderful bite — or two. Don’t miss the memes on pages 30 and 31!

Like we said, there are 37 pages of good stuff in this Homes and Gardens issue — always free, either as a downloadable PDF or to view as a flip version via our ISSUU portal. As always, please support the advertisers in this issue (and all of our issues), and let them know you saw them in Outword! And if you can, feel free to show us some love through our Rainbow Fund — every little bit counts.

Enjoy!