After my Culinary Cruise Through Canada with Heavens Angels, I came home to a garden explosion! I couldn’t believe how much it had grown while I was away.


Out in the backyard, my daughter-in-law Cecilia was already busy harvesting baskets of fresh vegetables...


As you’ll see in this video, some of these veggies are total mysteries to me—I don’t even know what they are! 😂


Do you recognize this one?

If so, please comment below and help me solve the mystery!

We’ve lived in this house for 26 years, and this is—hands down—the best garden we’ve ever had. Want to know the secret?

Chicken poop. Yep. Really.

For over two decades, whenever we clean out the chicken coop, we shovel the droppings into a pile just outside. This year, I figured… why not put that composted gold to work? So we hauled it over in wheelbarrows and rototilled it right into the garden soil.

And WOW. Just look at the results!

It’s been such a thrill to see everything growing so well. And even more rewarding to harvest fresh, delicious vegetables every day.

But the garden isn’t the only thing growing around here…

The Oaks family is growing too! 🥹

Just one day after I returned from my trip, our daughter-in-law Kenzie gave birth to our fourth grandchild—Carter Faye Oaks!


Isn’t he adorable?

His big brother Evan is thrilled to have a new playmate…


…and Kathy and I are overjoyed to welcome another grandson into the family!


And if that wasn’t exciting enough—drum roll please…

Our daughter Brennah is expecting too!

She found out just before her husband, Landon, ran a Spartan race. To surprise him, she taped the positive pregnancy test to the sign she was holding at the finish line and snapped this awesome photo:


(Pretty clever, huh?)

Kathy and I just love the grandbabies. And with the garden overflowing, you can bet Kathy’s going to keep them all well-fed with fresh, delicious, homegrown meals.

She’ll probably cook up so much food…

they won’t even be able to eat it all! 😄

EAT! EAT!! EAT!!! 😃