Iowa Hall of Pride netINS, Inc. Butler House on Grand B&B Sam's Barber Shop Breitbach's Country Dining Douglas T. Bates III, Attorney KMA Radio's ''Chuck & Don Show'' The Monks of New Melleray Abbey
How the donut man from Bunkers Dunkers in Jefferson helped land RAGBRAI XXXVI for an overnight stop here!
Our hometown of  What’s the deal with the black & white saddle shoes?  Click here for the story of our farm in Greene County, Iowa. Here's looking at life at Simple Serenity Farm  It's been quite a year for gardening at the farm, and here are some photos of the late bounty Follow the link below for additional details. Click here for larger format Earlier photos in this series 
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The route for the 2008 RAGBRAI -- that's the Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa -- included our Greene County seat of Jefferson as an overnight stop on Monday, July 21. More than 20,000 people came to Jefferson, pop. 4,600, that night. Read the amazing story here about a chance encounter three years ago in Florida, where our vacationing local donut king Randy Bunkers warmly greeted a stranger who was wearing a RAGBRAI T-shirt. The fellow happened to be RAGBRAI director T.J. Juskiewicz -- and in the summer of 2008, hurrah! RAGBRAI came our way!
There’s the annual Cooper Prom (for all ages), concerts, basketball, suppers, ice cream socials and people coming through all the time on the Raccoon River Valley Trail. Here is the story on the little community in Greene County, Iowa, that is now home for the Offenburgers.
| Here's looking at life at Simple Serenity Farm Carla Offenburger says ''it's been a good year in the gardens'' here at the farm, with a steady and varied supply of vegetables, and gorgeous flowers, too. ''The tomatoes were actually mediocre, but we had enough for homemade salsa and BLT sandwiches all summer long.'' The zucchini crop? ''My gosh!'' Carla said. ''Typical zucchini crop -- more than you need. When you're busy doing other stuff and don't get around to picking your zucchini, they can get as big as some of the ones we were finding almost hidden under the vines, late in the season.'' We do not grow grapes at the farm, but Carla has persuaded our friend Robert Birkby, of Sidney in southwest Iowa, to provide us with some. ''Robert gives me concord grapes because he likes me,'' Carla said. ''In the past, I've made grape jelly and jam, but I'm terrible at it, so I just quit. But I've learned to make pretty good grape juice, and this year I made 27 quarts of it from the grapes Robert gave us.'' The best produce this year? ''The green beans,'' Carla said, ''and we had a lot of them.'' The worst produce? ''The acorn squash,'' she said. ''I planted them in too much shade.'' Her conclusion about gardening, from what she experienced this year? ''I need more time in my garden,'' she said, ''and less time on other projects you seem to keep lining up for me to do.'' -- Chuck Offenburger     Send your comments to carla@Offenburger.com or chuck@Offenburger.com Here's looking at life at Simple Serenity Farm Archives
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