~December 21: GreeneCountyNewsOnline publisher Victoria Riley’s original poem, “In a Stable,” reflects on a holy birth witnessed by cows and perhaps a dog. Riley read the poem at last year’s Nativity Festival. To read the poem, click here: “In a Stable”
The stable scene pictured was shared by Shelly Berger at the 2014 Nativity Festival. It is nearly identical to the nativity set of Riley’s childhood.
~December 7: The temperature was likely in the single digits when Chris Henning took this photo the morning of Dec. 2 near her home in Franklin Township. The trees seem to be talking to each other. “Cold enough for you?” was perhaps the start to the conversation.
Readers are invited to share photos, short prose or poetry by emailing them to news@greenecountynewsonline.com. Please include the where, when, what and who of photos. No props or far-away locations are required.
~November 16: Bill Monroe shot this sunset photo from the top of the Mahanay Bell Tower Nov. 8. He said he had taken sunset photos a few days earlier but didn’t get the drama he was hoping for. Bill is at the Bell Tower often, year-round. He’s the one who programs the recorded music that plays from the tower.
~November 9: Peek-a-boo bell tower. It’s just a matter of the vantage point. GreeneCountyNewsOnline photo
~October 27: Kathy Hankel shares this photo as “a testament to a lovely autumn in Iowa.” Irises on Westwood Drive in Jefferson bloomed a second time!
~October 19: Sometimes it doesn’t take a lot of trees to provide autumn splendor. This silver maple tree in St Joseph Catholic Cemetery does a fine job on its own. Looking north, the tree frames tombstones and the large crucifix that marks the graves of two former pastors. Looking south, it provides a colorful accent to the water tower. ~GreeneCountyNewsOnline photos
~October 12: In the gallery this week, a poem by Nancy Bardole Hanaman, “The Walls Came Down: Farewell to the Rippey School Building.” Nancy dedicates the poem to the students, parents, teachers and to those who had the vision to lay the cornerstone in 1920. Click here for the poem: The Walls Came Down
~October 5: Valerie Ogren of Jefferson shares a pair of photos she took near Ralston a week ago. Farmers were productive early in the week before rain ushered in October. 
~September 28: Chris Henning sent along this photo last Monday, the last day of summer, with a caption “Ready, set, go!” Harvest has started for a few area farmers, but most are holding off another little bit. The USDA is predicting record harvests this fall.
This picture was taken Tuesday, Sept. 23, in Jefferson. Yes, it’s autumn! The sunshine is mellower, the nights are cool, and we enjoy the warm days because we know they won’t last.
~September 21: Bird watchers know Dunbar Slough in southwestern Greene County, but many lifelong residents don’t. Much of the 2,134 acres of federal, state, and county owned grasslands and wetlands are not accessible by vehicle, but a walk, accompanied by hordes of grasshoppers and serenaded by birds and the breeze, is a welcome pause in busy days.
These photos were taken near a boat access on B Ave north of 270th St. For the least driving on gravel roads, turn east onto 270th St from County Road N-58 (the Carroll/Boone County line), and then turn north on B Ave.
There is also a lovely view of Dunbar Slough on County Road E-57 at B Ave. ~GreeneCountyNewsOnline photos
~September 14: While farm fields change with the seasons, the structures people have built in and near them do not change. The wind turbines of the Hardin Hilltop Wind Farm seem to be growing in this soybean field on the east edge of Jefferson, although we know they’re about three miles north of town. Regardless of the color of the field or the sky, the wind turbines are always pristine white. GreeneCountyNewsOnline photo
~September 7: It’s only in Oklahoma that the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye! That would be 13 feet high, give or take a little, but we can let Rodgers and Hammerstein slide a little in their measuring accuracy for the sake of great song lyrics.
In Iowa, the corn is higher than a horse’s eye, as this picture of Marie Carman (left) and her granddaughter Sadie Wilson proves. The picture was taken before Labor Day, when most of the corn in Greene County was standing that tall!
~August 24: Chris Henning shares this photo she took Wednesday morning south of Jefferson. She noted “red sky at morning, sailors take warning.” Heavy, intense rain on the first day of a new school year hopefully foreshadows some heavy, intense learning. Volunteer weather observer John Beltz reported a few drops more than eight-tenths of an inch of rain Wednesday, but folks who live closer to Chris reported nearly three inches of rain!
With a new season of the BBC’s “Doctor Who” premiering Saturday, with Peter Capaldi as the 12th time-traveling alien doctor, fans all over the globe prepared for new enemies. This photo of our own Abraham Lincoln may remind some of the Stone Angels, which joined the long list of enemies in 2007. Photo by GreeneCountyNewsOnline.
~August 17: It was too hard to resist taking an extra walk around the courthouse square after Hot August Night and Grease Thursday evening. The Bell Tower and courthouse don’t change, but the light and surroundings do. Photos by GreeneCountyNewsOnline
~August 3: Dick Finch of Jefferson shares a “throwback” photo of the commodities price sign that used to be near the corner of N. Elm and W. Washington St in Jefferson. Dick says the picture is from the mid-1970s, when the Greene County farm land was valued at about $1,000 an acre.
~August 3: Chris Henning of Franklin Township was entranced by the sky in the early morning hours last Tuesday. Folks who think Iowa is “just beans and corn, corn and beans” need to step back for the larger picture.
~August 3: The courthouse square is particularly pretty during the summer, as these GreeneCountyNewsOnline photos taken Thursday show. See the courthouse square as a visitor might see it!
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July 20: Barb Brooker of Jefferson was on the Raccoon River Valley Trail in Jefferson when she came upon a fawn having breakfast. She wrote that she felt lucky to get the picture. “Mama deer allowed me time to stop my bike, get my phone from my bike bag and take several pictures. I waited until little one was finished nursing before getting on with my ride. This was located north of the graffiti bridge but south of the one mile marker.”
July 20: “Corn as high as an elephant’s eye” is how Chris Henning describes her Franklin Township corn on July 13. The adage about corn being “knee high by the Fourth of July” is certainly dated, at least in Iowa.
July 6: Who can resist photographing a lovely sunset? This picture was taken by GreeneCountyNewsOnline publisher Tori Riley as she drove back to Jefferson following the final meeting of the East Greene board of education June 18. Board members assured an easy sunset for the East Greene district, which joined the Jefferson-Scranton district to become Greene County Community Schools effective July 1.
June 29: Jefferson/Greene County is no longer the only Home Base Iowa community, as Howard County (Cresco) received the designation on Thursday. But, there will always be just one county to be first, and that was Greene County. Signage is now in place at most paved entries to the county. By using sign posts already in place, the Home Base Iowa signs cost Greene County less than $300. This photo from the southern part of the county is shared by Chris Henning.
June 22: Chris Henning shares a photo of the approaching storm that blessed Greene County with gentle rain the night of June 21-22. Henning, a Franklin Township farmer, appreciates rain that falls slowly and replenishes the aquifers.
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une 22: There are statues of notable folks in Jefferson – Abraham Lincoln and Doreen Wilber – but the statue John Hair created for the Thomas Jefferson Gardens of Jefferson, sitting on a bench reading the Declaration of Independence, is an irresistible photo setting. Who can walk away from having his or her photo taken with our nation’s third president, the namesake of the county seat of Greene County?
Carrie Melson Hollenbeck of Gig Harbor, WA, (left) and her sister Ces Brunow of Jefferson are among those who have enjoyed the photo op. Ces is familiar enough to drape her arm over TJ’s shoulder. The photo is shared with GreeneCountyNewsOnline readers by John Brunow, who can greet Jefferson daily on his way to and from his business, All Ability Cycles.
(Editor’s note: Since posting this photo June 15, we’re certain it’s a Japanese lilac tree, and we’ve noticed several others around Jefferson. The trees are still fragrant well into June! Hooray!)
June 15: John Brunow shares a photo of a large flowering tree on the northeast corner of the courthouse square. The tree is not only beautiful with its billows of dainty, ivory colored flowers, but it also smells wonderful, too. The tree resembles a catalpa tree, but Valerie Ogren suggests it’s a Japanese tree lilac. The leaves and blooms are similar on both trees, but the bark on a Japanese tree lilac is smooth, like the bark higher up in this tree.
June 1: The weather was spectacular during the evening of Memorial Day. Wall clouds, heavy rain, and a fantastic light show in the sky capped off what was a very pleasant day in west central Iowa. Andrea Chargo of Jefferson photographed the sky Monday evening at about 8:15 between Jefferson and Scranton on County Road E-53.
