Cattle sorter, dog lover, and prairie daughter, “Plain Jane Green” of Clark will present “Grandma’s Apron Strings,” stories from our pioneering grandmothers,
on Museum Activity Day, Sunday,Feb. 2, at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre.

Green’s presentation will be at 1:30 p.m. CST, with a repeat performance at 3 p.m. Seating is limited to 40 people per performance and is first-come, first-serve with no reserved seating.

Green will bring a dress form outfitted in clothing similar to what her great-grandmother, Rebecca Susan Kennedy Cook, would have worn. During the presentation, Green “talks” to the dress form as if it is a real person and she relates her stories as they would have been handed down in her family. Audience members are encouraged to bring heritage aprons with them and share their stories as well.

The hands-on activity for the day will be making bookmarks with ribbons, stickers, beads and bells. No special craft skills are required and all supplies are provided. Making bookmarks will take place in the Education Room and refreshments will be served in the Lobby. There is no fee to participate in the program, but the usual admission fee will apply to those people who want to go into the museum.

For more than 30 years, Green has divided her time between teaching high school, raising four rowdy kids and working the farm with her husband Jim. She was encouraged to write and publish her humorous stories of being a farm wife, mother and grandmother by distinguished author Frederick Manfred. He was a man of the prairie who liked a good story with a touch of humor.

Each of Green’s stories speaks to Manfred’s mentoring and her love of the prairie life. She hopes they bring a smile, a laugh and a little comfort to all who read them. Green’s writing currently appears in The Cattle Business Weekly of Philip, The Farm Forum of Aberdeen, The Corsica Globe of Corsica and the Western Ag Reporter of Billings, Mont.

Green’s program is made possible by the South Dakota Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.