Outdoor Secrets Links and Tips

Outdoor Secrets

The Bonus Features below are related to our book Outdoor Secrets. Enjoy the book by itself or add The Outdoor Secrets Companion handbook for additional ideas, living books, nature study, and more. Be sure to check back here from time to time because we will be adding new and updated resources related to the book as we get them. If you have some resources that you’d like to recommend, let us know!

Suggested Schedule

Here’s a 36-week schedule for using Outdoor Secrets with the Outdoor Secrets Companion.

Century Plant

  • Anna Lynn S. passed along this information: We are enjoying Outdoor Secrets and your Companion. Lo and Behold, we went to visit family in California and saw a beautiful Century Plant in bloom at the Oakland Zoo. I’ve never been so excited about seeing a plant! Also wanted to send you a link to a fabulous 4-5 minute video entitled “The Amazing Century Plant!” on you-tube done by a horticulturalist at a zoo in Texas.

    She also gave us two photos of Century Plants: The first one is the best. It was the one we saw at the Oakland Zoo. You can see the whole stalk and the base. The second one we saw when we stopped for a scenic view on the Pacific Coast Highway. The blooms are greener, but you can’t see the leaves at the base because it was growing on the side of a cliff. Fun stuff!

  • Wikipedia article on the century plant
  • An article, explaining how the century plant is related to aloe
  • And here is an article Karen S. found about a Century Plant in Michigan that was tended for more then 80 years before it finally bloomed and died. The article explains how they captured its abundance of seeds to start a new plant and what they plan to do with the old giant stalk.

    • Golden Rod

    • Wikipedia article on goldenrod
    • A descriptive article on goldenrod with a photo
    • Goldenrod legends and lore
    • Information on the Compass Goldenrod: The compass goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis) is one of the most brilliantly colored of the goldenrods, whose gracefully bent flowering heads point to the north. It is a late flowering species, with the flowers growing on the upper side of the bowed stem. The leaves are dull olive-green and covered with minute gray hairs. (Wildwood Wisdom, Ellsworth Jaeger, p. 396).

    Horse Chestnut

    Robins

    Flickers

    Dragonflies

    Brave Plant

    Pussy Willows/Seed Dispersion

    Wasps

    Mistletoe

    Chipmunks

    Angela B. found the poem used in Lesson 47 of The Outdoor Secrets Companion, “The Chipmunk’s Day” available for free in The Anthology of Children’s Literature, Fifth Edition (1969) on page 246.