Gear up your smartphone with free apps to crush those annoying goals that show up on our top-10 lists every year:

Lose Weight: Two proven weight-loss strategies—calorie counting and peer support—team up in FitNow’s app (loseit.com). Set a daily calorie budget, track activities, and connect with friends for extra motivation.

Get Organized: Build collections of photos, recipes, and decorating ideas at pinterest.com. Think of it as a personal digital scrapbook that you just happen to share with the entire world.

Manage Money: Track and categorize spending at mint.com. Enter account information, then sit back and watch. As the year unfolds, you’ll begin to notice where to cut back and save.

Learn Something New: Bring global photo journalism into your tablet with this app from Reuters (widerimage.reuters.com). Timely, insightful, sometimes disturbing, always fascinating. (Sorry, it’s iPad only.)

Get a New Job: Access postings from job boards and company websites at indeed.com. Bonus: Personalize and send your search to your smart device.

Quit Smoking: OK, these apps aren’t free—but they’re lots cheaper than smoking. QuitNow! ($2.99, Google Play) and Livestrong MyQuit Coach ($3.99, iTunes) motivate soon-to-be-reformed-smokers with progress trackers, chats, and achievable goals.

Help Others: Find a great place to volunteer at volunteermatch.org.  Make a difference and connect with others in your community with this iPhone app.

Meet New People: Join the largest location-based social network at badoo.com. Meet new friends, chat, and share interests.

Send Cards: Find the perfect card for whenever and whomever at justwink.com. Get reminders and send personalized digital greetings via text, email, or Facebook.

Save the Planet: Go green with the One Small Act app from greenisuniversal.com. Choose from 400+ simple, eco-friendly actions; track progress; and share achievements.

Top 10 Apps for Self-Improvement The Saturday Evening Post

Some Like It Hot

In an herb spiral, climate varies from arid Mediterranean at the top to moist and subtropical at its base. Heat-loving herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram, and sage, bask in the dry, sunny upper region that is 2 or

3 feet above ground. Bricks or stones placed along the spiral capture the noonday heat, storing it to keep herbs toasty at night. In a “trickle-down” effect, water drains down into the lower levels, leaving the arid-loving plants high and dry, while the middle and lower levels stay progressively more moist. The varied environments provide an ideal growing medium for tansies, chives, garlic, parsley, and chamomile in the middle level, and lemon balm, coriander, and moisture-loving mints at the base. Some gardeners place a small pond at the lowest level for watercress and other water plants.

An Upward Spiral

Start with a sunny spot in your yard or garden within an accessible range of your kitchen. Clear an area about 6 feet in diameter. (If grass is present, use a spade to remove any sod.)

Find the middle of the plot, then drive in a stake. Using a 2 ½-foot string with a loop placed around the stake, mark out the desired diameter of your circle with a pointed stick or screwdriver.

Using bricks or rock, lay out the spiral either from the center out or from the outside in. Position the bottom end of the spiral on the south side. You can “eyeball” the spiral, but for more accuracy, place a two-gallon plastic pail upside down in the center. Tie a 4-foot string around the base of the pail and secure with duct tape. Place a weight on top of the bucket, then measure out the desired radius. Hold a pointed stick or screwdriver at that point on the string and mark the ground as you go around the pail. Keep the line taut. You will end up at the pail with a nice spiral.

Build the spiral until it is 2 to 3 feet high at its top. Fill the middle with stones, sand, or brick pieces, leaving about 8 inches at the top to fill with soil. Mediterranean herbs that will thrive at the top level prefer poor soil. As you descend the spiral, add more compost for herbs planted in the middle and base.

Consider the growing habits of each herb when planting. Shade-tolerant plants will grow best on the east, west, and north sides of the spiral. Rosemary can become large, so place it at the top. Creeping plants such marjoram and thyme may be planted so they can cascade over the edge. Situate herbs from 1 to 2 feet apart. To fill gaps, plant parsley, kale, calendula, or nasturtium throughout your spiral.

Build an Herb Spiral The Saturday Evening Post

It’s a question many Americans ask themselves every day. Thanks to an abundance of cheap goods, instant credit, and constant exposure to the persuasive powers of advertising, acquiring has in itself become a national pastime. And a national problem, as our closets, attics, and lives become overwhelmed in an epidemic of uncontrolled clutter.

“We’ve begun to buy and hold on to so many items that we’re 
now having to acquire more and more space to accommodate our clutter,” says Dr. David Kantra, a psychologist in Fairhope, Alabama who studies the clutter problem.

Birth of an Obsession

Paper Chase
One of the biggest sources of clutter in our lives is paper—bills, receipts, or the instruction manuals from all the stuff we’ve bought.

Here’s how to tame it:
• Gather supplies. You’ll need a recycling bin, garbage bags, file folders, a pen, and a shredder.
• Establish a sorting area. Set up a folding table or quadrant of the floor—you’ll need room to spread out.
• Ditch the obvious. Long-expired coupons or instructions for products you no longer have can lurk in a desk for years. Pitch ’em.
• Create four paper management systems for:
1. Action items—bills, timely paperwork
2. Essential paperwork not needed on a daily basis, such as bank or insurance statements
3. Vital records—birth certificates, Social Security information, various account numbers
4. Archives for tax returns, legal papers, and/or family memorabilia
• Maintain the system by scheduling time to file papers. Organization is an ongoing process.

The ready availability of merchandise of every stripe was something that didn’t exist throughout most of American history, but the problem of clutter traces its origins back further than you might think—all the way to the 19th century. The rise of industrialization and the mass production of products created a cult of desire that has survived the decades, through economic booms and busts, where accumulating goods was viewed as the road to happiness.

That idea became more pronounced in the 20th century, as the power of advertising linked products to a lifestyle. “The message became ‘you are what you own,’ ” says Dr. Lorrin Koran, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Stanford University Center. Retailers responded to that insatiable desire for ownership. Remember the general store? It used to stock about 1,000 items in three or four aisles with one lane for checkout: That was all we needed. Today, you could fit almost the entire contents of that old store into one aisle of a huge discount chain that sells everything from hamburger meat to motor oil to flat-screen TVs. The average super retail center carries more than 100,000 products in mega-stores that stretch the equivalent of nearly five football fields. Shopping malls have become veritable mini cities containing hundreds of stores, food courts, ice skating rinks, movie theaters, even hotels.

And there’s always the Internet. Last year, online shoppers spent $204 billion on merchandise: The auction site eBay alone reported sales of $59.7 billion on merchandise ranging from brand-new cars and homes to vintage collectibles and antiques.

Retailers aren’t the only ones who have catered to this acquisitional trend; the housing industry has, too. 
In the past 30 years, the size of the average American home has grown 
53 percent, from 1,500 square feet 
to a little more than 2,300 square 
feet. That’s an extra 800 square feet 
for stuff. But instead of becoming 
more organized with this space, homeowners have filled it up, rather than outsource to storage facilities.

“We’re at a point where people don’t know how to make decisions about quantities of things and whether items serve a purpose,” says Laura Leist, president of the 4,200-member National Association of Professional Organizers and the voice of a service industry that has sprung up to help people clear the chaos from their homes. They aren’t the only ones: More than 20 states have chapters of Clutterers Anonymous for clutterers in crisis.

Back to Basics

I wasn’t ready for a 12-step program yet, but it was clear I needed some help. So I consulted a local professional organizer, who helped me sort through my junk and discard what 
no longer had value. One of the first rules many organizers instill in chronic clutterers is: make the time. Just as someone trying to lose weight needs to set aside time for exercise, someone trying to shed stuff needs to commit to at least 30 to 60 minutes a week sorting through closets, files, and storage areas. Mark the time on your calendar and treat it as a standing appointment.

I learned other tips to help whittle away the clutter in my house and control what I brought in so that new junk wasn’t replacing the old.

I’m still working on the rest of the house, but I eventually got rid of that stuff I’d brought home from the office. Now, the only garbage bags on my floor are the ones that are on their way to the trash.

Curing the Clutter Epidemic The Saturday Evening Post

Here comes summer, and with it, your garden’s biggest growth spurt. Get ahead of those extra inches by pinching back new growth on annuals and perennials to encourage more branching and blooms. Use your garden shears or thumb and forefinger to remove the plant’s tips just above the uppermost pair of leaves.

Tall, bushy, and vining plants (e.g., delphinium, peony, or clematis) benefit from support, so get plant cages, bamboo stakes, and trellises into the soil now. Old fence posts, shovel handles, or sections of snow fence make economical plant reinforcements.

Amend garden soil while there’s space to work around your plants. Add in 2 to 4 inches of compost, aged manure, or peat moss to the top 8 inches of soil and follow up with a fresh layer of mulch. Fallen pine needles, grass clippings, or even shredded leaves will do the trick in a pinch.

Primp the Patio

Spruce up outdoor furniture for spring with a quick clean up. Whisk away dirt and cobwebs with a broom or soft-bristle brush, then sponge down chairs, tables, and cushions with a solution of 1/4 cup mild dishwashing detergent and 1 gallon of warm water and wipe dry with a clean rag. Use fine grit sandpaper to remove peeling paint, mold, rust, or even bird droppings and follow up with touch-up paint as needed. Treat wood furniture with a coat of water repelling wood sealer, metal furniture with liquid or paste auto wax, and aluminum furniture with a one-to-one mixture of vinegar and water. (Check the manufacturer’s care instructions.)

Close Companions

By planting your veggies with the right partner, you’ll keep pests at bay and encourage growth. Cheerful nasturtiums deter squash bugs and whiteflies (their edible flowers also make a tasty addition to fresh salads) while marigolds repel nematodes, tomato hornworms, and bean, cucumber, and asparagus beetles. Peppers thrive alongside carrots, onions, parsnips, and peas, and tomatoes flourish near basil, bush bean, chive, lettuce, and cucumber.

Notes from the Field: Summer Growth Spurt The Saturday Evening Post

Today homeowners are rediscovering the advantages of a backyard pool. While a pool can cost anywhere from $100 to $3,500 or more depending on materials and plants, a small water garden can still come in under $100. Follow these 10 simple steps and create your own sensory experience that only water can bestow.

1 – Decide on the type of water garden you want

With flexible liners, you choose the dimensions that suit your needs, then cut the liner to fit. Liners made of PVC or EPDM rubber are more durable than polyethylene. You can find them at home-improvement stores and garden centers.

2 – Determine the location and size:

The best spot is one that is fairly level, somewhat open, and receives at least five hours of direct sun. Choose an area away from trees and any runoff from rain that might affect the pool’s ecosystem. Select a site near the house for easy access to an electrical outlet equipped with a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI). Most backyard pools range in depth from 8 inches to 3 feet. Plan on 3 to 4 feet deep in colder regions of the country. Deeper pools also stand up to summer heat and winter freezes.

3 – Dig in:

Using a garden hose or rope, mark the outline of your pond on the ground, then excavate the site to the desired shape. Slightly slope the sides inward to the desired depth, or dig a shelf (about 12 inches wide by 8 to 12 inches deep) around the inside perimeter to accommodate potted water plants. Check to confirm that the outer edges are level.

4 – Prep the space:

Remove any rocks or tree roots from the sides and bottom of the hole so they won’t puncture the liner, then rake the area smooth and tamp the soil firmly in place. Cover the bottom and sides of the excavated area with an underlayment such as a commercial underliner or 2 to 3 inches of damp sand. This will help cushion and further protect the pond liner.

5 – Install the pond liner:

To determine the size liner 
you’ll need, measure the pool’s length and width, then add twice the maximum depth plus 2 feet. For example, a pool that is 10 feet long by 7 feet wide and 2 feet deep will need a 16 x 13-foot liner (length is 10 + 4 + 2 = 16; width is 
7 + 4 + 2 = 13). This will allow for a 12-inch overlap around the pool’s perimeter. Center your liner loosely over the hole and unfold it, leaving an even overlap around the pool’s perimeter. Stretch out and smooth the liner into place so 
that it fits snugly on the bottom and up the sides. Minimize the wrinkles, but leave a few folds where the sides curve to allow for slack.

6 – Cover up:

Cover the pond liner with a 2- to 3-inch layer of pea gravel, or use smooth rocks with pea gravel poured in-between. This will lengthen the life of the liner and give your water garden a more natural appearance.

7 – Finish edges:

Place stones or boulders around the outer edge to hold the liner in place. For a more natural appearance, strategically graduate the stones up to and over the rim of the pool. Trim any excess liner around the edge so that a 12-inch overlap remains.

8 – Fill with water:

Place a garden hose in the center of the pool and fill with water to within a few inches from the top. As water flows in, smooth out the liner by folding and pleating portions of the material.

9 – Add plants:

Tuck in moisture-loving plants (see sidebar for suggestions) around the outer edges to soften the rocks, then add any aquatic plants to help filter the water and keep algae under control. Water lilies and other floating aquatic blooms should ideally cover 50 percent to 65 percent of the pool surface. Want to add a little life to your project? Goldfish are most suited to a small pool. A koi pool, however, needs to be larger in size—at least 10 feet by 10 feet and ideally 3 to 4 feet deep.

10 – Create a balance:

Maintenance is minimal if you establish a balance of plants, fish, and other aquatic life. In addition to floating plants, each square foot of water surface should support one bunch of submerged (oxygenating) plants, small fish (about two inches in length), and one pond scavenger, such as snails and tadpoles. Add water during summer as needed to maintain the proper level.

Don’t have the time or space to build an outdoor water feature? Bring it indoors with a tabletop fountain. These self-contained fountains come in a variety of soothing designs, and many 
include space for plants. Prices start at under $100. Available at home-improvement and garden-supply centers or online at sites such as amazon.com or simplyfountains.com.

Just Add Water The Saturday Evening Post

Phlox, pansies, and bulbs like tulips and daffodils are sure bets for spring. Annuals like zinnia, cosmos, and moss rose and heat-tolerant perennials—blanket flower, coreopsis—are standouts in summer. In fall, try purple aster, ornamental kale, and sedum. And don’t forget about winter, when there are a plethora of show-stoppers, including Harry Lauder’s walking stick, hellebore, evergreens, and berry-producing shrubs (which bring colorful birds flocking).

2: Look beyond the living. Garden structures and ornaments are critical to a garden that sparkles year-round. Gazing globes, statuary, and other garden décor work wonders in adding color and interest in dark or sparse parts of the landscape.

3: Containers are key. Express your creative side with planters that celebrate the seasons. Stick to pastel palettes and cold-tolerant plants in spring. In summer, take inspiration from the tropics and switch out tulips and pansies with lush, colorful foliage like canna, tufted hairgrass, and Persian shield. Maple Sugar hibiscus, strawflower, and dwarf grasses are fall favorites, while dogwood twigs and evergreen boughs ring in the holidays.

4: Plant annuals. Most gardens experience lean months, when the landscape transitions from one season to the next. Achieve continuous color with annuals. For the biggest impact, plant en masse. Large, thickly planted beds of annuals provide swaths of color that everyone will notice.

5: Evergreens and conifers are critical. Evergreens, such as boxwood, holly, arborvitae, and junipers look great throughout the year. During the growing season, they provide a backdrop for colorful annuals and perennials. But when the garden quiets in winter, they provide both structure and color. The same goes for conifers. Who can resist the graceful, snow-laden branches of a pine or spruce? And with so many colorful cultivars and dwarf varieties available today, there’s one for any yard.

6: Don’t forget about foliage. Ornamental grasses (fountain grass, blue fescue), dogwood, burning bush, deciduous trees like maples and white ash—all feature dazzling foliage that spans the seasons.

7: Provide good care. Continue to keep plants pest- and disease-free for a colorful show well past the growing season. Cut back spent foliage and deadhead spent blooms. The flush of color that most often follows is well worth it.

7 Secrets to Season-Long Color The Saturday Evening Post

“Mom, there’s a tornado heading toward Greensburg. 
Don’t go there,” he urged, after watching a weather alert. 
But Sharon pressed on, into darkness, past downed telephone poles and power lines. They smelled gas from countless 
broken mains.

“The homes were all gone,” she says. “Our big church was just gone. You could see from one side of town to the other.”

“Mom, I think your house is gone,” Morgan said.

It was, along with about 95 percent of the homes and buildings in the rural town of 1,400 people. On May 4, 2007, a 2-mile-wide, EF5 
tornado—the highest 
level—swept through Greensburg. Eleven people died, and nearly everyone lost their homes. Yet, in the wake of the destruction and disaster, city leaders saw an opportunity.

“We had a clean slate, so why not do things right?” says former City Council President John Janssen. City officials 
envisioned a model for other communities.

Like rural towns across 
the country, Greensburg’s population had been shrinking. Starting from scratch 
allowed them to design for the future. To attract people and jobs and induce young adults to return, they reasoned they had to be sustainable, reducing water and energy use and getting power from renewable sources such as wind or sun.

“We talked about smarter building, better planning, and better facilities,” says city 
administrator Steve Hewitt.

Slowly, painfully, the town 
became more than another tale of disaster and death; it became a story of hope.

Unlikely Ambassadors

Before the tornado, most Greensburg residents had never heard of photovoltaic solar panels, tankless water heaters, and geothermal heating and cooling systems (see sidebar).

“We weren’t tree-huggers by any stretch,” Janssen says. “There was a lot of pressure to build the town back just the way it was.” Instead, the city council voted unanimously to build municipal structures to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum certification, the highest designation. To meet LEED standards, buildings are given points for each 
environmentally sustainable feature, such as using daylight rather than artificial light, installing water-saving systems, and using reclaimed materials like wood or bricks. The 
more points earned, the higher the rating. Both the up-front costs and long-term savings are usually greater with higher sustainability ratings.

“Everybody was pretty skeptical,” says Stacy Barnes, 27, who works as the executive director of the 5.4.7 Arts Center and director of the town’s historic tourist attraction, the Big Well, the world’s largest hand-dug well. But today, about 80 percent of the community supports the decision to go green.

The Estes brothers rebuilt their BTI John Deere dealership facility to LEED platinum specifications, and Iowa-based John Deere Renewable Energy is building a wind farm to meet the city’s power needs. In addition, the Dwane Shank Motors GM dealership that was rebuilt to green standards 
has become a corporate beacon. General Motors unveiled its electric Chevrolet Volt at the Greensburg dealership.

About 900 people now live in Greensburg, some from outside the area. The disaster got so much attention, including a reality show on Discovery Network’s Planet Green, that cash donations, volunteers, and materials poured in.

“There’s going to be a higher concentration of energy-
efficient buildings in this small Kansas town than anywhere,” says resident Farrell Allison. Nearly all the homes were circa 1950 or earlier, so most new homes are more energy efficient and contain more insulation and better windows.

Faith in the Future

Greensburg is a deeply religious community. When the 
tornado struck, “I know God’s name was on everyone’s lips. We don’t have a basement. I believe God placed us where we were,” says Schmidt. “The toll could have been hundreds of deaths.” The fire chief ordered 300 body bags.

Losing everything changed priorities. “You learn that your family is more important than things,” says Alexsis Fleener, 17, a high school senior. But people also saw this as an opportunity to “change the world,” says Taylor Schmidt, who, like Alexsis, was a co-founder of the high school’s green club.

“We’re all part of the same environment. We all breathe the same air and drink the same water,” says Daniel Wallach, executive director of 
GreenTown, a nonprofit 
organization created to 
help Greensburg rebuild sustainably. “We can 
agree that we are 
concerned about the 
future for our children.”

Darin Headrick, the school superintendent, 
certainly felt that way. He promised school would open 88 days after the 
tornado struck. Classes met in temporary buildings at first, and nearly 75 percent of the students returned.

Headrick’s commitment played a pivotal role in bringing people back. If children had to be educated in other towns, more families would have left permanently. The new school building will open this fall. The students themselves have helped with construction of the school, which will be a place of learning for kids and visitors alike.

“The mechanical stuff inside the building will have glass windows so you can see how everything works,” Alexsis says. She wanted to be a veterinarian, but now plans to study sustainability and community planning in college. “The green movement changed me and what I wanted to do.”

Hewitt and his staff still face struggles and conflicts. “The jury is still out on us,” Hewitt says. “I think we’ve come an amazing way in two and a half years.”

The city’s leaders, such as Hewitt, are routinely asked to speak and educate others about the greening of Greensburg. “We’re the new pioneers of the 21st century. In Greensburg, Kansas, everybody is doing what they can, at whatever level they can. We’ve all got to start making a difference.”

People made a difference for Sharon Schmidt after she and her son Taylor lost their home. Volunteers from a Mennonite group built Schmidt’s new home using energy-efficient, 
tornado-resistant Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) blocks.

“If you’re going to come back in western Kansas, you’ve got to have something going for you,” adds Schmidt. “I think it’s going to be a model city 10 years down the road. I feel 
excited for Taylor’s generation.”

The Town that Rebuilt Itself The Saturday Evening Post

They typically live in tough habitats. For survival, they capture scarce nutrients not through soil, but through bugs and, sometimes, larger prey. Carnivorous plants vary greatly in size, shape, and “hunting” method. Below are several examples from the wild world of carnivorous plants. If you would rather skip the info and just watch plants eat stuff, feel free to click on the videos or pictures above each one.

Venus Flytrap

Fortunately for us, no variety of Venus Flytrap is actually big enough to eat people. They are, however, big enough to eat things larger than you would think (see video). Flytraps produce appendages at the end of their leaves that look like a cross between a flower and a butterfly, with eyelash-like things protruding from the sides. Like many carnivorous plants, they attract prey by producing sweet sap. When animals take the bait, they activate small hairs on the appendage that trigger it to snap shut like a bear trap. The “eyelash” projections interlock so that the unfortunate creature is locked in. The snapping mechanism of the flytrap is an example of one of the most unusual plant features in all of nature–rapid plant movement. Unlike slow plant movement, which many plants exhibit (for example, when they turn leaves with the path of the sun), rapid movement is highly specialized and rare. It is also impressive, considering plants have no muscles.

Nepenthes

Star Wars fans might find the Nepenthes interesting, because it reminds one of the Sarlacc, Jabba the Hutt’s favorite means of disposing those who didn’t pay up. Certain species are among the biggest carnivorous plants. For example, the rare Nepenthes attenboroughii (named for British botanist Sir David Attenborough) has, over thousands of years of isolation, become large enough to eat rats! Although there is debate as to whether the plant is designed to eat them or if it happens by accident, the fact that it is big enough to do so is extraordinary. A Nepenthes captures prey by growing large cylindrical “pitcher” leaves that hold sweet smelling fluid. Unfortunately for anything attracted to it, this liquid is not nectar but full of digestive juices. There is little chance for escape, as the interior is coated with smooth wax, making it nearly impossible to gain footing. The motion of struggling animals activates glands that release more digestive enzymes, some of which are so powerful that small insects completely dissolve within hours.

Sundew

Quite possibly the strangest plant I have ever seen, the Sundew, seems like it should be from some strange region of outer space rather than almost every continent on Earth. The plant captures prey with specialized tentacles sticking out of leaves that produce sticky mucilage. Insects attracted to the sweet mucilage soon become hopelessly entangled. Then, the weird stuff happens. The tentacles twist shut, grabbing the animal in a manner that reminds one of an octopus grabbing something out of the sea. This movement is among the fastest examples of thigmotropism, the same behavior exhibited by vines grasping to a host plant. (Note: the videos in this article are embedded directly from YouTube, so we at the Post cannot control the spelling. Obviously, “cornivorous” is not correct.)

Sarracenia

This plant is similar to the Nepenthes in that it can grow quite large and uses a “pitcher” trapping method. However, instead of growing only in the Pacific islands, it can be found across North America (I did not find it reassuring to find that Sarracenia could be growing in my backyard).

In all seriousness, I am not really concerned about it in my yard. I am much more concerned that it is becoming less and less likely to be there, because it is a threatened species. Carnivorous plants in general are especially in jeopardy because, in addition to challenges like habitat loss that many endangered species face, they have unique problems because of their specialized nature. They thrive in areas of low nutrients, and the heavy use of fertilizer is completely changing their environments. Algae blooms and farm runoff have changed the composition of the soil and water that Sarracenia is accustomed to, while other plants, that would have otherwise never been able to survive near Sarracenia, are now crowding them out, and unfortunately, the Sarracenia can not eat them.

Cobra Lily

This California native is essentially an upside down pitcher plant with some unique twists (literally). It is aptly named, as its winding stalk and top strongly resemble the venomous snake. Bugs are drawn to the “head” of the plant, which is shaped slightly like a mushroom with a hole in the bottom. As they crawl in, they become disoriented by what appears to be exits but are really just translucent spots at the top where the sun shines through. Eventually, the bug works its way back to the “neck” of the plant, where inward pointing hairs make a one-way street for the creature (think of the spiked strip at car lots that lets vehicles in but not out). Finally, at the bottom of the neck, there is the “stomach” which has digestive enzymes.

Cephalotus

Although this plant is similar in many ways to other pitcher plants, it is also quite unique. Rather than a swamp or bog, where most carnivorous plants live, it lives in a sandy land of droughts and floods. Rather than large pitchers with pools of water, it has small pitchers designed to keep water out. It lives in one of the most unique habitats in the world – the southwestern tip of Australia, where everything must be adaptable to survive — and it changes its look entirely though the different seasons of the year. It stays dormant in winter, when frosts and floods can occur. When it comes back to life in spring, it has normal photosynthesizing leaves. However, as the dry summer approaches, it produces a second type of leaf – a pitcher leaf. When insects fall in, they are forced down by inward pointing hairs, like in the neck of a Cobra Lily. The Cephalotus, Nepenthes, Sarracenia and Cobra Lily are all unrelated plants that developed a similar method of survival in very different places, a fact that makes one appreciate how effective the pitcher trap is.

Bladderwort

One of the most common and adaptable types of carnivorous plants, the Bladderwort can live underwater or above ground. It works by creating a bean-shaped trap that maintains a pressurized vacuum, with small hairs at the mouth of the trap acting as triggers. When prey touch the hairs, it opens the trap, destroys the vacuum, and is sucked in. Some varieties of Bladderwort are known to live inside of pitcher plants, creating the hungriest symbiosis in the plant kingdom. The video above shows a Cane Toad tadpole with its tale stuck in the Bladderwort’s trap. According to the person who posted the video, the whole tadpole was eventually drawn in and ingested, and that plant singlehandedly captured hundreds of them over just a few days.

A few other notable Carnivorous plants

Butterwort (Wikipedia Commons)

Butterwort: Also known as the flypaper plant, the Butterwort uses sticky leaves to trap fruit flies and other small insects. Buying one of these plants may be a better alternative to using flypaper in your home, because it ingests the bugs and cleans up after itself, rather than flypaper, which retains its collection of dead flies.

Waterwheel (Wikipedia Commons)

Waterwheel: The Waterwheel plant is the aquatic equivalent of the Venus flytrap. It is believed that they are closely related. It uses the same bear-trap mechanism to catch prey, except that it targets tadpoles and larvae rather than fully-grown insects. And you thought the flytrap was weird. If you click on the image to enlarge, you can see the flytrap-like traps arranged in a wheel around the plant stem.

Special thanks to Mike Wenzel Of Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

Hungry, Carnivorous Plants The Saturday Evening Post

What’s It Worth?

Getting an honest and accurate appraisal of a treasured collectible can be tricky, but the Internet has made the job a little easier.

For decades, the Kovels’ guides have been the gold standard of antiques and collectible pricing. In addition to Kovels’ well-regarded price guides (available in bookstores and libraries), kovels.com offers a range of news, information, and resources, whether you’re trying to find the value of heirloom jewelry or want to know if Grandma’s antique pie cabinet is worth repairing.

Collectors flock to online auction site eBay.com, not just to bid on hard-to-find items, but to search previous auctions to check the sale prices of pieces they own.

Nice Catch

Baseball memorabilia is one of the country’s most popular and diverse collectible fields. Vintage baseball equipment is particularly hot these days. Just ask Joe Phillips, editor and creator of The Glove Collector newsletter that covers the history of glove companies, which gloves were worn by famous players, and how to find and appraise collectible gloves. The most valuable gloves, Phillips says, are of course those owned or endorsed by famous players. Lou Gehrig’s game glove was auctioned for $387,000. Mickey Mantle’s went for $239,000. Older models, like the pre-1900’s cutoff finger gloves, are also very collectible. Prime examples can fetch $5,000 to $8,000.

Sky-High

Comic books from the 1930s and 40s are valuable (many were lost in wartime paper drives), but none more so than those featuring the debut of a popular character. Earlier this year, a 1939 copy of Detective Comics #27 (the first appearance of Batman) went for the sky-high price of $1,075,500. A few weeks later, Superman beat the Caped Crusader when auction house ComicConnect.com sold a 1938 copy of Action Comics #1 (the Man of Steel’s debut) for a record $1.5 million.

G.I. Bills

Most coin and currency enthusiasts build collections based on rarity and value, but some prize the history behind the hard cash, as in the case of a “short snorter.” During World War II and the Korean War, short snorters were typically $1 bills that servicemen carried as good luck charms. When soldiers gathered, they sought out other short snorters and signed each other’s bills, often including dates and locations. High-ranking officers and even celebrities signed them, too. For more about these unique pieces of history, visit the Web site shortsnorter.org.

Roaming Gnomes

Gnomes are a popular and decorative collectible for many gardeners (and tempting targets for pranksters). The most famous gnome-knapping occurred in 2008, when Murphy, a leprechaun gnome, vanished from his owner’s garden, then turned up months later, accompanied by a photo album. His abductor took him on a world tour, and the album featured shots of Murphy swimming in Thailand, rappelling down a mountain in New Zealand, and more. Securing beloved gnomes to a concrete base or garden stake is usually enough to prevent unexpected walkabouts.

—Chelsey Fleming

What do you love to collect? Tell us about your favorite collectibles. E-mail us at editor@saturdayeveningpost.com, or write to Collecting Column, 
The Saturday Evening Post, 1100 Waterway Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46202.

Collectible News & Notes The Saturday Evening Post

I’ve spent my life in Chattanooga, a beautiful city that’s located in a bend of the Tennessee River and provides a beautiful riverfront walkway. Chattanooga has a deep appreciation for the arts, and our Hunter Museum of American Art is located on a bluff overlooking the river.

Every year, the museum hosts a fund-raising gala and auction, which I’ve attended for many years. This particular year, sometime in the 1970s, a local man who was active with the museum had donated a piece for the auction. I don’t remember exactly what made me raise my hand to bid on the little ink-and-watercolor picture. I knew it was by an American artist … and that I liked the boat and river he had drawn. I’ve always found water to be therapeutic, and I’ve gone on riverboat excursions before. I think the people who operate those boats have the most interesting stories to tell, much like the river itself. The sepia tone coupled with the seemingly excellent technique appealed to me.

Once the auctioneer opened the bidding, a woman with an art collection—and plenty of money—started bidding on it. I waited, never thinking that I stood a chance at winning. I raised the bid one time, to $500, after she stopped bidding, and in that moment, I unknowingly became an owner of a piece of fine art.

At the time, I was a stay-at-home mother, and my husband was early in his career as an orthopedic surgeon. We had always been careful with our spending and, although I had saved some money, $500 was a lot to spend on artwork. I hung it in the breakfast room so I could glance at it often. As the kids grew older, we’d often have what seemed like 90 kids and their mothers over to eat. Every time I went back and forth to the kitchen, that boat would still be paddling its way along the river.

Many years later, in the summer of 2008, Antiques Roadshow visited Chattanooga. This was a big deal for our little city. On this PBS show, people bring in their collectibles and antiques, and experts give the owners an appraisal on how much the items are worth. My daughter, Johanna, had some friends who couldn’t go, so they gave her their tickets, and she suggested that we go. We gathered up some items that seemed like they’d be worth something: a Tiffany vase and two big solid silver spoons that were passed down from my mother’s side of the family in Alabama. Carpetbaggers had burned their place down, but somehow these spoons had escaped. I wasn’t even planning to bring the riverboat picture, but my daughter insisted, so I took it along too, almost as an afterthought.

“My Painting Is Worth How Much?” The Saturday Evening Post

They sat down at the table, pulled out a stack of old Fleishmann’s margarine tubs (carefully washed and saved), placed some paper towels beside them, and added a stack of stamped envelopes from the previous weeks’ mail.

“She’d put water in the tubs, and we’d soak the stamps off three or four envelopes at a time,” Amanda remembers. “We laid them on the paper towels to dry and pasted them in a book.” The two sat side by side in the kitchen organizing stamps—and Amanda discovered a passion that inspires the line, color, and feeling of the work she creates today as a professional artist.

Bathtubs and Nickels

Around 97 percent of those who collect stamps today began, like Amanda, somewhere between the ages of 7 and 14, according to a survey by the American Philatelic Society, says Wade Saadi, president of the group. But what first ignites the passion for stamps and sends collectors hurtling through life on a hunt for colored bits of paper is a happy mystery—as is the “why.”

Some experts suggest that people collect simply to immerse themselves in the beauty of stamps, while others collect to expand social networks and make friends. Others seem to collect because, in the middle of a stressful life in a chaotic world, it gives them a sense that at least one part of their lives is organized and under control. Still, others collect for a sense of accomplishment, as an investment, or as a way to connect with history.

In Amanda’s case, it was the visual appeal of the stamps that first caught her attention as she worked with her great-grandmother. But it wasn’t until Amanda had soaked the stamps off 3,000 envelopes in the family bathtub one day that her family realized how serious she was. That little incident led her father to take her to a meeting of the Southern Illinois Stamp Club. Amanda was in heaven. She saw stamps featuring images by Degas, Renoir, Picasso, and other great artists. “I suddenly realized I was in a whole new world,” she says.

She began attending meetings of a local club and getting to know experienced collectors. “Our club had some magnificent characters in it,” says Amanda. “They were always educating me—whether it was about stamp facts or the history represented on the stamps. And they had boxes, called ‘nickel boxes.’ I could sit there at meetings with them, dig through their boxes, and buy a stamp for a nickel!” She laughs. “It was a fabulous way to build a collection, and a fabulous way to build relationships.”

Lick ’Em and Stick ’Em!

Do you have an interesting collection you’d like to share with our readers? Send your stories to letters@saturdayeveningpost.com.
Want to give stamp collecting a whirl or get back into it?

• Check out the new stamps from the U.S. Postal Service at your local post office or online at shop.usps.com. There, you’ll also find practical answers to most questions—including how to tell what a stamp is worth.

• Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum at postalmuseum.si.edu offers all you need to get started, including a video on the history of stamps.

• Visit the American Philatelic Society Web site at stamps.org for clubs and shows across the nation.

Stamp Acts The Saturday Evening Post

They live in the midst of all of the contemporary amenities, but choose not to participate in them, or at least as little as possible. They practice gardening and grow most, if not all of their own foods. They keep animals to give them milk and eggs. Some even convert their vehicles to diesel engines and brew their own bio-diesel fuels.

In an effort to unearth the appeal of urban homesteads, we caught up with the founder of the Urban Homestead movement, Jules Dervaes. We were reminded of a very important message: Each and every one of us can help make one aspect of our life more earth-friendly with minimal effort. All it takes is the decision to make a difference!

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Before he founded the The Path to Freedom movement in Pasadena in 2000, Jules Dervaes homesteaded in the New Zealand outback and rural Florida, where he had lots of land to work with. Coming to Pasadena with his family, he had to shrink his operation from 10 acres to an area that, if you subtracted the house, was one-tenth of an acre.

In the beginning, the Dervaes family goal was simple: to survive. And within a few years, they realized their plan was working. They also saw potential to turn their homestead into an outreach program so others could benefit. They began a Web site, www.pathtofreedom.com, which expanded to include a daily blog. A revolutionary idea at the time, the blog chronicled the family’s day-to-day experiences.

Today, their homestead in Pasadena can claim some amazing stats.

The Dervaes Homestead in Pasadena boasts over 400 different kinds of produce, 1,780 chicken and duck eggs and 25 pounds of honey. In addition, they produced 1,500 gallons of bio-diesel fuel since 2004. © 1970 - 2009 Jules Dervaes.

Annually they produce around 3 tons of fruits and vegetables, 1,780 chicken and duck eggs and 25 pounds of honey.  Additionally they have produced 1,500 gallons of bio-diesel fuel since 2004 and over 11,500 kwh of solar power produced since 2003. Not too bad for one-fifth of an acre.

When the Web site began to grow, they realized the value of a social networking site just for gardeners, and www.freedomgardeners.org was born. The site has over 6,000 members from around the world and provides a forum where gardeners can help each other.

Post: What costs are involved in getting started?

Dervaes: We were on a budget and things were expensive here, so we went on the cheap. We’d collect bed frames and turn them in to trellises, and turn river rock and glass bottles into edging. I wanted to show that every family could do this, without having to be rich. We were always trying to find the least expensive way to have things done. You don’t have to be rich to take care of the environment.

Post: How can people educate themselves on gardening?

Dervaes: Pepper your local nurserymen with questions: What grows in your neighborhood? What are they selling? They’re making a business out of it. They know what works, or else you wouldn’t come back. Look around your neighborhood (to your neighbors and see what works for them.)

He also encouraged people to join the networking site. He described www.freedomgardeners.org as “a facebook for gardeners only.”

Post: You refer to the practice of “being neighbors.” What do you mean by that?

© Jules Dervaes 1970 - 2009

Dervaes: I try to think of the spirit of neighborliness, like the Amish do. Your neighbors are your extended family, and they’re there for you like you are there for them, and you can’t charge for that. We didn’t want to be a business of neighbors. We wanted to be really, truly neighbors.

He talked about modern life and its fast pace. While we can be driven by the need for instant gratification, he observed, gardening is, in many ways, the opposite of this lifestyle. It takes patience and time, but the rewards are worth it, and the changes in life it encourages are also valuable.

“Unfortunately, in America, we think you have to be big, fast,” Dervaes notes. “An instant makeover. But nature works in a different way.  It takes 500 years for nature to make an inch of soil. So you have to look at it in a slower perspective; we have to slow it down.  Slow food. Some of my food takes 30-60 days to get to the table. You have to reduce your expectations.”

Post: What do you hope your children will learn from gardening, homesteading, and the Path to Freedom?

Dervaes: What I’m doing here gives me hope. I couldn’t take the bad news in the newspapers and the Internet and everywhere, unless I could do something about it, and growing a garden gives me hope, and it gives my children hope. They have something to do. Because it’s the hopelessness and helplessness when they give you bad news and you throw up your hands and say “What can I do about it?”  This gives you a direction, and with that direction comes hope.

Who couldn’t use a little hope in this modern world?  For Jules Dervaes, gardening is a first step towards a greater step, and his life is an example of that.

For more information, visit www.pathtofreedom.com.

Urban Homesteads and Hope The Saturday Evening Post

It may be hard to imagine your future garden as you look out the window and see endless piles of dirty slush, but March is the best time to plan out your garden and start seeds. Maybe it will help you if we paint you a picture. Look out your window, and instead of seeing bare branches and muddy snow, imagine bright green buds on the trees and songbirds trilling happily. Now, imagine your vegetable garden.

Is it a sprawling affair, like a miniature farm in your backyard, with plowed rows? Is it a cottage-style herb garden with a few vegetables here and there, fragrant and floral? Maybe it’s just a few sunny pots of tomatoes and peppers on your patio. Perhaps it’s an efficient high-density raised garden, where every vegetable gets a square foot to grow and produce pounds and pounds of food. There is no wrong answer. Every garden is good.

Select the dimensions of your garden and drag the vegetables onto the grid. Screenshot courtesy of Gardener's Supply.

Now’s the time to grab a pad of paper and draw out your ideal garden plan. Don’t worry if your garden never turns out like the plan. (If ours did, it would be a mess of scribbles and codes.) If you are considering the square foot method, Gardener’s Supply has a great tool on their website for planning a square foot vegetable garden. It even tells you how many plants to put in each section, and, in their pre-planned gardens, you can even see what kinds of supports you will need.

As you plan, make a list of the kinds of plants you would like to grow. Then check seed-selling websites like Burpee, Park seeds or Gurney’s, or you could drop into a brick-and-mortar hardware or garden store for seeds and seed-starting trays.

Of course, you could wait until spring and buy seedlings, but that costs more money, and seed-starting gives you a jump start on the growing season. Now is also a good time to get compost going if you don’t have a compost pit already underway (and if you’re not completely snowed under.) Of course, you could forego compost completely, but we recommend you do not. After all, compost reduces your food waste into rich soil, allowing you to grow more fantastic vegetables.

You can choose a high-tech composter that is specially designed made from recycled plastic or metal, or a simple, homemade pit framed by scrap lumber or metal. Gardeners will swear by one method or another, but as long as you have a cool, dark place in your backyard, you can compost. You can buy a composter from several suppliers, like Gardener’s Supply, or build a square out of pallets or cinder blocks. Then start throwing in garden waste, kitchen scraps and old newspapers, close up your composter, or cover your compost pit (plastic or treated canvas tarps work best), and wait for your gardener’s gold to develop.

Believe it or not, now is the start of the growing season. Whistling winter winds can’t get to your seedlings on a sunny table in your home (substitute a grow light if you don’t get much sun in your house). There are many seed starting trays to choose from, in different sizes, shapes and materials. We prefer the ones with the deeper wells, so the plants can grow more robust root systems. Some even come with self-watering mats, which take the guesswork out of watering sensitive seedlings. As time goes by, you will need larger transplant pots to put your healthiest seedlings into. By the time the last frost of winter reluctantly melts away, you will have healthy young vegetable plants ready for your garden, and you’ll be that much closer to seeing results in your yard.

Spring Dreams And Garden Plans The Saturday Evening Post

What’s an heirloom?

The title applies to any seeds of plants that have been 
in cultivation for at least 50 years and which are open-pollinated. That means Mother Nature did all the work, untouched by the agricultural science of hybridization. Instead, gardeners saved seeds to regrow year after year, as opposed to purchasing new commercial seeds every season. That’s why heirlooms have survived for so many generations: Somebody’s landscape-loving ancestor tucked a few favorite seeds into cold storage for another season, another gardener. Now it’s your turn.

What’s so special about heirlooms?

“People who love their heirlooms want to grow the same plants that have been grown for hundreds of years,” says Peter Hatch, director of gardens and grounds at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia. “There’s 
a nostalgia factor. They like that connection with our forefathers and a real tangible link to our past.” Hatch 
should know: At Monticello, his staff grows hundreds of historic flowers and vegetables in the estate gardens.

But when discussing heirlooms, vegetables tend to get 
the spotlight. Take heirloom tomatoes, which generally 
have thinner skins and are juicier and more flavorful than anything you buy at the store. They can be wonderfully diverse, growing in all shapes, sizes, and colors—yellow, orange, pink, purple-black, and even green with stripes. When you compare them to the red, perfectly round variety typically found in a produce bin, there is no question as to which is superior.

How are heirlooms different from hybrids?

In some gardening circles, there’s a bit of a backlash against hybrid plants, which are artificially created by crossing 
two parent plants with desirable traits—superior disease resistance and early maturity, for example. Die-hard heirloom lovers tend to look at hybrids as being unnaturally uniform and lacking in diversity, but there’s no reason you can’t have both in your garden.

How can I get started?

If you’ve never planted or saved heirloom seeds before, it’s easy to get growing. There are resources that now specialize in saving and selling heirlooms, such as Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (rareseeds.com), which offers an extensive collection of vegetables and flowers. Seed Savers Exchange (seedsavers.org), with its thousands of varieties of heirloom seeds, is the largest nongovernmental seed bank in America and is particularly known for its heirloom vegetable collection. After your garden comes in this year, save and 
dry seeds from your best plants, store them in a labeled envelope, put the envelopes in an airtight container, such as a canning jar, and store the seeds in a cool, dry place until you’re ready to plant your own heirlooms next season.

Vintage Vegetables The Saturday Evening Post

Nothing lifts a winter-weary spirit like thriving, green houseplants, which help purify and improve air quality inside your home. However, even seemingly fuss-free plants can get the winter blues if not cared for properly. Here are some tips to keep them happy and healthy this time of year.

Set them up for success. Match your houseplants’ growing needs with their indoor environment. Most plants thrive in sun, so place them in a well-lit area, such as a windowsill, for 
a few hours a day. Flowering plants usually require even more light because the sun is less intense in winter months. Set plants with high-light requirements in bright windows, usually south- or west-facing.

Also, avoid placing houseplants near direct sources of heat (like a heating vent) or cold drafts (like a front door or drafty window).

Let them rest. Most indoor plants’ growth slows in the winter. It’s natural and means less work for you, since such plants require less care. Skip the fertilizer, and water only when the first inch of soil feels dry (roughly every two weeks). If your house suffers from low humidity in winter, lightly (and occasionally) spritz leaves with a spray bottle filled with lukewarm water.

Pampering makes perfect. To keep your plants looking good, moisten a soft rag with tepid water and wipe down leaves to remove built-up dust and grease. Spritz tiny-leafed plants with lukewarm water, which helps leaves better absorb light for photosynthesis and discourage pests.

Lastly, don’t use any plant shine products. They can impair a leaf’s ability to absorb light—critical to their overall health.

Amazing Asparagus

Hailed for its medicinal properties and considered a delicacy, asparagus is a well-known harbinger of spring.

The perennial vegetable takes up to 3 years to produce its delectable, edible shoots. It’s worth the wait: Not only is the plant productive, producing up to 15 years or more of quality produce, but asparagus is packed with vitamins K, A, and C, and a powerhouse of folate and potassium.

Lucky for us, green asparagus can be found at most food markets. Less common varieties, in white and purple hues, might be more expensive and difficult to track down: Look for these rarities in upscale grocers or farmers’ markets.

Perhaps the most attractive trait of asparagus is just how easy it is to prepare. Sautéed, roasted, blanched, grilled, steamed, or stir-fried, this early-season favorite is lovely by itself or when added to omelets, pasta, or salads.

So why wait? Enjoy this easy-to-make recipe today!

Notes from the Field: Winter Houseplant Care and Asparagus The Saturday Evening Post