Papa Romeo Echo Papa (P.R.E.P): A Disaster Preparedness Site

Raised Bed Gardening is Cheap and Productive

Zombie Splatter (Zombie Splatter) — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 12:20:00 -0500

I grabbed this article from Almanac.com. HERE is the link to the original article.

by Doreen G. Howard

June 7, 2011

Every time I open a plant catalog or see a television commercial for sale-priced $99 raised bed gardening kits, I cringe! You don't need to spend that kind of money to build your own four-by-four-foot bed or even a 20-foot-long one.

My husband builds mine. He buys two 1 x 8-inch cedar boards, which don't rot with age. They come in 8-foot lengths, which is perfect for 4 x 4-foot beds. Cut each plank in half, so that it is 4-feet long. Or, you can have a home improvement/lumber store make the cuts. Many places will do it for free.

Husband also buys a 3-foot length of a 1 x 1-inch pine stake; he cuts it into four pieces and uses them to nail the cedar boards to at corners for bracing. That's all!

Grouping together several raised beds makes a substantial vegetable garden that is easy to maintain, with no weeding and crops that mature fast

I place the boxes on cleared ground. We cut and roll up our turf, but many gardeners do not think it is necessary. The added 6 inches of soil will bury most of the grass and weeds beneath. After I situate the boxes (four or five grouped together makes a good sized garden), I put down three layers of newspaper to suppress errant weed or grass seeds that might sprout. Paper degrades fully within weeks and feeds the soil.

Another fast, cheap method of building raised beds is to use concrete construction blocks. They have a big bonus. Their holes can be filled with soil mix and planted with herbs or strawberries.

The extra gathered heat from concrete is perfect for Mediterranean-type herbs such as rosemary and lavender. Strawberry plants grow huge and fruit fast in the holes. Each block is 16 inches long by 8 inches high; I purchase mine at big box stores as find the price most reasonable. Beds of 13 feet or longer by 4 feet wide are cheaper to build using blocks than with cedar boards.

Cement construction blocks are a cheap method of building raised beds.

You will be planting seeds and transplants close, because the beds are smaller and the soil is richer. But, plants grown close together in raised beds mature faster, because they compete for nutrients and sunlight. Each plant senses the distance of others and adjusts its metabolism to compete. Several university studies have proven this competition syndrome by identifying how plants perceive others nearby using the green light spectrum.

This 4 x 4-foot bed is crowded with productive peppers, cucumbers, a tomato plant and insect-repelling flowers that are edible.

Raised Bed Soil Mix
The more organic matter there is in soil, the better. Soil microbes are fed, oxygen and water
readily reach roots and plants thrive. Here’s the recipe I’ve developed in the last decade that
works best for my garden.

For one 4 x 4-foot raised bed. (Multiply amounts to fill larger beds.)
2 bags (2-cubic-feet each) top soil
1 pail (3-cubic-feet) peat moss
1 bag (2 to 3-cubic feet) compost or composted cow manure
2-inch layer of shredded leaves or grass clipping.

If you use grass, make sure the clippings are not from a lawn that has been sprayed with herbicides or been fertilized with a food that contains granular herbicides to kill weeds. Both persist and will kill plants beds up to three years after the initial application.

Mix all materials with a hoe or cultivator and water well. Be sure to mulch well with organic Matter such as more leaves or clippings or straw.

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When the TUMS and Prilosec are Gone: Dealing with heartburn after SHTF

Zombie Splatter (Zombie Splatter) — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 20:41:00 -0500

I have been dealing with some serious heartburn for a few days so I thought that it is only appropriate for the first P.R.E.P. blog post to be about heartburn. I'm don't think I have ever read anything about post-SHTF heartburn.

Heartburn is easily one of the most annoying feelings we can experience as humans. The pain is just enough to hurt for most and chronic for some people. Heartburn can disrupt sleep and be rather distracting and there are plenty of SHTF scenarios that this can cause bigger problems. Sleep and awareness are vital to your survivability and anything that inhibits these must be nipped in the butt. Heartburn is caused by stomach acid backing up into the esophagus. My personal opinion is that heartburn rates will take a staggering drop post-SHTF simply because the highly acidic soda's that we, as Americans, have been drinking for so long will run in short supply in no time.

Antacids would be a great addition to anyone's preps. They are cheap, effective, and they don't take up much space. I'm not going to harp on antacids to much. There isn't much to say about them except, get some and add them to your supplies. I am going to focus more on natural remedies for heartburn in this post. We need to know what to do when the antacids, and medication in general, run out. This post is rather short. There hasn't been much research into natural remedies for heartburn.

In my research I couldn't find any herbal remedies to help with heartburn that seemed promising. Calcium, B vitamins, and folic acid are helpful. Calcium can help with instant relief and has some preventative qualities. B vitamins and folic acid help on the the preventative side of things. Ginger also helps by giving instant relief. One of the easiest ways to relieve heartburn is to make your mouth produce excess saliva. Saliva works to neutralize stomach acid. Chewing gum, mustard and mustard seed, celery, and almonds all cause the body to produce more saliva. They make your drool. Vinegar also helps create lots of saliva.

I truly believe that a more natural post-SHTF diet will greatly help with heartburn but go ahead and stock up on antacids. Also, if we have to live through a dreaded SHTF scenario humankind will have to be tougher. If your heartburn isn't disrupting your survivability save your antacids and remedies. You may need them more later.

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Zombie Splatter is re-branding...

Zombie Splatter (Zombie Splatter) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 21:09:00 -0500

Over the last year and a half Zombie Splatter posts have been scarce. I have been writing new content and holding onto it. Our pages have been buried in the bowels of the internet by the current zombie fad so now seems like the perfect time to re-brand into a more serious disaster preparedness blog and website. The new site will be called Papa Romeo Echo Papa or P.R.E.P. and social media pages will be converted. I am currently working on the graphic design assets and formatting of the new page. The Zombie Splatter Corps will be disbanded but Corps site admins are free to keep the pages live if they choose to do so.

Not only will P.R.E.P have plenty of disaster preparedness information I will also start posting more about other things I enjoy such as homebrewing, winemaking, craft beer, blade crafting, marketing, and more. I would also like to add more guest content.

After the re-branding is complete I plan to resurrect to #Skills2Live Twitter conversations.

Papa Romeo Echo Papa (P.R.E.P): A Disaster Preparedness Site

Raised Bed Gardening is Cheap and Productive

I grabbed this article from Almanac.com. HERE is the link to the original article.

by Doreen G. Howard

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When the TUMS and Prilosec are Gone: Dealing with heartburn after SHTF

Zombie Splatter is re-branding...