Urban Farming

[Legbreaker]

We know from the books that people panicked at the first use of nukes and fled in DROVES from the cities. They soon filtered back though when it all stayed tactical which may have greatly contributed to the massive loss of lives when strategic strikes finally occurred - everyone had just grown used to nukes as an "everyday" occurrence which happened "over there". Even as the first missiles hit their targets in the US and/if reports were received elsewhere, it's very possible in my mind many would have ignored them as sheer rumour and gotten on with their lives - until twenty minutes later they got a sudden and very intense sunburn!

[WallShadow]

Biological filtering/magnification

http://news.yahoo.com/yorks-environmental-hero-oyster-163717660.html

Reestablishment of oyster beds in New York Harbor to help cleanse the water of pollutants. The oysters retain the nasty stuff and pee out clean water (relatively). Of course the oysters are not then to be eaten, but in a world where radioactive contamination of your drinking water is a concern, here is a way to capture and contain the bad stuff.

You could always ship some veteran filter-oysters to your competition as a "peace offering" however.

From what I've read over the last few years, oysters/bivalves, mushrooms, and bamboo are under investigation for just the pollution solution jobs described above--bamboo apparently has a high resistance to radioactivity and will segregate the radionucleides out of its water supply.

[WallShadow]

out of the mouths of babes and film fans

I just had a flash of inspiration while eating my mid-day snack; popcorn! It is everywhere in larger cities (in places like convenience stores, drug stores, and movie theaters) and it can be sprouted and planted as a full-sized crop just like regular corn kernels. Admittedly, it's not necessarily the hybrid "eatin' corn" we'd be used to, but it would serve as a food source/seed source just as well. And being "popcorn", it might be more readily passed over as a food source when SPAM and canned soups are still on the shelves to be grabbed.

[kalos72]

I dabble in the self sufficient mindset so these sorts of systems are pretty familiar to me.

there are so many more efficient systems than the "big farm and tractor" approach we have taken for years now.

All the chemicals needed...oil for he tractor...pesticides...all the nutrient dead soils needing fertilizers.

I like a more local approach in my games...everything is local...population is limited to the amount of food you can grow LOCALLY!

[Webstral]

The efficiency of a practice depends a good deal on which input we're trying to minimize. Mechanized agriculture is very efficient from the standpoint of labor consumption. This makes sense, given that labor is very expensive in our society. After the nuclear exchange knocks civilization on its fourth point of contact, labor becomes becomes very cheap.

[pmulcahy11b]

I just had a flash of inspiration while eating my mid-day snack; popcorn! It is everywhere in larger cities (in places like convenience stores, drug stores, and movie theaters) and it can be sprouted and planted as a full-sized crop just like regular corn kernels. Admittedly, it's not necessarily the hybrid "eatin' corn" we'd be used to, but it would serve as a food source/seed source just as well. And being "popcorn", it might be more readily passed over as a food source when SPAM and canned soups are still on the shelves to be grabbed.

How nutritious is popcorn

[WallShadow]

Behold the power of popcorn!hhhhhhhhv c

as per the Nutrition Facts from the back label of Orville Redenbacher's Movie Theater Butter, and ignoring the fat content/calories, 2 Tablespoons (35g) unpopped 170 calories less 110 from fat = 60 calories from just the corn alone. So... 1000g/35g = 28.5714 servings per Kg.
Therefore, 28.5714 x 60 calories = 1714.2857 calories per kilogram.

Also, 16g of carbohydrate per serving, so 28.5714 x 16 = 457.1424g of carb per kilo.

And 2g protein per serving, so 28.5714 x 2 = 57.028 g protein per kilo.

The kernels, being dried, could be ground for meal or masa to make tortillas or tamales, or corn bread or pudding or polenta. Or parched for hard rations/traveling rations, going back to their original purpose--parching is heating the kernels in a lightly-oiled pan over low heat until the kernels swell slightly and turn slightly brown. Some actually pop during the process.

[Raellus]

The efficiency of a practice depends a good deal on which input we're trying to minimize. Mechanized agriculture is very efficient from the standpoint of labor consumption. This makes sense, given that labor is very expensive in our society. After the nuclear exchange knocks civilization on its fourth point of contact, labor becomes becomes very cheap.

This is a good point that we would do well to remember. I can imagine a fair number of white collar types- lawyers, company execs, hi-powered consultants, etc.- that would be working as unskilled farm labor c. 2000.

As populist rabble-rouser and People's Party/Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan said in his infamous Cross of Gold speech, "Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country."