Farm Aid - No not the concert
 

So I was thinking bout raised beds being used in increasing possible food production and had a thought but I am not sure of the feasibility nor actual accuracy of the method.

What if a raised bed was given some sort of cold frame...and in the frame a pipe was run that was kept warm with steam fired water. Wouldnt that allow you to grow food longer into the winter, possibly all season long?

Perhaps it can even be a side effect of things like fuel production or food smoking or something to get more efficiency.

Perhaps they can even be raised in skyscrapers along the windows using the steam lines as a heat source?

Remember I am playing in Manhattan.. :)

This will also allow the women and children to do ALOT of the work since large farm equipment wont be needed.

I think you are thinking of this? But on a lower tech basis.

http://www.verticalfarm.com/

Malcolm

Wow great link. I definitely like the idea...

But as for T2K, I was thinking of using say the top 25 or so floors of a skyscraper which has clear views 360 degrees around as a greenhouse.

You can use raised beds for farming and line the windows with them. If needed you can even use the area to house people to manage the beds. The heat you provide for the family in the winter could also help support a year long agriculture as well.

Either just radiant heat from a fire on the floor or even something like a boiler to heat water and then run the water through pipes in the beds to keep the crops at certain temperatures.

Properly managed, raised bed agriculture seems to be even more productive then standard farming and requires less petro products for support.

If you read the links there are suggestions to "retrofit" office buildings with what you are suggesting - more than fuel what the system saves is water as the runoff from one level of trellised plants flows down into the next.

One thing - I'm presuming you are planning to have this community well away from any nukes as surely the windows would be blown out by the pressure wave? Reclaiming glass and refitting windows twenty storeys up doesn't sound like a job I'd fancy, myself.