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- THE SOUTHERN WILLAMETTE VALLEY BEAN AND GRAIN PROJECT (Project Report Twenty-one: 2014-2015)
- This is the second Bean and Grain report on field trials designed to explore the potentioal of growing quinoa as a staple crop in the Willamette Valley.
- THE EYES OF ARCHIMEDES BOOK ONE: THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE– A Novel by Dan Armstrong
- Rome is deep into its second twenty-year war with Carthage. The Roman General Marcus Claudius Marcellus lays siege to the Carthaginian controlled city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily, home of the famous engineer and inventor Archimedes. Three times the Roman forces are turned away like toy soldiers by Archimedes' war machines. Unwilling to concede, Marcellus blockades the city. Buy a book.
- THE EYES OF ARCHIMEDES BOOK TWO: THE DEATH OF MARCELLUS– A New Novel by Dan Armstrong
- Rome's second war with Carthage is in its eighth year. Hannibal's army, yet to know defeat, roams the Italian peninsula ravaging the farmland and pressuring Latin cities. Marcus Claudius Marcellus, just back from his siege of Syracuse, demands that the Roman Senate give him an army to confront Hannibal and force him out of Italy. Over the next two years, Marcellus and his two legions chase after Hannibal's army in a subtle game of cat and mouse. Three times the two armies clash with no decisive outcome. Facing recall in Rome for his inability to defeat Hannibal, Marcellus vows before the People's Assembly to destroy Hannibal's army in the coming spring. Buy a book.
- THE SOUTHERN WILLAMETTE VALLEY BEAN AND GRAIN PROJECT (Index)
- We hear the slogan "eat local" over and over again, but what does it really mean? It's more than just eating fresher food. It's about preserving local food systems. It's about food security and common sense management of the pantry. Here in Oregon's Willamette Valley we have the agricultural potential to feed the valley residents twice over. And yet we grow rye grass and fescue for grass seed and ninety-five percent of what we eat in this fertile valley is imported. With the price of fossil fuels on the rise, this makes no agricultural or economic sense at all. Harry MacCormack of Sunbow Farm in Corvallis, Oregon has conceived a plan to turn this around. The Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project is a step by step strategy to rebuild a local food system, using organic beans and grains as the foundation.
- DAN ARMSTRONG AND HARRY MACCORMACK INTERVIEWED ON PEAK MOMENT TV
- The Yuba Girls came up to Corvallis a while back and did this great video interview with Dan Armstrong and Harry MacCormack. Dan talks about his novel PRAIRIE FIRE and Harry gives perspective on the Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project.
- RELOCALIZING EDEN
- A region's capacity to produce, process, and distribute some significant portion of its own food has always been a measure of social and economic stability, but as we face the unknowns of peak oil and climate change, securing local food resources will become one of our highest priorities. Oregon's Willamette Valley provides an excellent case-study for the relocalization to a food system.
- BIG MELT MEETS BIG EMPTY: RETHINKING THE IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND PEAK OIL
- This excellent article by Richard Heinberg provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship of climate change to peak oil and how various proposed plans to deal with one effect the other.
- REVISITING THE LIMITS OF GROWTH: Could the Club of Rome have been correct, after all?
- This is an energy policy white paper written in October of 2000 by Matthew R. Simmons. In the next year, Simmons would be a member of the Bush-Cheney Energy Transition Advisory Committee and the Independent Task Force on Strategic Energy Policy. Let there be no doubt that peak oil was a critical part of all energy discussions in the Cheney-Bush White House and a central factor behind the invasion of Iraq. Video Clip: Matthew Simmons on CNBC 3/7/2008
- JOURNAL OF NORTH AMERICAN COLLEGES AND TEACHERS OF AGRICULTURE REVIEWS PRAIRIE FIRE
- "PRAIRIE FIRE," writes Charles Francis of the Department of Agronomy at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, "is more than a totally engaging story that captivates the reader as if it were a Dan Brown suspense adventure. It reflects careful research and analysis of a modern-day systemic problem in the global food system, and provides a strong political statement that questions the organization of our most important industry as well as our basic values." Read this review or other reviews of Dan Armstrong's novels.
- CALIFORNIA GRANGE REVIEWS PRAIRIE FIRE!
- "What happens when enough grain farmers across America, especially the Midwest, decide that the convoluted structure of the economic system between the small, independent family farmer and the end-user is unfair?" asks Lanny Cotler in his review of Dan Armstrong's novel PRAIRIE FIRE in the California Grange's Newsletter. "That's the beginning of PRAIRIE FIRE," Cotler continues, "and while it takes you back to the thrilling days of yester-year–when farmers all across America rose up and formed, out of necessity, the National Grange of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry!–it also pulls you hard into the crisis felt by small and medium-sized farmers today." Read this review or other reviews of Dan Armstrong's novels.
Table of Contents
- ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL OF SPACESHIP EARTH
- We enter the twenty-first century facing several critical global management issues. Concerns about carbon dioxide emissions, petroleum depletion, the extinction of plant and animal species, a growing human population, loss of arable land, water rights, and increasing quantities of toxins in the environment top the list. Asleep at the Wheel of Spaceship Earth addresses these issues through five perspectives, climate, energy, community, global food resources, and economics, providing an overview and several in depth articles on each.
- LANE COUNTY LOCAL FOOD MARKET ANALYSIS
- The Community Planning Workshop at the University of Oregon spent eight months in 2010 researching and writing a local food market analysis for Lane County. This work was funded by the City of Eugene, Lane County, and the Eugene Water and Electric Board and was made public in the fall of 2010. The Lane County Local Food Market Analysis now serves as Lane County's most complete evaluation of our local food system. The entire document is availble here as a pdf.
- THE LANE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS REPAIR PROJECT
- The Lane County Fairgrounds Repair Project has been working on a proposal to transform the Lane County Fairgrounds into a sustainable campus since March of 2008. The proposal is presented here as a conceptual plan and a set of design objectives. While the proposal is well-advanced and quite detailed, it remains a work in progress and a steadily evolving vision.
- THE HISTORY OF THE PARK BLOCKS IN DOWNTOWN EUGENE, OREGON
- This webpage contains a collection of legal documents and maps pertaining to the Eugene Skinner and Charnel Mulligan land donations to Lane County in 1856 and the creation of the Park Blocks in downtown Eugene.
- BUY A BOOK
- Mud City Press currently has seven books for sale. These books by Dan Armstrong represent the literary foundation of Mud City Press. We recommend buying a book as the best way to support this website. Click on title for synopsis. All books available in Kindle format. Note (R) rating for adult material.
- THE EYES OF ARCHIMEDES is an historical trilogy set during Rome's war with Hannibal in the third century BC. Timon Leonidas, a young Greek, tells the story of his life through the duration of the sixteen-year conflict, describing his ascent from an enslaved refugee to an esteemed mapmaker in the Roman army. Buy a book.
- CHAIN OF SOULS: It's the first year of India's independence from England. The creation of two nations, India for the Hindus, Pakistan for the Muslims, has become a nightmare of ethnic clashes and terrorism. Just as the violence is showing signs of easing, Gandhi is assassinated. With the entire subcontinent teetering on the edge of chaos, Roger Taylor, an American working for the British intelligence service, is called on to defuse a series of death fasts protesting the partition of India. When Taylor arrives in the sacred city of Haridwar to confront the protesters, he encounters a woman who completely disarms him with her goodwill and depth of spirit. What begins as a political mission for Taylor unexpectedly becomes a life-changing glimpse into the workings of the wheel of life and death. BUY NOW from Mud City Press for $10.00 plus shipping. Or purchase from Amazon.com or buy as a Kindle application for $2.99.
- THE OPEN SECRET AND TWELVE TALES OF THE UNKNOWN is a collection of short stories by Dan Armstrong. Buy a book.
- PRAIRIE FIRE: The human and environmental costs of industrial farming have finally caught up with America's family farmers. Instead of throwing in the hoe, farmers across the Heartland rise up against the combine, threatening to burn their crops rather than continue the petrochemical assault on the land. AVAILABLE from this website for $20.00 plus shipping or from Amazon.com or as a Kindle application for $3.99.
- PUDDLE OF LOVE: At times comic, at times desperately serious, this psycho-thriller pushes the edge with a haunting grope into human sexuality. No holds barred pulp fiction with a dark Freudian twist. (R) AVAILABLE from this website for $20.00 plus shipping or from Amazon.com or as a Kindle application for $3.99.
- TAMING THE DRAGON: When a warm winter cuts deeply into the Himalayan snowpack, water shortages stress all of Asia; but in no place is the situation more problematic than at China's Three Gorges Dam. AVAILABLE NOW from this website for $10.00 plus shipping or from Amazon.com or buy as a Kindle application for $2.99.
- MUD BLOG
- Mud City Press adds more hot air to the blogosphere. Current blog: GEOENGINEERING: ONE RISK VERSUS ANOTHER
- SHORT STORIES
- In-house writer Dan Armstrong offers readers five pieces of short fiction.
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Our literary editor takes a look at books old and new, hoping to inspire a read or offer a new perspective.
- THE WORK OF WILLIAM H. KÖTKE
- Mud City Press provides access to the visionary work of William H. Kötke, including reviews of his books and several of his most recent articles.
- MUD CITY PRESS ARCHIVES
- Mud City Press's online magazine maintains this archive of past blogs.
- CONTACT MUD CITY PRESS
- Send us an e-mail. Pat us on the back. Straighten us out. Tells us your thoughts.
- SPECIAL THANKS TO MARK HENSON AND SACRED LIGHT STUDIOS
- Mud City Press has included six excellent paintings by Mark to enhance the ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL OF SPACESHIP EARTH section of this website.
- SPECIAL THANKS TO MARTINA HOFFMAN
- Mud City Press has used four of Martina's visionary paintings to illustrate THE FORTUNE TELLER'S FORTUNE, a short story by Dan Armstrong