The landscape of Värmland, land of my Swedish ancestors, is most beautiful. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

By JERRY HAGSTROM

In the busy world of Washington policymaking and politics, we sometimes forget that there is more to life. But this summer I received two invitations that took me out of the capital and provided the opportunity for some great rural experiences and wonderful food.

As summer unofficially comes to an end this Labor Day weekend, I share with you some tidbits from these travels in North Dakota and Scandinavia. I hope you enjoy them.


People lined up with their treasures at the taping of the “Antiques Road Show” in Bismarck, N.D., on May 31. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

North Dakota roots on ‘Roadshow’

The first came from my National Journal colleague Isobel Ellis, who found out that an episode of the PBS television show “Antiques Roadshow” was going to be taped in Bismarck, N.D., where I was born and went to high school.

Isobel, who grew up on a horse farm in New Jersey and is very knowledgeable about furniture, sent away for tickets to bring items to the popular antiques appraisal show, and presented them with an offer to accompany me to Bismarck.

I explained to Isobel that North Dakota was settled so late that she would not find the same kind of priceless antiques brought to shows on the East Coast, but that didn't matter to her, so off we went to Bismarck for the event on May 31.

The old things in North Dakota may not be worth a lot, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm. We had to wait in line for the evaluation of our items, and had a wonderful time talking with Gene and Pat Eggen, a couple from Minot.

Gene brought his father's buffalo mittens which he remembered his father wearing as late as the 1950s as he drove his children to school “through the snow in a sleigh.”

Gene told the appraiser that Gen. George Custer had worn them, but had no answer when the appraiser asked if he had a letter of authentication from Custer.

I brought the snuff box my grandfather carried with him from Sweden when he immigrated in 1905.

The appraiser confirmed that it was made of nickel covered with silverplate, and that the engraving used to put his name on the box is known as pinpricking. The value was only $50 to $75, but I didn't care. I didn't want to sell it and only wanted it authenticated.

Before we left, I took Isobel on two excursions.

The first was to to my family farm between Wilton and Regan, with a stop in the town of Wing.

The second was to Medora, on the far western edge of the state where Teddy Roosevelt ranched. It was also the place where French nobleman and entrepreneur the Marquis de Morès built a meat-packing plant in a failed attempt to slaughter and process meat on the Plains where the cattle were raised.

These were memorable days.

My friend Isobel Ellis, left, is served a rhubarb dessert by Paul and Bernice Asplund, who live in this Arts and Crafts-style farmhouse built by my grandparents on their homestead in the 1920s, about 20 years after arriving in North Dakota. It is between the towns of Wilton and Regan. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

We visited the Chat-N-Chew Cafe in Wing, N.D., boasting home cooking, chuck wagon, catering and baked goods, and featuring (below) a number of memorable signs advising its customers. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

Left: Richardton, N.D., is home to the Assumption Abbey, a Benedictine monastery. Right: A tiny Jewish cemetery near Regan, N.D., is a testament to the diversity of small towns during pioneer days. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

The Rough Rider Hotel in Medora, N.D., is an island of sophistication that serves lemon ricotta pancakes for breakfast on the weekends. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

My host, retired Swedish diplomat Lars Romert, at the train station in Sunne, Värmland, where my grandparents lived. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

Travels to Scandinavia

My Swedish grandparents were the only members of their family to leave Sweden, and my American family has stayed in touch with our Swedish relatives.

Later in the summer I received an invitation to attend the 70th birthday party being held for my father’s first cousin’s daughter. I went and had a wonderful time getting to know younger generations of my Swedish relatives in Värmland, the western Swedish province from which my ancestors came.

I also traveled through Oslo and visited distant Norwegian relatives that my parents had found in the 1970s by undertaking research on my maternal grandmother's roots.

Brittinger Ljungqvist, second from left, celebrates her 70th birthday at a party in a country hotel near Torsby, Värmland, in Sweden, hosted by her husband Rolf. Next to me is Dawn Ulrich, a relative from Mankato, Minn. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

Two younger generations of Swedish relatives at the birthday party. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)


Tone Gjerde, right, my relative who works for Norwegian Broadcasting, and her family host me at lunch at their home near Oslo. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

Oslo meals, from left: Dinner in the bar of the Hotel Continental; lunch at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art; Marina Tofting, a former Washington-based Norwegian journalist, shows off the fish we had in a wonderful Oslo restaurant. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

The Agriculture Department took steps to implement the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 “in a manner that was transparent, effective and efficient, “but some problems still emerged,” the USDA Office of Inspector General said in a report released this week. Read More...

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The annual Farm Aid food and music festival will be held this year at the Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in Raleigh N.C. on September 13. Read More...

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A People’s Climate March will take place in New York City in September in conjunction with the United Nations Climate Summit 2014, the Organic Consumers Association announced today. Read More...

The first zucchini of the summer, grown from Burpee seeds distributed at the opening of the USDA Farmers Market in June. (Alex Gangitano/The Hagstrom Report)

By ALEX GANGITANO

Former Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan once said that gardening and the local and organic agriculture movements would produce sympathy for farmers because urban and suburban people would learn how hard it is to grow food.
What better test could there be of Merrigan’s proposition that to plant vegetable seeds distributed by Burpee at the 19th annual USDA Farmers Market opening on June 6?

The weekend after covering the market opening, I planted six of the vegetables in my backyard in Potomac, Md.

I sowed spinach, carrots, radish, onions, lettuce and squash into an empty, flat patch of dirt that receives a lot of sunlight. After watering the garden for two weeks, the first growth was grass from the onions and leaves from the squash and radishes. Another two weeks later, the lettuce showed some green above ground.

About the same time, I attempted to dig up the radishes and onions. The long onion grass had nothing under the surface.

The radishes made a good salad combined with other vegetables. (Alex Gangitano/The Hagstrom Report)

But the radish plants had radishes stretching half above the surface, possibly suggesting I did not sow them deep enough.

I pulled out three radishes, which I sliced and put in a kale salad with store-bought onions and catalane beans, with a lemon and olive oil dressing.

A month after planting, more radishes were ready, again slightly above the soil surface. The lettuce leaves had grown long enough that I cut them close to the stem. I made the same salad but mixed the light green, thin lettuce leaves with store-bought arugula.

 
Left: The radish plant was highly productive. Right: The first zucchini and the flowers from the squash plant. (Alex Gangitano/The Hagstrom Report)

At this point, there were still no developments from the spinach and carrots and when I attempted to dig up the onions again, nothing was under the tall grass. The leaves of the squash plant now measured about a foot wide and tall and had large yellow flowers growing among them.

Two and half months later, a zucchini squash grew, about a foot and a half long. I sliced it and marinated it in an oil olive, lemon, garlic and pepper combination for an hour then grilled it on the barbecue. The grilled zucchini went great with grilled chicken and another salad with the grown lettuce and radish. Another squash emerged about the same time.

The conclusion: My amateur garden was 50 percent successful, producing great radishes, lettuce and squash but nothing from the spinach, carrots or onions. Next summer, when I expect to live in Washington, I would love to garden again if I have the space. The food was so tasty, it was worth the work and the wait.

But if every farmer’s production rate were the same as mine, it would indeed be a hard life.


Radishes, lettuce and squash grew from the seeds planted in Alex Gangitano’s garden in Potomac, Md. … But the spinach, carrots and onions were no-shows. (Alex Gangitano/The Hagstrom Report)

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah has named Rob Bertram as the chief scientist and strategic officer in the Bureau of Food Security, which manages the Feed the Future program. Read More...

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The Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service on Tuesday revised its net farm income and net cash income forecast upward slightly from its February estimate.
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The Justice Department announced today that it will require Tyson Foods Inc. to divest Heinold Hog Markets, its sow purchasing business, in order to proceed with its $8.5 billion acquisition of The Hillshire Brands Company. Read More...

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House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., announced today that he has hired three new aides on the minority committee staff.
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When Agriculture Secretary Kevin Concannon held a news conference today to announce that 20 state agencies that administer school meals programs would get $5.7 million in grants to help encourage students to make healthy choices, he did not mention that most of that money will go to rural states in which students and politicians have been the most critical of the healthier meals. Read More...

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The Surface Transportation Board announced Tuesday that it will hold a public field hearing on September 4 in Fargo, N.D., on the service problems in the U.S. rail network. Read More...

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The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has hired Marc Breslaw to serve as executive director of the NRECA International Foundation, the association announced today. Read More...

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The Sugar Association has hired Courtney Gaine as vice president of scientific affairs. Read More...

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Farm Policy Facts has released an interactive map for each state that provides basic facts about that state’s number of farms, farm receipts, acres in farmland, farm receipts and crop insurance statistics. Read More...

The National Pork Producers Council said today that U.S. trade negotiators should insist in the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations that Japan get rid of its “gate price” system. Read More...

The percentage of native population and the migration patterns from other states and countries vary dramatically in the Southern states and go a long way in explaining their politics today, The New York Times reported today. Read More...

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association has hired Jan Ahlen as its regulatory advocate. Read More...

The Obama administration will make it easier for lobbyists to serve on the administration’s advisory panels, according to a Federal Register notice published today. Read More...

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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA is seeking applications for grants to provide financial and technical assistance to housing, community facility and community and economic development projects. Read More...

The Environmental Defense Fund today launched an agricultural blog called Growing Returns that the groups says will show “we can meet growing demands for food in ways that improve the natural systems that sustain us.” Read More...

The descendants of an actress who portrayed Aunt Jemima for the syrup brand have filed a lawsuit claiming $2 billion in royalties as the brand tries to modernize its image, Fortune reported. Read More...

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The Agriculture Department will sponsor the establishment of a Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center at an 1870 land-grant college or university. Read More...

The Pacific Northwest Grain Companies and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have reached a tentative agreement in their labor conflict and Washington state inspectors have resumed grain inspections at the Port of Vancouver. Read More...

Palmer amaranth, a weed with a glyphosate-resisting genetic mutation, is spreading, The New York Times reported today. Read More...

Corn production this year may be the highest ever recorded for the United States, but slightly lower than predicted, the Agriculture Department’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reported today. Read More...

U.S. hide, skin and leather exports totalled $1.43 billion through June, but the industry is plagued by lower cattle numbers, the U.S. Hide, Skin and Leather Association reported today. Read More...

If you want the Farmers Markets “Forever” stamps that were released last week, buy them now because the U.S. Postal Service will print only 100 million of them. Read More...

The United Fresh Produce Association signaled today that its Washington conference on September 8 to 10 will focus on the continuing battle over fall school meals, just as Congress returns for a short session that must include some type of bill to fund the government for the next fiscal year that begins October 1. Read More...

The U.S. Grains Council has hired Melissa George Kessler as director of communications. Read More...

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The board of the newly formed Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research elected former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman as its first chairman late last week, The Hagstrom Report has learned. Read More...

Trade Representative Michael Froman will travel to Seattle on Tuesday for a speech and a visit to Cascade Designs, a company that makes sleeping bags, snowshoes, wheelchairs, and other outdoor products that are being exported around the world. Read More...

The Caterpillar Foundation and Walmart last Wednesday announced commitments to African agriculture-related programs during a day-long symposium hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama and former First Lady Laura Bush. Read More...

A bipartisan group of 63 House members sent Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack a letter last week opposing any agreement to manage the sugar trade between Mexico and the United States. Read More...

The Farmer Veteran Coalition will host a first-of-its-kind national gathering for organizations that serve military veterans pursuing food, farming and agricultural careers November 14 to 15 at the Drake University Agricultural Law Center in Des Moines. Read More...

A Russian-born doctor is leading an aggressive antiobesity effort in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., that involves children shouting against certain products, the Los Angeles Times reported over the weekend. Read More...

People who eat in restaurants consume 200 more calories and eat more sugar, fat and salt and fewer fruits and vegetables than those who eat at home, according to a study published today in Public Health Nutrition. Read More...

The three-year attempt to make recommendations to Congress to revamp the Beef Checkoff program may be in trouble. Recently, the 11 groups that make up the Beef Checkoff Enhancement Working Group apparently came up with a set of recommendations some members view as a last attempt at consensus. Read More...

Adjusting the income eligibility for free and reduced-price school meals to reflect geographic differences in income would have effects that are difficult to predict but could lead to increased program costs, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday. Read More...

Cotton farmers can enroll in the Cotton Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) established under the 2014 farm bill starting Monday through October 7, the Agriculture Department’s Farm Service Agency announced Thursday. Read More...

The Lake Erie algae bloom problem that disrupted water supplies in Toledo and other areas of Ohio could be solved relatively easily, the Food & Environment Reporting Network said in an update of a 2012 article. Read More...

With harvest progressing, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is under increasing pressure to resolve the lack of grain inspections at the Port of Vancouver in Washington state, but he said today he is waiting for a final report from USDA’s own internal security team before taking any action. Read More...

U.S. officials and American farmer leaders joined together in the last 24 hours to say that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ban on U.S. food imports would hurt his country and the Russian people more than American producers. Read More...

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Agriculture Department Farm Service Agency Administrator Juan Garcia has retired, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today. Read More...

The U.S. Postal Service today released four farmers market “Forever” stamps in a ceremony at the FRESHFARM Market on Vermont Avenue that is closest to the White House. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will join U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and others Thursday at a ceremony near the White House marking the release of new first-class limited edition “Forever” stamps celebrating farmers markets. Read More...

On the eve of the six-month anniversary of the 2014 farm bill, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters he is proud of USDA’s record on implementation, but noted that farmers will not be able to update their actual production history records until the 2016 crop year. Read More...

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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today that he will miss Thursday’s congressional deadline to submit a report on establishing an undersecretary for trade, and that he will not file it until he is satisfied it is complete. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today he is concerned about the safety of grain inspectors at the Port of Vancouver in Washington state.
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Russia today banned agricultural imports from any country that has put sanctions on it, which includes the United States.
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The National Grain and Feed Association today asked the Surface Transportation Board to eliminate or significantly modify a provision of its rules that immunizes railroads from being required to refund fuel surcharges that exceed their incremental internal cost increases, so long as they base their surcharges on a specific fuel-cost index. Read More...

In key election results Tuesday, three incumbent Republican Kansas lawmakers — Sen. Pat Roberts and Reps. Mike Pompeo and Tim Huelskamp — beat back challengers. Read More...

Chris McDaniel, the opponent in the Mississippi primary and runoff against Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has filed a case against Cochran’s declared victory in the runoff. Read More...

STOWE, Vt. — U.S. sugar growers are likely to win the antidumping and countervailing duty cases against the Mexican sugar industry that they filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission, a key sugar analyst said here this week at the American Sugar Alliance annual International Sweetener Symposium. Read More...

The Agriculture Department and the Agency for International Development both made commitments today to help U.S. firms do business in Africa, the White House announced as part of President Barack Obama’s summit with African leaders. Read More...

The increase in participation in the food stamp program after the 2008-09 recession was clustered in certain areas and somewhat different from some media reports and past patterns, sociologist Tim Slack of Louisiana State University reported in Choices magazine. Read More...

STOWE, Vt. — The uncertainty surrounding sugar imports from Mexico has made it harder and harder to manage the U.S. sugar program, but the Obama administration is committed to reducing risks for sugar growers and will protect U.S. sugar in trade negotiations, Agriculture Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse said here today. Read More...

As part of President Barack Obama’s summit with African leaders in Washington this week, the White House announced today new commitments to African countries on food security and climate change, while a coalition of nonprofit groups said it would ask Congress to pass additional food security legislation this fall. Read More...

The Agriculture Department announced today it is seeking public input concerning a proposal to provide more information about the amount of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits used at particular grocery stores and retailers, and published that request today in the Federal Register. Read More...

The co-founders of the Congressional Cut Flower Caucus wrote President Barack Obama today asking him to establish a formal policy for using American-grown flowers at the White House. Read More...

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday extended the compliance deadline for the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard.
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The Agriculture Department, Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency today released a program of voluntary actions that the livestock industry and the dairy industry in particular can take to reduce methane emissions and turn the methane into biogas. Read More...

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will travel to Iowa late next week, his office announced today. Read More...

The failure of the World Trade Organization to move forward with a Trade Facilitation Agreement will hurt agriculture in particular, a key U.S. farm leader said today, while a WTO expert said that any change in India’s position on advancing the agreement will have to come from within India.
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Turkey plants will be allowed to increase slightly the speeds at which those birds can whiz by inspectors under a little-noticed provision in the rule the Agriculture Department finalized on Thursday to modernize the poultry inspection system that was first put in place in 1957. Read More...

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., on Thursday asked the Obama administration to provide more clarity on the impact of the Waters of the U.S. rule. Read More...