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— were particularly drawn to the truck farm ideal, and local newspapers were consis tently rich with advertisements promising a better existence, and plenty of opportunity, through classifieds about the draw of the market garden lifestyle: ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT BE INDEPENDENT 1926 RAISE WHAT YOU NEED ON A TRUCK FARM ( The Shreveport Times , 1926) ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT WAVELAND, Miss.— 35 acres, with improvements, $750; good for truck farm; adjoining Brown’s vineyard. ( The Times-Picayune , 1899) ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT IN THE “MAGIC CITY” OF BOGALUSA. For sale, 26 truck farms. If you are interested call to-day or to-morrow. ( The Times-Democrat , 1907) ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT PARADIS TRUCK FARM. $500 buys an improved truck farm; any vegetable you grow will make every payment except the first; all farms front the railroad and a good wagon road. ( The Times-Democrat , 1906) With the rise of refrigerated railroad cars and technological advancements that

bettered. Prices of vegetables would lessen; the town would thrive because the merchants would have more customers to purchase their wares; the half million dollars that now goes to other cities would remain at home.” Truck farms were also a way for lower income Louisianans to not only corner the market on a potentially well-paid agricul ture career, but find a place to call home: Truck farms were quite often residen tial spaces for their growers, meaning that buying into the pastoral life of a market gardener was a 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year lifestyle commitment. Many truck farms across the region were operated by African Americans, while Italian American truck farms operated all over Harahan, Kenner and St. Bernard Parish, growing herbs, beans, peas, zucchini and beyond. (A teenage J.P. Rouse got a job at a truck farm in Marrero raising potatoes and cabbages!) Immigrant families — including Chinese laborers who farmed in a collective model near Gretna, both for their local community and, eventually, nationwide shipping

plots were mere miles apart. “Various localities around the city are devoted to particular kinds of vegetables; thus large, fine onions, garlic, sweet and Irish potatoes come from St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parish...Grand Island and vicinity [is] noted for furnishing the finest and earliest cauliflowers...Metairie and the rear of the city for the earliest potatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, eggplants. The best canta loupes come from the farms along Metairie Ridge.” Truck farms soon became viewed as economic engines for cities, serving as catalysts for growth and sustainability by keeping precious grocery consumer dollars local. “Fully self-sustaining, close enough to the city to be called ‘suburban’ and far enough out to enjoy country life... truck farms are city builders. Why should not Shreveport export green produce instead of import it?” The Shreveport Times lamented in 1924 as part of an impas sioned plea for truck farms entitled — yes, all caps — TRUCK FARMS NEEDED HERE . “As much as those who started truck farms would benefit, the city would be as much

20 ROUSES SUMMER 2023