Our Roots Are in the Local Produce Business

Our Roots Are in the Local Produce Business

By Ali Rouse Royster, 3rd Generation

Long after he opened our family’s grocery store, my grandfather’s heart was still in produce, which is where he got his start. I can practically still hear his voice lift up in excitement, about to tell a story of going out into the fields or down to the packing sheds with his dad — my greatgrandfather, J.P. Rouse, who I unfortunately never met. More than just telling stories about the past, Pa continued to work with produce farmers, both locally and worldwide, for as long as I can remember, and right up until the end. He loved visiting fields near and far, to purchase directly from farmers where he could, and to learn about innovations in farming — and with the modernity of global shipping, to see what was amazing and available to bring in for his neighbors, our customers at Rouses. When Pa started to slow down a little from actively managing most aspects of the business he founded, leaving the hustle and bustle to his sons, one of the first things I remember him doing was planting a few rows of crops on the batture, a little section of land that fronts the bayou across the street from his house, adding to his already large collection of backyard crops. I remember crossing the road to go see him when he was working in the garden with a few of my cousins, tending his cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant and, at one point, watermelons. I know a lot of his fondness for produce fields is a testament to his early life with his dad, and a lot of my fondness for local produce certainly comes from him, which links me back to a greatgrandfather I wasn’t lucky enough to cross paths with, but whose roots still certainly ground our family.