Happy memories made at the feed & supply

The climate up here in East Tennessee is generally five or six degrees cooler every day of the year than in Batesville which means that the soil warms up more slowly and flowers bloom a little later.

And I get impatient, seeing and hearing about friends working in their flower beds, what’s blooming and green grass growing in Panola County. I also had a slight case of homesickness when I saw Batesville Feed and Supply’s (BF&S) recent FaceBook post.

I scrutinized every picture and carefully read every word and again a few more times and wished I was there. Usually by this time every year I would’ve already made a couple of hauls of bedding plants from the store.

I truly miss the Brown’s experience. We’ve found a feed and seed store in Jackson, similar (but not exactly) that carries Baccto, our favorite potting soil. There’s just no place like the iconic Batesville establishment.

DW became a BF&S customer (though he called it Brown’s) practically on the day we moved to Batesville. Our Gordon Drive neighbor’s son worked there, so we had a personal connection. That’s what makes a hometown store so special.

Soon the boys were going with DW to town on Saturday mornings. I remember so well seeing their little blonde heads barely peeking over the dashboard of DW’s white Datsun pickup as they backed out of the driveway.

He’d strap them in together with the seatbelt (pre-carseat days) and off they’d go to Brown’s.  Zachary told me later, that Mr. Brown usually encouraged DW to “take a chicken or a rabbit home with those boys,” and that they would play in the pile of corn in the corner of the original store.  I never knew.

But what a magical place. It held a menagerie of animals …. coops of hens and roosters, clutches of rabbits and cages of kittens…always kittens.  Inside keeping warm under the lights were the baby chicks and sometimes ducklings.  And on the side was the big tank with what my boys thought were the world’s biggest catfish…so much to see.

The old store held so much history and I was sad to see it go, but oh the memories and maybe a few tales that must have been shared by the crew sitting around the old wood heater.

It was hard to believe that a new store building could come even close to replacing the shopping experience of the old one, but I do believe it does. I never minded having to wait my turn to pay, it gave me a chance to look around at all the treasures found in there.

Jams, jelly, pickles, molasses, honey, and even pickled peaches so caught my attention, I usually went home with a jar of something in addition to dog food, potting soil, plants and a tomato for a BLT.

DW would buy a certain variety of cucumber seeds there for my lime pickles; and he carefully selected tomato and pepper transplants for his garden.

Mr. Brown would advise his impatient gardening customers that it was never too early to plant the first time, but only with his sly grin. This BF&S adage is one of our favorite sayings to this day, oh the wisdom.

And oh, the friendliness, service and customer care the guys at BF&S shared, though most often rather quietly and unassumingly. That’s the charm and what I miss.

Being situated two blocks off the downtown square where Lomax, Thomas, and Hays streets converge to make a Y-junction, with a railroad track running right in the middle of it all, customers could come and go from all directions.

I’d often drive by watching for the stocking of the greenhouse, my eyes peeled and foot on the break, ready to stop for hanging baskets and ferns.

Parking could be tricky especially this time of year so patience was (is) a virtue.  But most folks never seemed to mind getting hemmed in because there was always someone to chat with, even if only about the weather or South Panola football. Oh, for small town joys.

And, then there were the sounds… peas and butterbeans being shelled and pecans cracked as the machines hummed loudly, the gravel crunching as customers came and went, roosters crowing, calls for sacks of feed and fertilizer to be brought out, even the once busy sounds of Panola Mills mingling in with people talking and the occasional train whistle warning drivers to stop, look and listen.

Yes, Batesville Feed & Supply was a real treat then and I’m so glad it still is. I’m anxious to see more FaceBook pictures from BF&S real soon but I already know what I’m missing.

In the photo above, Rufus McClain was at Batesville Feed and Supply early Tuesday picking up plants for his spring garden. McClain, who lives in Marks, said he has been coming to the Batesville institution known as “Brown’s” for many years, as have hundreds of other gardeners in the trade area.