Miss Del’s Feed & Food Store

Interviewee

Jerry and Loretta Dixon

Owners of Miss Del’s Feed and Food Store in Clarksdale MS

Interviewers

Alison M Jones

NWNL Director & Photographer

Clarksdale MS - February 23, 2008

Introductory Note

NWNL stopped at this sweet country store to learn about water concerns and needs of Loretta and Jerry Dixon’s local customers, backyard-farmers and commercial cotton and grain farmers in Mississippi’s fertile, Mississippi-Yazoo Delta. Their website states:

“Miss Del’s General Store, located in Clarksdale, Mississippi, specializes in those things we all need more of in our lives. We are delighted to feature beautiful, decorative, functional, old and new items – as well as delectable treats.”

Their goods range from local feed and garden products to jewelry, books, vitamins, gifts, bed and bath, candles and gourmet foods – all specialty products from the Mississippi Delta. Wardell’s pecans and Miss Del’s sauces, salsas and pickles were their particularly unique products.

Their community role, like all shops in small towns across America, covers fun and function for their small, local region. This modern, yet down-home, 21st-century general store offered both useful and interesting items to offer their Mississippi clients.

Outline

COTTON in the MISSISSIPPI DELTA
QUAKES & FLOODING RIVERS
WATER SOURCES & USAGE
WATER QUALITY & SUPPLY
THE LEVEE BOARD
COTTON FARMING
COTTON in the MISSISSIPPI DELTA
COUNTRY STORE GOODS

Key Quote Cotton is our number one business. Thus, we need to have enough moisture during the summer months for that cotton, yet sometimes we have long extended periods of time where it does not rain.

COTTON in the MISSISSIPPI DELTA

NWNL Hello, Jerry. Please describe where we are; what’s in this store, and who it serves in this community.

JERRY We carry various supplies for home, garden and animal health, including seeds, mulch, plant, shrubs…. If you need it, we’ve got it – even fine jewelry. I’ve worked at the store for almost a year and have lived in Clarksdale since 1967 as a retired schoolteacher.

NWNL First, let’s discuss cotton – the primary business in the Mississippi Delta.

JERRY Well, the cotton business was one of the main businesses in this area until last year when the focus was on corn because of the gasoline. They’re going to start making the ethanol for cars. Last year, we had a record acreage of corn planted, but years before that cotton was always our main crop here, along with soybeans, peanuts, milo and some corn. A lot of the milo was ground along with corn to make cow feed. But cotton is our number one business. Thus, we must have enough moisture during the summer months for that cotton, yet sometimes we have long extended periods of time where it does not rain.

Therefore, we have a lot of irrigation going on, so most of the farmers put down wells. They have pivot systems which go around in a circle. Some are short and some can almost be a mile long. They have a curved section and there’ll be a tire, another curved section and a tire…, — and they automatically roll. At the pump they’re hooked up by electricity which has a timer on it with a formula set so that pivot system knows how much distance to move according to the amount of water needed for crops. You need a permit from the State of Mississippi to withdraw that water from the Delta, which I was told most of water supply comes from the Allegheny Mountains.

For our water supply here, we have different water tanks in different areas of Clarksdale. So far, we’ve not had a shortage of water. But as you know, we’re kind of semi close to the New Madrid fault line which is up in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. I have always had a fear that, with all the amount of water drawn during the summer months for irrigation, a crater might develop under this area and result in an earthquake. That would bring considerable damage.

QUAKES & FLOODING RIVERS

JERRY Across the street from here, is the Levee Board. Back in 1927, there was tremendous flood across this entire area. After that flood, so many people were displaced and so many people drowned that the Levee Board built a levee on the Tennessee-Mississippi State Line on the edge of Memphis TN all the way down to Vicksburg, MS. Vicksburg is where the Yazoo River runs into the Mississippi River.

Now, the Yazoo River was formed by four reservoirs – Arkabutla, which is the Cold Water River; Sardis which is the Yalobusha River; Enid Reservoir which is the Yocona River; and Grenada Reservoir — but I’m not sure about its river source. But anyway, north of Greenwood all four of those rivers merge together to form the Yazoo River. That Yazoo River flows into the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, where all the bluffs line the river. So, from Memphis, Tennessee all the way down to the Vicksburg, they define this area which is the fertile Mississippi Delta.

[Ed Note: The Yazoo River is formed by the confluence of the Yalobusha and Tallahatchie Rivers, north of Greenwood MS.]

Now, the Levee Board across the street built two levees after the 1927 flood. They built a small one and found out it was not sufficient to supply the amount of stream water which comes from the Ohio River down into the Mississippi River after the spring floods. So, years later, they came back and built a larger levee, approximately 30-50 feet. You can drive on top of it as it winds probably half a mile to a mile from the river. The Levee Board maintains this levee. You’re not supposed to drive on the levee at night, but you may cross over the levee to get to where you live or a hunting lodge; but the Levee Board maintains all aspects of the levee.

Out along the levee, we have what is called a boil. The presence of a boil means that water pressure on the river side of the levee got so intense that it caused water come up on the other side of the levee. But the Levee Board immediately solves those problems.

NWNL How is the Levee Board funded? What kind of agency does it report to and how is it funded? It obviously bears a heavy responsibility.

JERRY I’m sure it’s funded through the US Army Corps of Engineers, working in the Yazoo Mississippi Levee District with money that comes from State or from Federal funds. I really don’t know, but I would think it’s Federally funded.

WATER SOURCES & USAGE

NWNL Are there two different sources for your drinking water versus the irrigation water?

LORETTA Drinking water comes from an underground aquifer. That’s all I know — and I don’t drink it.

NWNL Why not?

LORETTA Because I don’t like the way it looks.

JERRY I drink it. I’ve always been drinking it. They say our bottled water comes from springs here and there — Arkansas and everywhere. It’s purified, but folks also get a purification system put in their home to purify water coming out of their tap. Basically, all the water is from underground and that’s also where the irrigation water comes from – as does our drinking water – but of course that’s filtered.

NWNL So, the irrigation water and the drinking water comes from the same source?

JERRY Right.

LORETTA No.

JERRY They do not?

LORETTA No.

JERRY Are you sure about that?

LORETTA Drinking water comes from deeper sources.

JERRY Oh, yeah. Drinking water comes from a deep, deep well. The irrigation water comes from a shallow well.

LORETTA In other words, anywhere in this area, you can dig down six feet to get water.

JERRY Yeah. In the August droughts, when we have very little rainfall, you might have to go 12 feet to hit the water tank. But nine times out of ten, you can drill 10-12 feet and hit water. That’s why, for most of these irrigation wells, they drill just deep enough to get an ample supply for irrigation.

NWNL Is cotton a particularly thirsty crop? Does it need more water than other crops?

JERRY Basically, I would say all crops in the Delta use about the same amount of water. And of course, the heat and the humidity build up in the summertime and thunder showers pop up, which helps water those crops. But usually, from the middle of June through the latter part of July, we don’t have that much rainfall here to supply necessary water for our crops. That’s why they have the pivot irrigation systems here.

WATER QUALITY & SUPPLY

NWNL What effect do you think cotton farming has on the water quality here? Traditionally, crops have been treated with pesticides and the ground treated with fertilizer. Is that a problem here?

JERRY I don’t think so, because as I said earlier, most of our water supply comes from the Allegheny Mountains up above Knoxville, Tennessee – that chain of mountains up there. Most of that water comes through under the earth and is basically filtered. We have not had any problem as far as pesticides are concerned. At one time, one of the lakes up here seemed a bit contaminated by runoff water from some of the pesticides used at that time.

NWNL When was that?

JERRY I would say 10-12 years ago.

LORETTA It’s been 18 years.

JERRY No, 10- 12 years ago.

THE LEVEE BOARD

NWNL How does the role of the Levee Board differ from that of the US Army Corps of Engineers?

JERRY You know, it’s terrible for me to say, “I really don’t know;” But, I know that the Levee Board maintains the levee; and the Army Corps of Engineers is a group of people who go down the Mississippi River to check if the Mississippi River is going to meander back to the left or to the right. Plus, they put up dykes and other infrastructure. That’s the Army Corp of Engineers.

But the Levee Board, to my knowledge, just maintains the levee and controls the upkeep of the levee. Or anytime the water gets up real high on the levee and dead debris floats up there, they clean all that up. They just maintain it as preparation for when the high water does come. By the way, there is a levee on both sides of the Mississippi River: one on the Arkansas side and one on the Mississippi side.

COTTON FARMING

NWNL Are there any changes in cotton farming these days?

JERRY Oh, the only changes in cotton farming here are the different varieties of cottons that you can plant. Different seeds are supposed to yield more bolls on the plant, and improvements like that. Otherwise, I would say that it’s basically been the same, other than the equipment that’s used to prepare the soil for the planting.

When I was growing up, farmers would always take a tractor and disk the field, come back and row it up, let it rain on it and come back. Then after it dried out, they would come with a planter and plant the cotton.

Now, they have chemicals that they can spray onto the field to get rid of all the grass and everything. They come in – without any disking now – to plant their seed , which will come up. Because of the cost of diesel fuel for the tractors and other expenses for maintaining their tractors—the chemicals make sense. Farmers can save that money to spend on fuel.

NWNL Are the people farming cotton today the same as those who have been doing so for generations; or is there a change in who is farming today? If so, who are today’s farmers?

JERRY In the Delta, we have plantations that were each owned by one family. They had the tenant houses for the people working on the farms.

Of course, the machinery has changed many things. The many big, fine tractors you see now have taken over some of the work that used to be done by hand. But most of the farming here has just consistently stayed within the families on each plantation. Sometimes people will sell their land, and then somebody will come rent some of it to farm. But most of the farming here is a very, very big operation because it takes so much equipment to be able to farm.

NWNL All in all, what is the future of cotton farming in the Delta?

JERRY The future of cotton farming here will always be right here in the Delta. That’s all I can say. We have cotton, soybeans, corn as our 3 main crops here. Some peanuts are planted and harvested, but cotton is our biggest producer here in the Delta.

COUNTRY STORE GOODS

NWNL Thank you for your descriptions of this region! Before I leave, can you describe and explain the arrangement here on the shelf?

JERRY Oh, this arrangement is made primarily of corkscrew willow, or what we commonly call “curly willow.” I cut it right before Valentine’s Day. As you see, this plant doesn’t have any leaves on it during those winter months, but it makes a beautiful setting for an airy type of arrangement.

Inside the arrangement here is some okra that came from my uncle’s home in Mississippi. When he harvests his okra in the late fall, he always leaves some on the top so, he can have seeds for next year. This is Clemson Spineless okra. We sell that seed right here at Miss Del’s. The items right here are turkey feathers. A good friend of mine at the floral shop killed a wild turkey and we use its feathers in arrangements. This brown stuff right here is called “dock” It’s normally green, but we take it, cut it and hang it to dry.

And, of course, this is Mississippi Delta cotton right here that is two years old. I’ve had it drying in my shed at home. So, this is just a nice airy arrangement of five items: cotton, corkscrew willow, okra, dock and turkey feathers.

NWNL Your arrangements are lovely representations of this region and its changing seasons. Thank you for showing them to us — and for your time.

Posted by NWNL on February 5, 2026.
Transcription edited and condensed for clarity by Alison M. Jones.

Miss Del’s Feed & Food Store Mississippi River Basin