| In Deland, John Klun and wife Josephine, had about 5 acres planted as a vineyard with Concord, Scuppernong and Beacon grapes. The other acreage was planted with oranges (about 5 acres), various vegetables, roses and honeybees along with the family home on the last 5 acres. He sold the produce to the local stores and Pauline’s job was to sell them from their house. She remembers selling peaches, grapes and honey starting when she about 13 years old. They began growing and selling roses in Deland and continued so in Samsula. These were sold to a florist in Deland. The scale he (with help of daughter Pauline) used to weigh the produce is in Pauline’s possession at Jontes Farms. The scale was used at Jontes Farms for many years to weigh produce such as bushels of Black Eyed Peas as well as smaller produce items. | ||
| John would drive to Mount Verde (south of Deland, FL) to sell his produce. He would also travel and set up grape vineyards in the state as he was skilled at grafting trees and plants. The Kluns originally lived in a town near Chisholm, MN, where he was groundskeeper at a city park. There he played a sousaphone in the local community band at the park. The horn was sold to Deland High School after the Kluns moved to Florida. | ||
| John and Josephine Medved Klun moved to Samsula in 1943 from Deland, FL. John sold his property there, approximately 15 acres) and bought 10 acres on Samsula Drive. In preparation to moving to Samsula, John would drive to his new farm acreage and spend the nights there to build his home. The land had mature pine trees which he cut down with a chainsaw, and he then prepared the pine logs using a “draw knife” to shape them into hand-hewn, planed boards. These were the heavy lumber used for rafters and such. He had a Chevrolet sedan (1920’s vintage) and would sleep in the car. His daughter Pauline would accompany him for a night trip. One night a bull came up to the car and rubbed on it while he was sleeping, it was a scary surprise! | ||
| During the war years, around 1944, vegetables sold for very good prices. While still living in Deland, John took his produce 3 times a week to market. He raised beets, carrots, onions, lettuce, cabbage, collards, turnips, mustard, peppers, and cucumbers to sell, along with a variety of other types for home use. One December just before a frost came they pulled all of the green sugar peas out of the ground and placed them in the barn and house to save them from spoiling. Pauline remembers they shelled all the peas and after that she didn’t care if she ever saw another one. Many times they also cleaned onions in the house by the fire. | ||
| Tractors were originally designed for “flat farming” as they were to be used in disking old crops, cutting up the ground and then leveling it. The mule and plow did the rest of the work. When they were used to make “beds” the tractors didn’t have the clearance to go over the beds which were planted (so they would crush the plants). Eventually (many years passed) and they designed extra big wheels (made by Ford Co.) to give the clearance. The new tractors had big rims and small tires. | ||
| In the early 1940’s, John started farming in Samsula, and since he didn’t own a tractor his neighbor Frank Luznar Jr. would use his tractor to make beds (7 foot). Then John would take it from there. He would use a mule with a plow (see photo) to clear the ditches of weeds. John would deliver the produce to Deland where he had contacts from the time he lived there. He would divide some of the sales with John Luznar who also hauled vegetables, and he would help make up the difference when John was short on vegetables for an order. He built a pump house that kept a pump engine which pumped the water into a concrete vat. The vat was used to wash the vegetables (there was a large plug at the bottom which was pulled out to empty the vat) He had made a concrete lined small ditch that the vat poured into, and the water would run into the “watering ditches” for the crops. |  John Klun plowing his farm in Samsula. |
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| Pauline’s brother, Theodore (Ted) came home from the war, and during those years they still ran the route to market. After Ted quit farming and went to work for the City of New Smyrna, they slowly turned from truck farming to raising and selling green onions. They picked and cleaned between 60 – 155 dozen a week and Hafner Farms sold them down South. Ted and Bob were going to the Veterans Agriculture School twice a week. Willie Hughes, Earl Wright and Calvin Geiger also attended the school. | ||
| (Contributed by Carol Jontes Strack, John and Josephine Klun’s granddaughter. The narrative was told to her by her mother Pauline Klun Jontes in May 2014, with some narrative additions by her father Bob Jontes.) | ||