The Homestead Story

In 1929, Clementine and Floyd Cruze purchased 100 acres on Jones Road in Knoxville to build their homestead. While Floyd immediately got to work establishing the dairy production that would become a family hallmark, it wasn’t long before Clementine began cultivating her own legacy of flowers and strawberries to bring to the market.

Even today, the community still holds memories of her endless rows of peonies and daffodils. Family stories often drift back to that old strawberry patch, famously lined with fragrant, old-fashioned daffodils.

When I married into the Cruze family, these stories came to life as we walked the farm in the spring, picking those same daffodils that still grew wild in the pastures and woods. Back then, the original house still stood on the homeplace, its yard a scattering of flowering shrubs and spring bulbs—remnants of a time gone by.

Though the house eventually crumbled and the barn stood empty of cows, Clementine’s labors refused to fade. Her flowers continued to bloom every spring, offering up lovely bouquets to anyone who wandered through the old homeplace in early summer. In 2020, inspired by the enduring spirit of the past, I decided to plant sunflowers in front of the old barn. From those first seeds, Clementine’s Flower Farm was born.