Taking a Much-Needed Break

Cassie here, with an update about our plans for the fall of 2026.

Last year at about this time, I was organizing a batch of recently-ordered seeds and stalking my weather app, waiting for that moment in the forecast that I think of as "first cool-down" - that little blip of days when maybe the high temp doesn't top 91, and the night-time temps dip below 75. "First cool-down" is never the final cool-down, but it gives a little window of time - sometimes in August, sometimes in September - to put seeds of more heat-tolerant fall crops in the ground or in flats, without them immediately going dormant due to extreme heat. Hitting this planting window, along with shade cloth and misters on timers, have become my go-to strategies for fall growing. If I wanted to get in-depth about fall growing, I'd maybe also tell you what's normally planned for "first days below 85", "real cool-down", and "fake first frost", which are other important moments I live by every fall.

But what I really wanted to write about here is the fact that, this year, I won't be doing any of that! It's time for a break, and even though Fall has become my absolute favorite time to be in the field, it's also the most natural time to slow things down, and so I'm going to take a longer-than-usual offseason this fall and winter. This year has been an especially challenging one for me. It was made so much better by the motivation that has come from the farm - the plants, the birds, the insects, and especially the customers, but now it's time to step back and really unwind and recharge for next season.

Here's the plan:

August 22nd will be our last day at the Muskogee Farmers Market. September 13th will be the last day the farm stand is open for the season. As all of you regular shoppers know, our harvests have already started to dwindle, but I expect them to carry through these dates. We'll continue having flowers, lots of peppers, okra, basil, garlic and onions, and some tomatoes, other herbs, and small harvests of a recent planting of cucumbers and squash. But we haven't planted anything else new, so that will be it.

We may have some bulk availability of tomatoes, okra, basil, and peppers depending on how the crops respond to (hopefully) cooling temperatures. If you're interested in any of these for preserving, get on our email list by messaging me at peaceofprairieorganicfarm@gmail.com.

In November, we'll ramp back up with our normal plantings of overwintering flowers (plenty of ranunculus!) and overwintering lettuce, spinach, onions, garlic, carrots, broccoli, kale, and other greens, which will all be ready to harvest in late winter. We'll let those crops tell us when to open the farm stand again, but I expect it will be in late February or early March.

I plan to post on our social media (Facebook and Instagram), and also send an email update to our mailing list, when we start our planting projects in November, so join one of these if you'd like to be in the loop.

If you are reading this and are one of our customers, I want you to know how deeply grateful I am for your support - whether through just showing up to purchase what we produce, or through words, notes, comments, or any other of a million small kindnesses I've received from you all this season. I will be back and look forward to seeing you in 2027!

Cassie