Where We Stand
An honest update on Smokin' Oaks straight from us.
“When I first shared this page, I said we’d rather you hear the truth from us than from a headline. That hasn’t changed.
Our retail market has closed, and the original Smokin’ Oaks Organic Farms business is now winding down. That’s the hard part, and I’m not going to talk around it.
But the mission that started all of this is not winding down. It’s moving forward into something we believe is stronger and more lasting than a single store ever could have been. That’s what I want to tell you about here.
As things keep evolving, we’ll keep this page updated. We’d rather you hear it directly from us than wonder what’s happening.”
Where We Are Today
Our retail market on 8th Avenue has closed.
Our retail market on 8th Avenue has closed, and the original Smokin' Oaks Organic Farms retail business has entered Chapter 7 the process of winding down that entity.
The decision to close the market was difficult, and it reflects the financial realities we've been open with you about throughout this journey.
But closing the market was never the end of the mission. It was the moment the mission moved into its next form: a community-owned cooperative.
Seperation Statement:
Smokin' Oaks Cooperative is a separate entity, built to carry the mission forward.
The Chapter 7 process concerns the prior retail business , not the cooperative. The cooperative was created as its own structure, for the long-term work of building a community-owned food system, and that work continues independent of the wind-down of the original entity Smokin’ Oaks Organic Farms.
What Hasn't Changed
The market closed. The convictions behind it didn't.
We still believe:
Healthy soil matters.
Regenerative agriculture matters.
Local farmers deserve stronger markets.
Transparency builds trust.
Communities are stronger when they understand — and have a stake in — where their food comes from.
Long-term stewardship matters more than short-term convenience.
Those convictions guide every decision we make.
There's Real Momentum
We've been encouraged genuinely by the response these past weeks.
A growing group of founding members has already joined the cooperative. We're in active conversations with many more people who want to understand what we're building. The interest has been real, and much of it is word-of-mouth, neighbors telling neighbors that a different food system is worth owning.
Every one of those conversations is a reminder that this was always about more than a market.
What We're Building
A cooperative isn't just a different ownership structure. It's a different way of thinking about the future of food, one where the people who eat from a food system get to own it, govern it, and protect it, alongside the people producing it.
Member-owned. Member-capitalized. A connected system, land, grain, livestock, processing, and markets, held by the community it feeds, rather than by outside capital that can sell it off down the road. No exit. No sell-off. The mission stays accountable to the people it serves.
That's the work we're focused on now. And it's already underway.
Continue the Conversation
Because we're still working through the cooperative's formation, there are legal guidelines around what we can share publicly. So the fullest picture lives in a conversation, and we'd genuinely welcome yours.
Whether you're simply curious, exploring membership, or wondering where things stand today, we're glad to share what we can and help you understand the vision we're building.