Fourth-generation rancher dreams big in Elgin

Published 6:00 am Monday, July 28, 2025

ELGIN — Lynique Oveson is dreaming big at Sitting Bull Farms in Union County.

Oveson, a fourth-generation cattle rancher, is building a collaborative hub on her 75-acre farm north of Elgin. She wants the Sitting Bull Collaborative Hub to be a shared-use place where farmers, producers, educators and community members can come together and grow.

“It’s been a lifetime in the making,” Oveson said. “I grew up on a multi-generational cattle ranch with registered Herefords out in Wallowa.”

Oveson Herefords was on 3,600 acres. She said her family aimed to be good stewards of their land. They paired old information with new technology to do what was best for the land, the animals and their bottom dollar.

“I knew that was what I was going to do. I was going to take over the ranch and run cattle and manage property,” Oveson said. “And then we ended up losing the ranch when I was a junior in high school.”

After she graduated from Wallowa High School, Oveson thought her options were limited to becoming an electrician, plumber or diesel mechanic. She had ruled out higher education since she hated school and her family wasn’t well off financially. But Oveson said her life then took a drastic turn.

“I was fortunate enough to get the Ford Family Foundation (college) scholarship, which pays for 90% of any unmet need if you stay in the state of Oregon,” she said. “I took full advantage of the scholarship. Got as many credits as I possibly could and ended up doing a master’s degree.”

Making her dream come true

After her family lost the ranch, Oveson said her dream was to open an outdoor ranch school. There were some detours along the way, a few stints teaching in public school and years in the commercial fishing industry

But now she’s made that dream come true.

“This is the universe giving me an opportunity,” she said.

Oveson runs Sitting Bull Farms and two nonprofit organizations — Outdoor Adventures For All and Learning Adventure For All. The nonprofits were originally one organization, but this limited her funding opportunities because some groups won’t award grants to recipients that allow hunting.

So, Outdoor Adventures For All takes children hunting, fishing and trapping, while Learning Adventure For All focuses on homesteading practices, such as processing and canning fruits and vegetables.

Fixing the food system

These paths eventually led Oveson to the Sitting Bull Collaborative Hub. Her goal? To do her part in fixing the food system.

“My hope is by partnering with the nonprofit and working with Sitting Bull Farms and working with other producers, that we can somehow fix a little,” she said.

That hope is one step closer to reality thanks to a grant from the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Oveson was awarded just more than $792,000 to build a food hub and shared kitchen, which will provide a space for aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, wholesaling and distributing Northeastern Oregon produce and food.

The grant is made possible through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service.

Oveson said the grant will fund a 36-foot by 48-foot building and the necessary equipment.

This, however, is just a portion of Oveson’s plan.

The collaborative hub, at its biggest scope, runs a $2.5 million price tag. This would allow Oveson to construct a 60-foot by 100-foot building.

“Obviously if we don’t get all of that funding, certain things won’t happen,” Oveson said, “But as it’s proposed right now, there’ll be an eight-foot wildlife fence around the greenhouse, garden and small animal area.”

The plan would include a 15,000-square-foot chicken, rabbit and compost area, a 25,000-square foot orchard and a 50,000-square-foot garden.

“Our big goal is to have a pay-what-you-can farm stand in every community in Wallowa, Union, Baker, Morrow and Umatilla counties,” Oveson said.

Oveson is working with 12 producers. She also is partnering with two Umatilla County based producers — Rise and Shine Organics and Peterson Farms — to mill their products in Elgin.