The Oregon Extension

Calling all alumni and friends of the OE!

Read our annual letter from Director Tad Cobb below, and please consider donating to the OE's $1M Endowment Fund. We need your help!

Donate to the Endowment Here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/oregon-extension-endowment

Not Receiving our Letters or Emails? Update your contact info on our website: https://forms.gle/Y6P3dCZmSNAZK2Vy7

The goslings have hatched at the OE

Thank you for the photos!

This tree was born in ~1850 and has been submerged at the bottom of the mill pond since the 1930s! Today we extracted it, sawed it to length, milled it up into boards, and set it out to dry. This lumber will be used by students in the fall to build some one-of-a-kind furniture.

Springtime in Lincoln brings morel hunting, baby chickens, jogs along the highway, and a mystery rock with an old nail fused into it

Cell service and internet can be spotty up at the OE. Lucky for us, each sunset in Lincoln is HD.

Welcome our newest faculty at the OE!

Meet Cheri Larsen Hoeckley and Chris Hoeckley. Cheri has taught Women Writers, Gender & Feminist Theory, Victorian Literature, the novel, and various writing classes, mostly at Westmont College. Chris spent 26 years on the faculty of Westmont where he taught philosophy. Together, they have spent their career leading interdisciplinary off-campus programs in Ireland, Britain, and Germany with college students.
Chris and Cheri are both so excited for their inaugural semester at the OE and cannot wait to greet the incoming OE class of 2026.

Don’t they seem cool? It’s not too late to apply! Come ask the big questions with us this fall.

A few quiet semester moments from Maggie’s film:
Snowy hike at Crater Lake.
Cathedral of Redwoods.
Winding Highway 66 up to Lincoln.

Experience it for yourself this fall. Apply by March 15th (THIS SUNDAY) and receive a $200 early application stipend.

The spring chickens are out of the hoop house for the winter and into the goat yard! Our hoop house needs some love, but the chicken yard is growing back for fall!
Check out our rotational chicken grazing guidelines on our website!

Happy Valentine’s Day from the OE! Don’t forget - tomorrow is the last day to apply to get your $400 stipend!

BIG NEWS FROM THE OE!

Last week we got a call from Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford that came with a blast from the North Pole. Gary is an OE alum (1980), and for the last fifteen years Gary and Kit have owned and maintained the OE campus property, which up until now had allowed us to continue the OE as the college program most of us experienced. As you may have heard, there has been some uncertainty for the last couple of years that the property might transfer to another organization, effectively ending the OE after 50 years. With this post, I can officially announce the upshot of that phone call with Gary and Kit: that they wish to keep the OE right here in Lincoln and that the OE will continue on as long as it has legs.

This is a wonderful turn of events. I had been dreading writing the annual letter this year, fearing it would bear the sad news that the OE would be wrapping up once and for all. Instead, I am sending this brief but heartwarming news that there will be many fall semesters to come.

We will send out a delayed annual letter in January with more details about this wondrous plot twist. That letter will fill you in on the just-concluded semester, a glimpse into the OE’s future, and an appeal for donations to our long-term mission. In the meantime, please consider an end of 2025 donation to support your beloved OE. We continue to need your help to keep the magic happening. Thank you for all your support over the years, as well as for your continued love that will propel us into the years ahead. We know that so much depends on our extended community; the OE will need the continued support of our alumni and friends to keep its legs ambling along.

Donations can be made through the OE website: https://www.oregonextension.org/give

Also: if you've moved recently or changed your contact information, send corrected info to Will ([email protected]) to make sure you receive the exciting updates to come.

Merry Christmas from Lincoln and OE 2025!