The Bygles That Beat All Odds
What happens when you combine politics, various county governments, Academe and community organizing? Usually not much. Having been been raised in Academe and involved in plenty of politics, when I first heard of a BYGL I definitely had my preconceived notions. In fact the first image that came to my mind was the Spoofhound. That was the name of my high school mascot. Rumor had it in the early days our football team was so inept at coming together and working as a team that the coach said they all looked like a bunch of Spoofhounds. The name has stuck as long as anyone can remember. Of course when the teams are good everyone tries to change their name to “The Hounds”. However being a dog lover I have always been fond of the name Spoofhound. I couldn’t have been more proud of that name when they recently gained national notoriety for an act of selflessness that became a network and Internet sensation and showed how greatness can be reached when unlikely partners come together to do something good. (story)
When I first heard of ”The Bygles” (at least that is what I call them), I have to admit I imagined somewhat of a Spoofhound effort in the purest sense of the name. After all how could so many competing entities possibly come together to beat the odds for the benefit of everyone. Anyone who has worked in horticulture or been a gardener knows that when you are working one on one with an extension agent it can be a wonderful experience. However, if you knew what it requires to allow that to happen you would be surprised you had the chance to meet with an agent at all. Typically University Extension Services are are funded by a combination of federal, state, and local or county funds. Most are also usually torn between a university system and local governments. This makes it really easy for someone be turned into a research assistant or someone who has to do the biddings of a politician trying to seek reelection. Yet somehow through personal care and a love of their jobs by individual agents those of us on the receiving end are rarely aware of this paradox. These agents are friends, educators, and ambassadors between the farmer in the field or the gardener in their yard and many different figments in ivory tours that hold the fate their existence in a very fragile web of funding and interests.
Somehow in the story of ”The Bygles” all of these odds are overcome to create an effort more worthy of the name Superdog than a Spoofhound. BYGL is a statewide newsletter put out weekly through the growing season by The Ohio State University Extension Service. This seems like no big deal. All of our local agents put out at least monthly newsletters, or at least most do. However this one is different. Every week during the growing season agents from every county in the state come together via conference call to discuss not only what is happening in their districts, but how diseases, insects, and trends are acting across the entire state and their region of the country as a whole.
For one day every week these people bring all of their local perspectives but put aside their local agendas to see how they can address these problems as a state and on a statewide level. After the meeting everything is compiled into one document and not only faxed out to all of their various members and users, but also put together online where the report can be accessed. Not only can the report be accessed, but through the effort of some dedicated agents and university staff, wonderful photos are taken and information is gathered to tell the story as it needs to be addressed today and not just recycled from some old files. Not only that, they reach outside of their own circle to other agencies and resources, and all the appropriate links and references are included so people can quickly find what they need. As a result they are able to address problems and needs for the entire state as an ecosystem rather than one county at a time, and over come all the bureaucratic odds.
As gardeners our biggest challenge is learning the ecosystems we work in and learning how to help the plants and animals in them to work together for the good of the entire garden. Gardening can be challenging, but working across all the various bureaucratic boundaries, and hierarchies to pull this off has to be harder. One of ”The Bygles” likes to say “Information is not Education” As someone with a philosophy degree, I have to agree. Having managed lands in many states and across state and county lines, I have become familiar with many extension services and their resources. They are loaded with information and are extremely valuable resources, but BYGL is definitely designed for education, not just to disperse information.
The last BYGL was just published for the season until next spring, but I highly recommend you check this site out. I would be proud to call this dog a Spoofhound in the greatest sense. *Note: when you go to this page the links to older newsletters are at the bottom. The links at the top are under construction as they are archiving this years content.
