The Curb Cut Effect: The Power of Interdependence
In our first episode of The Curb Cut Effect, I had the privilege of speaking with Kevin Bell, a blind organic farmer who lives in Oklahoma. I first met Kevin while we were both at Leader Dogs for the Blind near Detroit, Michigan. At the time, I was still reeling from my own sudden vision loss and had few ideas about how I might regain a sense of purpose, let alone employment. Kevin’s vocation and staggering knowledge of farming radically challenged my sense of what a blind person could do.
As it turns out, organic farming is incredibly complex. It requires the farmer to make intricate technical decisions, like designing crop successions and staggering planting, so that the net effect of each year of farming is soil that contains higher concentrations of nutrients with time. Organic farmers like Kevin even manage, through careful planning and practice, to grow produce in every season of the year. Organic growing presents great difficulties physically, intellectually, and organizationally, so for Kevin to produce such bounties while reckoning with the obstacles inherent to blindness continues to fill me with hope.
Perhaps crop rotations teach us something of the value of interdependence and diversity. After all, a farm without variety slowly loses the capacity to grow healthy crops as the soil is stripped of necessary nutrients. Kevin, of course, describes all this in much richer detail in the episode. But I think the example of interdependence from our conversation that provoked the most thought on my part was the web of mutual support that Kevin describes among himself, his friends, and his family. With time and experience, Kevin has invented clever solutions to potential obstacles presented by his impairment. He has devised accessible means of planting, caring for and harvesting most crops he grows, as well as safe ways to perform essential duties for his livestock. Yet, there are still other tasks for which no ingenious technique can replace the faculty of sight—and for those, Kevin relies on family.
Kevin’s farming beautifully illustrates the importance of creativity and grit. Kevin had to think about how to modify many farming procedures so that he could run his farm without sight. Still, if no sighted people assisted with the occasional task that eludes him, he would be barred from his current success, and the world would have several bushels fewer strawberries and winter radishes. I believe we all have more plentiful harvests when we commit ourselves to helping others pursue their passions.