STERLING, Colo. — Every time hail falls on eastern Colorado, people in Denver breathe a collective sigh of relief that the storm is over farm land. Sure, there comparatively aren’t a lot of people out there, but the severe weather we’ve seen nearly every day recently has caused some serious pain for Colorado farmers.
"It’s gorgeous. I love living out here," said Niki Wernsman, a farmer in Sterling who, along with her husband and daughters, runs Wensman Family Farms.
"Most of the time," she added.
Wernsman knows life on the farm isn’t always easy. These last couple of months have been brutal. A hail storm in May destroyed hundreds of acres of their farm land. Farmers across eastern Colorado are in similar positions.
"That’s our livelihood. That’s our whole lives," said Wernsman. "That’s where we are raising our kids. There crops are going to help pay for their college someday."
Wernsman said the hail has destroyed hundreds of acres worth of their family's crops. From Bennett to Holyoke, and here on the Wernsman family farm, farmers are left surveying the damage and filing insurance claims.
Every day it seems like recently, another round of storms leads to another afternoon feeling helpless.
"It was the worst. It’s devastating to sit in the lawn chair in the garage with the door propped and just watch it take your crop," said Wernsman as she looked at videos of the hail on her phone. "There’s nothing you can do to help it."
Today, some sun. And some hope that the storms will miss home next time.
"There’s still no other job that I’d rather have out here," said Wernsman. "I love the freedom."
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