Farmer pulls off ‘miracle’ year after Lewistown tornado and drought

LEWISTOWN (25News Now) - Nine months after losing his Lewistown home, machine sheds and more, Chris Hummel and his family will move into their new home in early January.

Like many others, 2023 was a whirlwind for Chris Hummel. While they nearly lost everything, he realized what he did have.

“Me, my wife, my dog, and my wife’s car were about the only thing that was left,” said Chris Hummel, owner and operator of Hummel Farms.

The Hummels have farmed in Lewistown for nearly 30 years. The farm dodged a tornado several years before.

The summer drought was another challenge the family faced.

“Honestly, the fields were more emotional, almost, to me,” said Hummel. “I thought: ‘How am I going to get my livelihood and how am I going to get across all these farms and these fields?’”

But like good neighbors do, people from across the area were there on Good Friday to help.

Hundreds of kids spent their Easter break cleaning up debris in the farm fields.

For nearly nine months, Hummel and his son worked nearly every day for 12 hours. The fields survived the drought.

“For us as farmers, that was very crucial. We were thinking in June: ‘Are we going to get any rain?’” Hummel said. “Then we got some timely rains. Everything turned around. It did a 360 for us.”

Hummel now has new equipment and new machine sheds.

“You sit and think: ‘Eight months. How did you do it? What else is going to hit you in this year for what you started with and to now?’ How everything worked out is a miracle,” Hummel said.

Hummel said a vacation to Florida is needed after the stressful year.