These Colorado Veterans Are Finding Peace On The Farm

Ben and Leticia Ward’s farm in Fountain, Colorado, just outside Colorado Springs, doesn’t look like an army base. But it’s not hard to uncover whiffs of military influence at Little Roman Farm.  A stack of sturdy fiberglass bins next to a greenhouse seem benign, ready to be put to use as brooding bins for chickens or an aquaponics system to grow veggies and fish at the same time. The bins once housed Joint Direct Attack Munition, or part of a system that controls “smart bombs.”  “It was purged courtesy of the U.S. Army,” Ben Ward says. “Thanks, U.S. Army. Now, it’s a fish tank.” The couple’s farm of hoop houses, small sheds and livestock pens is built on a foundation of decommissioned military gear, found materials and old barns. “It does give us a huge advantage because we can do things cheaper,” Leticia Ward says. “He doesn’t need to go buy something to do an aquaponic set up.”