By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University/Image: Scott and Miah Howe
“How can I grow?” asked the young, professional woman.
It’s a key question to be considered when developing a career. Today that young woman’s career involves growing trees, fruits, vegetables and flowers while growing her skills and her family’s business.
Scott Howe and family are owners and operators of Fall Color Farms and Creekside in Riley, near where Scott was raised. “I’ve made it three-quarters of a mile from where I grew up,” Scott said with a smile.
He came back to the area after studying horticulture at K-State and working for Blueville Nursery.
In 1993, he founded Howe Landscape, with an associated tree farm that served as a nursery for landscape trees. In 2016, the landscape business was sold and Howe went full scale into the tree farm business.
Howe has four children: Twins Miah and Kori, and sons Lane and Wyatt.
Miah also studied horticulture at K-State. She worked at Depot Market in Courtland and then Gieringers Family Farm in Edgerton, learning about fruit and vegetable production and agritourism.
Miah decided to come back home to start a U-Pick apple orchard and market under the guidance and partnership of her father. Her brother, Lane, is now field manager and Wyatt is a local mechanic. Scott’s wife, Rose, manages the office and helps with the store. Kori works at a hospital in Wisconsin.
The Howes needed a name for their new enterprise near Riley. “I made a list of names and Googled each one until I found a cool name with a domain available,” Scott said.
The name that stuck — appropriate for a tree farm with pretty fall foliage — was Fall Color Farm.
Fall Color Farm has gone from growing just over 1,000 trees per year on 23 acres, to growing upwards of 12,000 trees per year on 200+ acres. Quality is a priority.
“We replenish trees every year and use fiberglass stakes and specialized rubber bands to help the trees grow correctly,” Howe said. “We have four guys that prune trees all summer long, every day.”
The business has diversified. In July 2025, the Howes opened Creekside at Fall Color Farms in a new facility adjacent to the tree farm nestled along Wildcat Creek.
“Our new space serves three purposes,” Miah said.“First, it’s to market our fresh produce from our own fields, plus jars of products we are adding. Second, it’s for logistics such as offices and our packing room, and third, for entertainment,” she said.
The market has a beautiful brick wood-fired pizza oven and an open air pavilion that is available for rent for special events. There is also space for kid’s activities.
“We’re most excited for the U-pick apple operation,” Miah said. “We’ll have 17 different varieties to choose from in the fall.”
Fresh-made cider donuts and blueberry donuts will be fall treats.
Other activities are planned for spring and summer. “We can have hard cider hangouts, craft beer events, and live music nights,” Miah said. Depending on the season, Creekside will offer cut flowers, such as zinnias and sunflowers.
It’s impressive to find such a diverse operation near the rural community of Riley, population 938 people. Now, that’s rural.
Why do all this? For Miah, it is about personal development and serving others.
“I want to challenge myself: How can I grow?” she said. “I want to be a positive influence, working side-by-side with family and members of the community.”
“From a business standpoint, I appreciate the diversity of the revenue opportunities, but we really need to have fun,” Scott said. He reflected on a woman who came and got flowers. “We did a little something to help make that lady’s day better,” he said.
“There’s enjoyment in watching other people have fun, and that helps prevent burnout.”
For more information, see www.fallcolorfarms.com.
How can I grow? It’s a key question for a young professional and for a small business owner. We commend Scott and Rose, Miah and Lane Howe for making a difference with horticultural entrepreneurship.
It’s great to see how this has grown.
Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at https://www.huckboydinstitute.org/kansas-profiles. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.huckboydinstitute.org.
