Jul 14, 2026
By Rick McNary
Andrea de Jesus looks out over a storm-ravaged apple orchard on her A&H Farms near Manhattan. She planted the trees four years ago and hoped this year would finally be a bountiful harvest.
However, in early May of this year, a storm with winds gusting up to 70 mph did the first round of damage. Another storm in early June brought even more destructive storms with winds from 80 to 90 mph, golf ball-size hail and torrential flooding.
“It could be worse,” Andrea says. “Last year we had a hailstorm that wiped us out and this is the second hailstorm this year. Some years are harder; some days are harder. But it always could be worse. When you are in farming, you have to be positive or otherwise…
“The wind blew the corn over this year but fortunately the ground was wet enough we could stand the corn back up — I think it will be OK. A rainstorm in town might flood streets for a day, but when it hits the farm, it hits harder and takes us a while, sometimes years, to recover.”
Andrea grew up in fruit and vegetable production on her parent’s truck farm, which is a small to medium-sized farm that grows vegetables, fruits and flowers then hauls them by truck to local farmers markets. She understands Mother Nature can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
Once Andrea left home, she vowed she would not return to farming. However, as the years passed and she began having children, she realized those days working with her parents on a farm were filled with some of her fondest memories. Although the work was hard, there was something special about interacting with nature on a regular basis as they struggled to raise crops and animals. She purchased some land from her mother in 2010 and began her own farm.
“I wanted to give my children the same experience I had,” she says. “I knew it was the best life I could give my kids.
“I wanted to be able to farm year-round but since vegetables are a seasonal crop, I knew we had to add an agritourism component to keep people coming out all year. We added the pumpkin patch in our first few years and it saved the farm.
“We sell at farmers markets during the season, but we have added numerous attractions so people can come to the farm,” she says. “We have various festivals, U-pick berries, corn mazes and work with local breweries and wineries to have special events. We even have animal encounters so people can experience the joy of farm animals.”
Andrea’s interest in connecting with the public spills over into all aspects of the operation.
“Riley County Farm Bureau brought out several young people recently and some of the kids thought that kohlrabi looks like an alien,” she says with a laugh at the vegetable in the cabbage family that looks like a turnip with tentacle-like sprouts coming out from all sides. “I enjoy teaching them about how the plant grows, how to prepare it in a meal and how good it is for you. Later, those same kids brought out their parents to show them the kohlrabi. That’s so enjoyable to see the kids then teach their parents.
“We use every opportunity we can to connect with people about where their food comes from and why, for example, the freeze in Florida several months earlier causes the increase of the price of fruit in our grocery store.”
Andrea is like other farmers I’ve met who are often the most hope-filled people I know. Each seed they plant, each new animal born on the farm is a hope for a better tomorrow. However, it’s been an extremely tough year for all farmers in Kansas who have watched their livelihoods be decimated by a sudden storm, especially those they call “the white combine,” which are hailstorms.
Farms like A&H that engage the public in agritourism are particularly vulnerable to the financial impacts of storms, but folks like you and me can help them. They would not dream of asking for charity, but they would love it if you would visit their farm, pick some berries, go through the corn maze, buy some vegetables and participate in numerous activities they have going on throughout the year.
When you go to A&H, find Andrea and ask her to show you the kohlrabi the kids think looks like an alien and see if you agree.