Small business – Little Berry Fairy
Offers: Chocolate covered strawberries and breakable hearts

This LA small business makes beautiful chocolate and event sweets, including gorgeous marbled strawberries with custom messages. Other items include breakable hearts and cakesicles that have been trending during the pandemic, but what sets Little Berry Fairy’s treats apart is her attention to detail. Every set she makes is quite lovely and/or adorable, and each box feels like a lavish gift. Check out her page here for her 2-tiered Mother’s Day gift box or glam box!

Small business – Ganchic
Offers: Grazing boxes with kimbap quinoa rolls

Another small business near Arts District, Ganchic takes the traditional kimbap (Korean rice rolls) and turns it into a cleaner, lighter, and more artful version. These rolls are made out of quinoa instead of rice and with clean, whole ingredients. No preservatives or artificial additives. Besides daily rolls, Christina creates these gorgeous grazing boxes with fresh florals, and you can opt to substitute some rolls for farmer market berries and vegetables. She’s currently taking limited orders for her “Super Mom” set, which is one you don’t want to miss!

Small business – Eats Lucy Wang
Offers: Burnt Basque Cheesecake

Next on the list is LA small business, Eats Lucy Wang in the heart of Ktown. Lucy recently started baking up burnt basque cheesecakes in various flavors like coffee, matcha, and ube, and they are delicious. Light, fluffy, and infused with subtle flavors, these cheesecakes make for some great post-dinner desserts. Check out this post to order a Mother’s Day Gift box with 3 sets of flavors.

Small business – MM Creamery
Offers: Tofu Cheesecake

MM Creamery in the SGV region has yet another take on the classic cheesecake. MM Creamery also makes various sweets including wedding treats, but their tofu cheesecakes steal the show. The original tofu flower cheesecake with ginger syrup reminds me of the classic tofu pudding I grew up eating. Besides the classic, MM Creamery also experiments with various other Asian flavors, like black sesame, pandan coconut and currently Sakura lychee. They rotate flavors, so make sure to try it when you see it on the menu! They are also offering various Mommy x Me + cookies curated dessert set to make and bake with the family.

Small business – Foodologie
Offers: Cookes, Brownies, Ice Cream

Last but not least, Foodologie is an LA small business in Long Beach that offers cookies, brownies, and ice cream. The wonderfully chewy cookies (salted toffee cooking, chocolate chip, churrodoodle) and ube brownies are such a treat. Deciding which one to get can be hard, so my advice is to try it all! Trust me, you won’t regret it! Because she often sells out quickly, you’ll want to place your orders on her site here as soon as you can.

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If you live in Los Angeles, you’re probably wondering – are there even farms or apple orchards out here? Yes! They aren’t exactly in the city, but if you drive a little ways out, you’ll find plenty. Oak Glen in Yucaipa, California, is one town filled to the brim with farms and activities for couples and the whole family. It’s the apple capitol of California, just shy of 100 miles east of Los Angeles, nestled near the San Bernardino Mountains. It’s also over 100 years old, rustic but lively, and very welcoming to all the people who come through the farms. It’ll feel as if you left California completely, without all the travel time.

To celebrate fall this year, I went to Oak Glen to apple-pick, press cider, and munch on apple cider donuts! The apple picking season is generally between September and November, but of course, each year will vary due to weather and how many people visit.

WillowBrook Apple Farm

The two main farms that most people are familiar with are Riley’s Farm and Willowbrook Apple Farm, likely because they are the first farms you’ll encounter when you drive into Oak Glen. If you plan to go to one of these, look to park on the side of the road. The further in you get, the more crowded it gets, so if you find a parking spot, take it and walk a little! I also suggest showing up when the doors open so that you can get your choice of apples and parking. *Note that Riley’s Farm is not open on Sundays.

This year, I went to Willowbrook Apple Farm. This orchard was planted in 1910, but it officially opened its doors to the public as an Apple Farm in 2004. It now belongs to the Driscoll family, who you may bump into walking around the farm still. This farm only has one type of apple: the winesap apple. It has a wrinkly top (explained to us as stretch marks for the apple), but it is crisp and sweet with a tangy finish. For you bakers, it holds its crisp well!

Once you’re in on the farm, you’re free to pick from whatever tree you want! They give you fruit pickers too to reach the apples way up on top. At Willowbrook, you pay by the bag: currently $9 for a small bag and $15 for the larger bag. Apple-picking is actually pretty hard when you’re late to the game and all the apples left are at the top of the tree. You have to wiggle your clunky picker through the branches and somehow find a way to grab and twist off the apples. It was a workout for me!

Besides apples, the farm currently has raspberries to pick as well. There is a also a mini pumpkin patch, cute animals like Star and Comet, their mini-donkey and mini-horse, barbecue food truck on site, a small shop of their homemade jams and sauces, and a cider press. That’s right, you can make your own cider!

We decided to fork over the $12 and make our own cider for fun. The farm provided the apples, and we picked a basket full of apples and used their press machines to make our own sweet ciders!

For the record, if you’re like me and wondering what the difference between apple cider and apple juice is – let me share what I learned! Apple cider is made by pressing fresh apples, while apple juice is cider that has been filtered and pasteurized so that you can keep it on the shelf for months. The more you know.

Snow-Line Orchard & Winery

After finishing at Willowbrook, we decided to drive more inland to stop at Snow-Line Orchard and Winery for their famous mini apple cider donuts! Snow Line Orchards has a more park-like feel to it – with grass and lots of tall trees and cute picnic tables to gather around for snacks. They also have thousands of apples all over the floor, which is exactly what I think of when I think of an apple orchard.

If you walk past the picnic tables, you’ll find a pretty big country store filled with apples, trinkets, food, a wine tasting room, and their delicious donuts! The line for the donuts and beverages can be pretty long, but it moves rather quickly. The cider donuts are made with Snow Line Orchard’s own apple cider and served hot and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. I was craving a apple cider slush, so we ordered one to go along with the donuts. They also have coffee, which I imagine would complement the donuts pretty well too. The slush was SO refreshing and sweet – perfect for a hot day of picking we just had. And the cider donuts? Pure bliss! Crispy on the outside, fluffy and warm on the inside.

I also wanted to visit Los Rios Rancho and Oak Tree Village. Los Rios Rancho is actually Southern California’s largest historic apple ranch! And Oak Tree Village is 14 acres of activities and family fun including train rides, pony rides, their famous mile high apple pies, pig races, and endless shops and crafts. Unfortunately, we only had enough time to drive by it, and it looked like it was bustling. I’ll definitely have to make a stop next time.

Have you been to Oak Glen or anywhere similar? What’d you think? I always love discovering places like these, and I’d love to hear of any places you know!

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