Last Saturday, fueled by a hankering for the apple cider doughnuts I enjoyed in my early childhood back in New York, Riley and I took a road trip. Our destination--Riley's Farm--in Oak Glen, near Yucaipa. Mile-high Oak Glen is the largest apple growing region in the Southland. Fall leaves and apple orchards in a mountain setting--as close to New England as you can get on the West coast! Maybe I was crazy to drive halfway to Palm Springs, but Riley was game, so off we went.
The Riley name is on several businesses in the area, all linked to an extended family that began moving to the region in the 1970s, though many of the orchards date to the late 19th century. Riley's Farm is designed to evoke a frontier mentality; the staff dresses in period clothing and demonstrates early farm life.
We enjoyed a hayride at Los Rios Rancho--also operated by the Riley family--and learned some history about the area. The apple trees at Los Rios range from 45 to 130 years old. Los Rios was first begun in 1906 when Howard Rivers, a grower from Pasadena, purchased the property, over 300 acres, from the Wilshires. I think he paid for it with something like a bottle of whiskey, the change in his pocket, and the saddle off his horse. The Riley family leases the business operations and the bulk of the orchards from The Wildlands Conservancy, who purchased the property from descendants of the Rivers family in 1995 to save it from being turned into a mobile home park. The Conservancy maintains nature trails on the property for hiking, but our driver told us to watch out for black bears. He then regaled us with a story about a black bear that went into the Rancho's market one night last year after Shelli Riley left the back door open. She stumbled upon it in the bakery section, screamed, and the bear took off, making several trips around the market before it finally found the door again. Apparently, she scared it as much as it scared her.
We stopped at Snow-Line Orchard for fresh apple-cider doughnuts, but, sadly, they didn't match my memory of Conklin's doughnuts on South Mountain Road. 
3 comments:
More good memories. Perhaps if Conklins have a web site you could order apple cider doughnuts. However the last time I was in the area we stopped, they didn't taste as I remembered them. The farm is designated an historic site but they can't produce enough vegetables and fruit to make it profitable. Too little land to farm. The real estate is worth millions but they can't sell it for housing because of the landmark status. They were doing well operating a green grocer in the WTC but we all know what happened there. They lost a new farm truck there and were having problems collecting insurance. This was in 2005 that we drove up South Mountain
Road. It was nice to find some thing unchanged, namely the Orchard, but it's causing the family hardship. Sorry, too long a posting.
Conklin's has a website but they don't ship their doughnuts. I found another company that does, for a high shipping fee. I think I'm better off trying to make my own. I have a recipe. Want it?
Sure.
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