I'm told this is an East coast or Pacific northwest autumn activity, but it would appear that there are apple orchards within a 1.5 hour drive from Los Angeles. I went to an orchard that allows you to pick your own apples called Willowbrook Apple Farm. It's in Yucaipa where there appears to also be a lot of new housing communities.
Having grown up with fruit trees in my backyard, it was an interesting experience picking apples. Some urban adventurer friends pressed 20 lbs of apples into a gallon of cider. According to the staff helpers, there are two uses for the leftover apple bits.. pig feed and compost. Since they don't have any pigs, it's all composted in some huge bin for a year then spread out under the trees.
