Ray Meyer: First and Last in Apples

Photo by Jamey Ritter

By Bobbi Zane

   

Some of the best Julian apples can be found at Ray Meyer’s little stand in Wynola, where he has been offering up sweet and crunchy fruit for more than a quarter-century.

With that track record, Meyer is the newest operator of what most people consider the first apple stand in Julian. It’s also the last remaining roadside fruit stand of several that have brought autumn visitors to Julian for nearly 100 years.

“When I came to Julian in the late 1960s, Dick and Ann Farley had about 30 acres of orchards and they ran this fruit stand,” Meyer recalled.

He doesn’t know how long the shop has stood there on Highway 78, but he thinks it’s longer than anyone in Julian can remember. The fruit stands in Wynola once operated by Woody Barns and Bud Farmer came later, Meyer recalled; gone for several years, those buildings have been converted to other uses: King Leo Chocolates and the Orfila complex.

Meyer learned farming while growing up in Valley Center, where his family owned acreage on which they grew citrus and Christmas trees. He came to Julian in 1963 to help found the Wynola Bible Conference, a camp and conference center operated by the American Sunday School Union. The camp, off Wynola Road, continues to serve children.

Although his tenure with the conference center was short, Meyer learned the apple business from Harry and Mary Kennedy, who owned 52 acres along Wynola Road and operated the Apple Bar Ranch.

“They had a nice orchard and made money,” Meyer said.

When he took over the apple stand from the Farleys in 1979, Meyer also began managing the family’s orchards. Most of the apples he sells come from the orchards surrounding the fruit stand. It's an old orchard planted with many antique varieties including Northern Spy and Arkansas Black.

“The golden delicious we grow is about as sweet as an apple can get,” he said.

In addition to the apples Meyer grows, he also sells apple cider, peaches in summer, several varieties of honey, and produce from local and Ramona growers.