Founder/Owner of the Julian Bakery and a nutritionist, Barbara Squier, was inspired by nature and God’s sweet whispers of encouragement and the paths to follow to open the Julian Bakery.
It all started in the ۥ50ۥs with Barbara’s family roots. Her mom used to read to her from Adelle Davis’ book, “Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit.” She was raised on hearty protein drinks and she didn’t even know what a soda was, nor did she care to find out.
Barbara’s grandmother had chickens in her yard and practiced composting. They ate only natural, whole foods and she has never known any other way of eating.
As Barbara grew up, her thoughts were always of helping others, which naturally drew her to the field of nursing. She loved her RN training, which included nutrition, dietetics and the human anatomy. However, when that door closed, she was immediately redirected to go into the field of prevention.
For four years in the early ۥ70ۥs, Barbara and her husband, Fred (now deceased), entered into a Shared Health Benefits Program. They took whole grain pizzas to their seminars in an attempt to show the attendees the benefits of changing their diets to a healthier menu.
In the mid ۥ70ۥs, Barbara and Fred started a large, natural food club coop, which grew to 300 members, whom they trained in nutrition.
Following that, Barbara worked for a health company and was able to continue her teachings on the human body through seminars called, “How to Love Your Body,” detailing what happens to food all the way through your body.
When Barbara and Fred’s kids were growing up, they had a stone mill in their kitchen. On Sundays, before church, Barbara would grind whole grain for a waffle breakfast. It was a weekly treat the whole family enjoyed.
Barbara loved to experiment with bread making. She used coffee cans to make whole grain breads, which mushroomed on top when baked. She would sit in a tub filled with hot water every night, devouring all the information she could get from their library of bread making books.
Barbara and Fred had long dreamed of getting back to their roots and living in the country in Julian. While waiting for a suitable storefront to become available in Julian, Barbara practiced making bread at home for a year. During that time, she and Fred set up a booth every weekend at the Julian craft fairs, giving away samples of their breads. The community fell in love with Barbara’s bread making style and creativity.
Finally, the 400 sq. ft. photo shop in the town of Julian became available and Julian Bakery was born in September of ۥ89.
While Fred was out buying cases of coffee cans to begin the bread baking business, he learned of a bakery that had just returned all their custom made, round, bread baking pans, which he was able to obtain and are still in use to this day.
God had put the idea of creating natural, healthy round breads in Barbara’s heart years earlier and round breads remain their signature item.
Inspiration for one of the rounds came from the movie, “Baby Boom,” and a Teddy Bear Shop. Barbara created three breads, Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear. Mama Bear Bread still survives and is their most nurturing bread.
After 4 years in Julian, the bakery outgrew its tiny 400 sq. ft. storefront and was able to expand with a move to La Jolla in ۥ93.
When Julian Bakery first began, the craze was for “fat free.” Their breads contained hardly any fat. The next and present craze is “low carb.” As you can imagine, they are THE LOW CARB BAKERY OF CHOICE today. It’s so easy for Julian Bakery to give the public what they want with Barbara’s gift for creative bread making. Their current most popular bread is Paleo Bread, which nets only 1 carb!
Barbara’s is a story of a lifelong dream come true. She feels blessed to have a family business where she was able to work side by side with her husband, Fred, for 15 of the 20 years the bakery has been in operation and has enjoyed having all her children and grandchildren working with her throughout the years. She still lives a natural, wholesome lifestyle and tirelessly shares her gifts with everyone she meets. She is not only a bread designer and nutritionist, but also a counselor and healer and I am proud to call her my friend.
Please enjoy all the bounties of Julian Bakery as often as you can. They will benefit you in more ways than you can imagine.
Enjoy, Samantha
http://www.JulianBakery.com
