Hi Kirt...et al,

Nice to hear from you.  Have also been unable to get into reading everything
lately, but hope to catch up, since there's so much great stuff on this List.

Re the pistachio situation:

Some of the growers actually do dry them in the sun, but many others prefer
the open warm shade, instead, claiming better resulting physical properties
and taste superiority, too.

You're right, of course, about the direct sun not raising the internal nuts'
temperature too high. The skins are very moist, and the warm air and/or
sunshine merely evaporate this water, actually dropping the internal
temperature...much the same as do the swamp coolers in desert homes.
Clearly, of course, it's important to take them in when dried...or they
could easily become overheated, at least if done in the open sun.

The peeling is no chore at all, with the pistachios, anyway.  The exterior
simply slides easily off the shell with a slight pressure or pulling by your
fingers.  I hope the Vista Farmer's market fellow, Dale Kerr, comes back
next Saturday.  He missed last Saturday, so we had to suffer along without
his delectable pistachios and fresh ju-ju-bees.  He didn't even know that
people might like the fresh and undried nuts, let alone that they could be
so easily preserved in the refrigerator.  He's a neat fellow, and very open
to learning new things.  He does his orchard work up in the high desert.

Your instincto perspective is always interesting, especially since I really
haven't been exposed to very much of the philosophy before.

Regarding my writing:  Yup...did a whole lot of it when I lived up in
Malibu, California in the early eighties. Had amassed a large collection of
rare books and other unusual references, and had some large manuscripts
coming together, but in October of 1982, it all evaporated in a few short
moments in the brushfire that ravaged our home and belongings into the ether.

Haven't really had much of a chance to get back to it since, but do intend
to start writing again.

Those fire holocaust experiences tend to take the momentum out of one's
sails for awhile, since one is oft preoccupied with mere survival when all
your "stuff" is no longer around and the usual creature comforts seem out of
reach.  When the insurance falls through, it gets even nastier.  Yuk.  I can
too easily relate to how the poor folks nearby, who lost it all in last
week's fire, feel.  Glad it missed you and Melissa.

About Paavo and Terry Fry:  I really liked them both, but simply found that
Paavo's ethics and mine jibed, so felt much closer to him. I also worked
with Paavo, spent a great deal of time with him, and we did projects
together.  On the other hand, I only knew T.C. through my good friends,
Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, and never spent more than several hours with him
at one time, even though these encounters spanned some ten or more years.

Phyllis Avery, of Vista, on the other hand, had lots of dealings with
Terry...and she liked him immensely..and, quite frankly, she claims all of
her business transactions with him were both fruitful and positive.  Terry,
again, did an awful lot of extremely good things in his life, and I hope we
can remember these valuable contributions, especially his effective
spreading of the Hygienic gospel.

It was on the "walk vs. talk" aspect that I saw great differences between
T.C. and Paavo. I had lots of trouble with Terry's business philosophy, and
warned some friends to listen to what he had to say about hygiene, but not
to any of his business propositions.  It saved them a lot of lucre and
personal grief.  I'm afraid that there are quite a few folks out there who
believed in T.C.'s business promotions, and then lost every penny they
invested.  Nevertheless, I'll have to admit that I also fell prey to Terry's
inimitable charm and fascinating personality.  For a self-educated fellow,
he was more than sharp, and one had to respect him for this.  He was an
amazing dynamo.

skipped some.........

>I don't think sun-dried foods are all that troublesome to one's health, but
>as there may be some fledgling instinctos lurking, I did want to say that
>they can cause problems when eaten instinctively. All one needs to do, of
>course, is to stop eating when there is _any_ change in flavor--i.e. not wait
>for them to taste unpleasant. Or better yet, eat until you don't want
>anymore and see how you feel. (Come to think of it, this good/bad taste
>also occurs with mixed raw honey, but not with comb honey. This holds even
>for truely raw mixed honey.)

Interesting.  New ideas here, for me, anyway.

>Thanks again Ric for your posts (always nice to hear some first hand info
>(Airola) in contrast to the usual here-say). You seem to be representative
>of the few successful raw vegans, and your experience raising raw kids is
>rare these days (or in any day I guess).

Thanks, again.  Nice to be encouraged.  I would like to say, however, that I
sense some unbelievably wonderful changes occurring recently in regard to
the number of folks trying out natural eating.  Our good local trio's new
"First Law..." book isn't completely in accord with my own experiences, but
it's a major breakthrough and fabulous enterprise.  These young fellows
(young to me, anyway) may be one of the greatest events since the invention
of the apple for the raw food movement, don't you think?

When I was into all this raw stuff during the 70's and 80's, it was hard to
run into others who shared the interest, even including most Hygienists I
knew.  Virtually none of the officially sanctioned Practitioners were into
it, with the possible exception of Virginia Vetrano, so it was a tad on the
lonely side to waddle along the path.  Having my entire family on the
routine was a great blessing, though, since it was, of course, a built-in
support system that just wouldn't fail.

>Have you done any writing on your
>experience with raw foods etc? I would be quite interested to know of it,
>and I'm sure others on veg-raw would as well.

Again, thanks for the kind words. With my professional journalist daughter
and prolific writing son on my case to get back to writing, especially since
it's no longer a matter of using pen and paper (as my early work was), the
future should see something coming out of the spigot...hopefully interesting
enough to be read by more than my own family.

Peace and plenty...and may we survive the political insanity!

Ric