Something occurred to me as I peeled my morning grapefruit. Grapefruit and some varieties of oranges have a thick hides. Clearly nature had given these fruits adequate protection, but has man ever taken advantage of this? I bet not.
It's too bad really, as I bet grapefruit rinds would make good Fruit Suit Armor. What am I talking about? As paleolithic man was busy hunting and gathering, always worrying about threats from animals or other nomads, he was also squandering great opportunities to protect himself. All those fruit rinds he cast aside as waste could've been put to some good use.
No one was out smelting new metals. This was before the iron age or the bronze age, and while animal skins did offer early man some form of protection, there was risk. They had to hunt and kill the animal to get it's skins. Not fruit. Just pluck some from the tree, eat the insides, stitch 'em together with some fish-bone needles and vines and viola, you've got a protective suit made from fruit!
Worn like kneepads, grapefruit rinds could easily prevent skinned knees. Plus, when some prehistoric Pterodactyl tried to eat him, Paleolithic man would taste all funny and bitter. Monarch butterflies employ this same strategy (not the fruit, but the funny taste). Oh what the mind is capable of when allowed to wander.
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I have a cat problem. They think they live under and on my deck. An annoying problem since they are not my pets and I am allergic to them. So I have researched how to rid myself of them without harming them. Guess what the solution it...grind up grapefruit, orange, or whatever citrus fruit peels available and spread them around. So in a sense it is armor for me too!
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