Johnny Appleseeds of Change

 Johnny Appleseeds of Change

Beth Anz

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYtowR5qDIU

 

Once upon a time, a man, a myth, a mystic and a legend 

wandered the young American Countryside.  

And with him he brought his gospel, and appleseeds.  

This wandering evangelist was named John Chapman, 

better known to us as Johnny Appleseed.  

He had a remarkable life and left a lasting impression 

on the American countryside, using both the seeds 

of apples and faith, to shape the lives of many.  

And through his story, I believe, so can we.

John Chapman was born in Massachusetts around 

independence day 1774, but it is in 1801 in 

Licking Creek, Ohio, where we first see the seeds 

of his legend.  Farmer John Stedden recalled a rather 

eccentric man who planned to head west 

and plant apple seeds for future farmers.

Five years later, another early Ohio settler found 

this eccentric man, barefoot, dressed in rags with 

a sack and a tin pot or bowl on his head as a hat.  

He was paddling two canoes together, one was 

filled with apple seeds.

John Chapman began his journey to the legendary 

Johnny Appleseed as an orchardist’s business 

apprentice before he set out on his own.  

He didn’t regard any earthly woman as wholesome 

enough for him, so he was a single man throughout his life.  

He was friendly, but preferred a life of solitude.  

He had over 1000 acres to his name by the 

end of his life, but never flaunted his wealth.  

He ran a thriving business, but was not the best book 

keeper, so the extent of his influence may never 

be fully known.  He has been described by others 

as devout, sharing books of his faith wherever he 

went, yet primitive, sleeping anywhere he could 

and living independent of any wants or desires.  

His simple life was greatly influenced by his 

religious beliefs.  He was a follower of the 

Church of New Jerusalem and Swedish Christian 

mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, a scientist-turned-prophet 

who had admirers from many prominent 

19th century figures, from W.B. Yeats and 

Robert Frost to Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

The fundamental Swedenborgian tenets that 

Chapman taught were nonviolence, the universality 

of Being, and the connectedness of the universe.”  

They believed that God could be most experienced 

through nature and simple living.  

In fact, one tale says he walked barefoot because 

he gave his only pair of shoes to a frontier family in need.  

In other acts of generosity, he was known to stay 

and teach settlers how to care for the orchards 

he planted along the way.  Real faith, he believed, 

was manifested in acts of charity and 

commitment to a life of usefulness.  

He was also a vegetarian and believed in the 

rights of animals, which was unorthodox at the time.  

He cared for sick animals and even legend has it, 

once quenched his own campfire to save the lives 

of mosquitoes drawn to the flame.  

Lots of other tall tales are told of ways John Chapman 

sacrificed his own comfort so as not to upset 

wild animals on the frontier.  

An interesting fact about this seed evangelism 

of Johnny Appleseed.  His faith explicitly forbade 

grafting trees (attaching branches to existing roots), 

believing it to cause suffering and removing 

their god given right to grow.  

So in this act of compassion, he planted only seeds 

from cider mills, and created nurseries throughout 

the frontier with natural items like fallen trees or bushes, 

preaching and planting as he traveled.  

And John Chapman was extremely popular for planting 

these seeds.  Beyond the apples produced, 

was the service he provided to future homesteaders.  

At the time the Frontier homesteads were required 

to plant 50 apple trees and 20 peach trees in three 

years and then they would be granted 100 acres of land.  

Planting and caring for orchards was seen as an 

intent to stay, tying people to the land, and creating 

sustainability for growing communities.  

So John Chapman created these orchards with 

seemingly divine inspiration, where settlers would come.  

He started his business by contracting locals to 

care for those trees  while he continued to travel,

plant, and preach Swedenborgian teachings 

to whoever would listen.

He would return to his orchards when the settlers 

arrived and either sell or barter those orchards 

to the new settlers creating for himself a 

thriving business on the frontier and a 

reputation for generosity.  

He was not only regarded well by settlers but by 

some of the indigenous natives as well.  

Although he did cause tensions with his contributions 

to their displacement, they generally respected 

his simple lifestyle, friendliness and knowledge of 

plants and therefore, mostly left him alone.  

Some even considered him “touched” by the great spirit. 

John Chapman’s planting methods made his 

nurseries unique in the variety of apples they produced.  

As mentioned before, he would not graft trees, 

he planted seeds.  If you want consistency in your apples, 

it requires grafting. 

Therefore Johnny Appleseed didn’t just plant 

acres of apples, he planted thousands of different 

heirloom species.  There were in fact more than 

14,000 known varieties of apple in the U.S. in 1905, 

bearing colorful names like the “Sheep’s Snout,” 

“Hornet Sweeting” or “Green Everlasting,” 

and Johnny Appleseed played a major part in that biodiversity.

Because of the wide variety of species, 

many apples were bitter and not appealing to eat.  

So those were used in the making of cider.  

Being on the frontier with limited options for clean 

drinking water, Cider was often used as currency 

in the frontier and essential to survival for both 

drinking and canning.  Not to mention he was 

bringing the gift of alcohol to the frontier and 

therefore was welcomed heartily.  

It gives new meaning to the Johnny Appleseed Song

Oh, the Lord’s been good to me.

And so I thank the Lord

For giving me the things I need:

The sun, the rain and the appleseed;

Oh, the Lord's been good to me.

Most of those species are lost to us today.  

During prohibition, these heirloom orchards 

were destroyed, and the rise in the popularity of 

hops gave way to less variety.   So by the late 

20th century we essentially had 

3 varieties - red, yellow and green.  

There is a modern movement to restart that 

apple variety spirit of Johnny Appleseed.  

One of its modern evangelists is an apple breeder 

named David Bedford, who discovered and 

diversified the popular sweet Honeycrisp.   

In the beginning, no one wanted his apples.  

The grocery stores already had red and 

yellow and green, they didn’t want 

anything new or different.  

But David Bedford continued to grow, and bet 

that someday grocery stores would be ready for change.  

And when they finally tried it, it not only sold well, 

it was their top product, it sold more than coca cola.  

And once that happened, the Apple revolution began.  

And today the apple has 200 unique varieties 

ranging from sweet to sour, big to small, red to green.

So never doubt that a small seed has the power 

to grow into a mighty orchard.  That when 

we plant diverse seeds in our garden, we get a 

wonderful variety.  That we can innovate, that 

we can create change.  

Even if everyone is not ready to hear or taste that variety, 

someday they will be.  Plant your orchard, 

and someday it will bear fruit.  Maybe not for us, 

but we can plant seeds now for our future.  

The legacy of Johnny Appleseed has inspired 

millions to plant trees and help others, 

and who could ask for a better legacy than that.  

Never doubt that like Johnny Appleseed we are walking 

our faith by sharing the seeds of love and community.  

Never doubt a small seed can have a big impact.  

Johnny Appleseed left us a legacy, to be seeds of change, 

of kindness, of generosity.  Teaching us to plant the 

seeds of tomorrow, to transform our world.  

Even a man, barefoot in the wilderness, with 

a sack of seeds and a pot on his head can change the world, 

and therefore, so can we.