The Man Who Planted Apples

23 The Man Who Planted Apples In the early 1800s, in the American states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, a strange man made a legend of himself. He was born John Chapman, but everyone came to know him as Johnny Appleseed. Why was he famous? Well, this simple man spent his life planting apple trees in the Wild West. That might not seem like much, but listen to how he did it. For nearly 50 years, he wandered the wilderness wearing old clothes and no shoes. Wherever he went, he stopped and planted apple trees. When the American settlers came west, they found an abundance of apple trees growing everywhere. Fresh food, especially fruit, was not easy to acquire in this land at that time. The work of Johnny Appleseed and his apple orchards was a pleasant surprise.

How did he do it? He spent weeks alone in the wilderness, carrying a bag of apple seeds on his back. When he found a good spot, he stopped, planted hundreds of apple trees, built a small fence around them, and moved on to another location. He carried no weapon for protection. He lived in harmony with the Indians and the animals. He did not wear shoes, even in the cold winter months. And he relied on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter. If a settler could not afford to buy his trees, he gave them on credit or for free. Johnny Appleseed refused to eat meat. He talked with the animals and even slept one night in an old hollow tree with a bear and her babies. It's impossible to know how many seeds he planted in his 50 years wandering the American Wild West, but it surely must have been tens of thousands. Today, the apple trees in this area are descendants of those original trees. During his lifetime, Johnny became a legend. Wherever he went, he was welcomed. When he was old, he caught pneumonia one winter while out working barefoot in one of his orchards. He died at the home of a friendly settler. Johnny Appleseed's orchards lived on as a sign of his selfless dedication and love of nature.