Johnny Appleseed
From Falsipedia
A stable of American folklore, Johnny Appleseed is said to have been a frontiersman who is credited with the introduction of the apple to many parts of North America. While the validity of the stories are not entirely false, the way in which the nature-loving missionary-gardener introduced apples and many other seed-bearing trees to the greater North American area, have been shrouded in secrecy and largely covered up.
The forgotten story of John Chapman or Johnny Appleseed
It is true that Johnny was a lover of nature, he cared deeply for all living creatures and he respected their resourcefulness and abilities to survive off of the land. As time passed and John Chapman spent more time in the wilds, he grew more and more concerned about the well being of the great open spaces that he loved so much. He knew that human beings had a knack of destroying, changing and using up everything that they came across and knowing this he feared that they would soon destroy the wide open spaces he cherished. So in the 1790’s John decided to try and conserve the undisturbed land.
Johnny’s plan to conserve started with the idea of a renewable food source. He saw that nuts and fruits served as a good food source and could rapidly grow in the environments found in the Americas. He also observed that the native wildlife had a knack for gathering food in the wilderness. It didn’t take him long to decide his course of action, he would train the animals of the areas he came across, having them help him cultivate and grow fruit and nut trees across the Americas. Johnny started with the birds, but soon found faults, the birds would fly south for the winter and he could only get so much work out of them. It wasn’t until he discovered squirrels that his true vision came to pass. The native tree rats had a habit of burring food and storing it for the winter, John decided to use this habit to his advantage. It did not take long for the squirrels to pick up on what was wanted of them and soon they were even teaching their young the trick, passing it down through the generations. The squirrels would forage nuts and seeds and even fruit, decide which plants would grow best in what areas and then plant them in an ornate pattern that had been laid out by Johnny. The legion of fluffy tail planters soon became so good at their tasks, Johnny no longer even needed to be present for the tasks to be finished.
To this day the descendants of the original seed spreaders are still carrying on the practices taught by Johnny Appleseed. Many of the indigenous trees found in the country side and parks were planted by the first army of the Appleseed. As time has past the countless generations still try to carry on what was started, running into opposition from human expansionism. As Johnny Appleseed’s fame grew the use of animals as cultivators faded from the legend, leaving the contributions of the animal kingdom on the cutting room floor. Little is remembered about the techniques he used to train his furry friends and even less has been done to preserve the history of the first human and animal co-op.
