Johnny Appleseed

I have always had a strange fascination with Johnny Appleseed. I remember learning about him for the first time in the first grade. In the first grade, we had a unit centered around apples. I’ve always wondered why we had that unit dedicated to only that fruit, but have recently concluded that there are so many things Americans use apples for. Apple pie is purely American. Apple sauce. Apple dumplings. Apples Cider. We’re crazy for apples over here in America, so I guess that’s why we talk about Johnny Appleseed like we know him personally. I remember peeling small pieces of construction paper and pooling them together with Elmer’s Glue in the shape of an apple. We cut designs in apples and kept them in a shelf above the teacher’s desk until they got old and looked like witches. Apples are a hold a lot of weight in the folklore of American history.

Like the legend of Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed floats his way into the hearts and minds of American children everywhere. He is said to be real life pioneer John Chapman. We identify Johnny Appleseed with his iconic tin hat and sack full of seeds. In one particular story, the one I remember from elementary school, he is a pure American who makes a living picking apples. He doesn’t feel adequate enough to go west with the rest of the pioneers. Just as he watches them leave, a guardian angel appears to give him confidence, to tell him that people going west will need apples. They’ll need John to plant and pick the apples once they’re ready for harvest.

I see apples and apple picking in this story as a way to show that it’s farming that people out west need to be educated on. They need to have people who know how to grow things because, beyond farming, there is only big game hunting, and that can only be done some of the time, and once that supply has been diminished, then what? That’s where farming comes in. I think I learned so much about Johnny Appleseed as a child because he embodies the American farmer. He is needed all across the United States, just like farming. 

(Here is the exact video I remember watching as a little girl!)