Apple

Apple–drawing by Diane Young

Eve’s gift,

belief to knowledge

and naming things,

exit the garden

of infancy

From that same tree

fell, woke Newton

to the gravity of the matter–

made relative by Einstein

Chapman’s simple life

generous seedlings

nurseries along streams

orchards of the Northwest

Territory

Pink blossom fragrance

juicy drippings, sweet, sour

tangy cider, stem to core

bobbing, crunch

green, red, gold

[keeping the doctor away.]

John Chapman headed west about 1800. Known as Johnny Appleseed, he carried with him apples for planting, usually along streams (probably obtained seeds from cider mills in Pennsylvania). His earliest known apple nursery was planted near Steubenville, Ohio, in a valley near the Ohio River. He located them near settlements where he could walk back and forth to maintain them. He was a practical nurseryman, not a ‘scatterer of seeds’ as people believed and owned several orchards. He lived the rest of his life in Ohio and Indiana, wandering about barefoot, clad in rags (‘wearing a tin kettle on his head’, they say), tending the apple orchards he started wherever he found a good spot, and reading aloud from the Bible. He walked alone without gun or knife. He chopped down no trees and killed no animals. He lived very simply. He slept outdoors, ate berries and made his clothes from sacks. He made his drinking water in winter by melting snow with his feet. For Forty-nine years he roamed the American wilderness, devotedly planting apple trees. He created apple orchards in the wildernesses of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana, spanning an estimated area of 100,000 square miles. Some of these trees are still bearing fruit after 150 years

In 1806 Johnny charged about 6 cents for a seedling. But if setters couldn’t pay, they say he would accept cornmeal, old clothes or a promise to pay in the future.