The Modern Johnny Appleseed
I am sure most of you have heard the story of Johnny Appleseed or John Chapman (1774-1847), as he was know back then, but for those of you who haven't, here is a quick recap. He was a simple man from colonial times that traveled across the vast USA planting apple seeds all along the way. Years from then there were hundreds, if not thousands of apple trees, all full grown and providing a healthy treat for those in it's vicinity. My question to you is, "Why can't we use this same logic
today to help out poor parts of cities, or even countries?" I mean how about planting an orchard in Central Park, or blueberry and raspberry bushes all along the Detroit River Front. It's not like there isn't all ready trees and bushes in these locations, so why not have them serving their community. I certainly don't think there would be a problem with the fruit rotting considering how many hungry mouths there are out there in the world. In fact, it might be the exact
opposite, in that there would not be enough for everyone, or people would pick the fruits and vegtables too early, but they would learn the hard way if they had to. So why hasn't the government, or someone else started a program such as this? Instead, we hear every year about all the starving people in the world, when we could be slowly growing towards a solution. Hopefully, this may at least make you think twice about tossing that apple core in the trash, and who knows maybe you will be the next Johnny Appleseed?
11 comments:
I think you are onto something HUGE! I guess the reason they dont enact this wonderful plan is because DOLE and CHIQUITA and all those evil fruit corporations would sue you for ruining their market or something like that. Its the same reason why when i used to work at a restaurant they would not give out the extra food at the end of the night to hungry street people. They would say..."well if we GIVE the food away, why would anyone buy it?"
Damn Capitalism.
Its too bad that the ideals of american freedom dont apply to apple trees and future jonny appleseeds
Yes, I agree with you we should be planting fruit trees everywhere! Years ago my local council planted an "ornamental pear" tree in front of my house... why did it have to be "ornamental", why couldn't they just plant the real thing?
I did something similar to Johnny Appleseed when I was a kid - except that it involved peach stones. Every time I ate a peach (which was often), I planted it in my mother's garden and years later she ended up with peach trees galore popping their heads up between her azaleas, roses and violets. She was not amused that her garden had turned into a massive fruit orchard, but some of those peach trees still stand there today (the remainder were transplanted to other peoples gardens).
I think it's really important to preserve old varieties for the biodiversity. There is an organization that preserves the seeds from heirloom varieties and propagates them so the plants don't disappear. I used to buy heirloom European seeds from Shepard seeds. She sold out to White Fence Farm. Now I understand she sells under Reneesgarden.com. Growing older varieties is important to preserve plant diversity.
Years ago the United Nations had a program called Seeds for Self Help. I used to donate to them. They sent seeds and tools to developing nations to educate them about growing food for themselves. That program has been discontinued.
I like your way of thinking. When you think about it, how hard is it to plant a tree!
Funny, everybody here is right. But the problem is NOBODY WANTS TO PICK THEM UP ! That's too hard work and costs too much. For 1 $/h nobody would even bend his back. So fruits are rotting even in private gardens. It's so easy to buy ready once.
And to write about how awful that is.
Good writting,
yes we should planting fruits trees.
we have been fruit garden in india it was great feeling,we should have such a garden but its expensive. i also have planted two tree in our garden.
Thanks
Dream
absolutely beautiful work, the images are amazing. thanks for your comments on my blog as well.
cheers and keep up the good work.
Nice idea, it might pave the way for reducing world hunger. Trouble is there are far too many people now who are self interested, unlike in his time.
Thanks for checking out my site BTW
Thought provoking entry
yummm apples
well, it's a nice idea, but I think it's pretty labor-intensive. I mean it really doesn't take anything to plant a tree or a seed--but once you plant fruit or vegetables in an open space like Central Park or a river front area, it's not just humans who have their eyes on the fruit...Living in Vermont, i have peaches, apples and grapes growing my 1/2-acre "city" lot, but we never see an ounce of fruit because of all the pests, rabbits, squirrels, birds and deer that get to it before we can. Sure, we could buy expensive chemicals or sprays to keep the animals away--but poisonous chemicals do more harm than good. Besides, animals have to eat too, right? So, in theory, it would be great if we could feed the world by planting seeds, but in order to actually reap the fruit, you'd need to invest in some maintenace labor as well as some chemicals (and maybe even some legislation to use chemicals in the public areas). And unfortunately, if you ask taxpayers if they'd rather have lower taxes or pay some guy to prune fruit trees and spray them down with poisonous chemicals, I'd bet you're going to find out the idea is better in theory than in reality. Maybe it's better to save up the seeds and send them overseas & see what other countries can do with them. You know, teach a man to fish...
Have you seen the animated short film "the man who planted trees" ?
It hasnt been done because people in general dont look at the future, that is why there is this global crisis. And starving people want food NOW and dont have the energy to plant. But its pointless to ask why anyways, I'm just going to do it.
Forget planting in your cities
www.foa.org/news/global/gw9825-e has a list of 30 starving countries.
www.ftpf.org (fruit tree planting foundation) has a mail list for info
It doesnt take a lot of money, how rich was Johny Appleseed? A few grand for the plane ticket. Then living off local food for less than $10 a month.
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