Happy Johnny Appleseed Day! Well, one of them, anyway. Johnny Appleseed Day is celebrated on either March 11, for planting season, or on September 26, his actual birthday. We say, why not both? 😉

Johnny Appleseed was a real person named John Chapman, an American pioneer who is considered one of the first American conservationists. He was responsible for introducing apple trees to parts of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. He sold seedlings to settlers arriving in those places, because planting apple or pear trees was a way for the government to recognize a settler’s land claim. He was a nature-lover, a vegetarian, and a philanthropist–if settlers couldn’t afford to pay him money for seedling trees, he’d accept whatever they could offer, even if it was just a threadbare shirt.