Re: Alcohol. Those apples had a very low specific gravity (they weren’t sweet) so you’d end up with “cider” less than about 3% abv typically. So you could go toward a narrative that fermented cider was really just a way to preserve a fruit year long, avoid scurvy, supplement your “workforce” and consume it all year without spoiling rather than something you’d get drunk from. Fermentation was essential to homesteading and that makes the 1800s quite fascinating. Anyway. Another historical rabbit hole you could go down from this jump off point if you want!
Yeah, I already went down the fermentation rabbit hole. Turns out people used to ferment or pickle damn near everything. I'd say it's a lost art if there wasn't so much science involved.
Yes, while there were concentrated alcoholic beverages, most of the fermented drinks were only mildly alcoholic so that they kept for longer in a time long before refrigeration was a thing. It was for preservation and not for getting drunk.
If you haven't read it, you should check out "The Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan. There was also a Documentary on Netflix with the same name that covered the book's content. There's a whole section on Apples and the incredible history and complex biology going on. Specifically Pollan talks about how each apple contains 5 seeds which will each produce a different Apple tree from the parent. Then depending upon how the flowers of the tree are pollinated, the child tree will produce a different variety of apples, all being too sour & acidic for humans to comfortably eat. To make the apples edible, the grower must cut and graft branches from other apple trees to get the grafted branch to produce edible apples. So if you plant seeds of an apple, you'll end up with apples fit for cider.
Someday people will talk about a man who wondered through cyberspace telling fascinating stories about science, history, humanity, and all things unusual -- Joey Answerman.
The best Simon Whistler video, in my opinion, is that today I found out the video where he talks about how you used to get out of a marriage by proving the husband was impotent. It's only good if you watch it with the captions on I swear I laughed for a solid 15 minutes rolling on the ground. I don't think I've heard so many different ways to refer to male genitalia or to someone being bad in bed.
Here's a real character for you to resheach: John Johnson, the inspiration for the book " Crow Killer" and the movie " Jeremiah Johnson". Book contains footnotes for references. You won't be disappointed. Wild stuff about one of the toughest guys you'll ever read about.
So I’m out camping with the family, just about to fall asleep when I hear a sound outside the tent. Startled I wake up the wife and kinda yell who’s out there what are you doing! Then I hear more movement. We (the wife and I) start trying to look out the windows to see what it is. I don’t think there are animals on the island we are camping on as it’s in the middle of a huge lake. I decide to go out of the tent to use the bathroom and look around. While I’m peeing I notice the shooting stars are amazing tonight. I call the wife out to look with me and boom there it is! An armadillo passing by at a blazing .25 mph. That little dude nearly caused me to shred the tent from the inside with a machete. Turns out armadillos love to swim and can actually swim very far. Anyway thought I would add a little TMI to your channel since were all wide awake now and you posted a video in middle of the night! Thanks for keeping us entertained joe!
StarDust15 L will do, and since your name is star dust I have to mention if you have a clear view of the north sky go take a look! A shooting star every minute or so tonight!
There is a 16th Century Korean man who wore iron pot as a hat, because at that time period, adult man of gentry class must wear a hat when he is in public places. He was poor, and only hat he had got worn out. He wore iron pot used to cook rice as a substitute, and his family had to go hungry until he came back home, because that was the only pot the family had.
I like these folkloric posts of yours Joe. I am currently doing what I normally do between August and October, which is feeding the wasps. They like chicken and honey. Jam is not so easy to work with, unless perhaps it is diluted. I also put out peanuts and sunflower seeds for rodents and birds. I've let my garden grow wild this year...I have got a lot of rather wonderful uncultivated plants growing in my garden now - they have flowers that the bees are attracted to - including some absolutely amazing sunflowers. I didn't plant them - they just planted themselves. I know I hardly ever answer, but today I was inspired. Thank you.
I found your channels last month because of the way the algorithm works. Sufficed to say, I love what you do here. Also, fun fact. I live about 20 minutes from the city Johnny Appleseed was born. So you've got my attention today.
I have lived in Fort Wayne, IN and this is where "Johnney Appleseed" was buried. I've seen at least three different places where that is. Hey! We have the "Tin Caps" as our baseball team too!!
But he's buried all over America.... LOL! I always thought that story was an allegory about spreading Christianity. Turns out he was a Pagan or something. MUCH more interesting.
I knew it was going to be a History Guy reference as soon as I heard the intro and read the title. One of the best channels on youtube. He is literally a part of my morning routine.
You know, being a non American, I've never heard of Johnny Appleseed before, and I heard about him twice today... The last one was like 5 hours ago on Today I Found Out, talking about why apple pie is such a American desert... Edit: wait, why is everyone talking about apple pies today???
@@thomashiggins9320 It's a little early for the apple crop. There are some that start ripening in mid-September, but that's a month away. The really good ones ripen later in the season, in October.
Joe, you're definitely not the only person on Earth who thinks these aspects of history are interesting. I think they're interesting too. Thank you for sharing.
Michael Pollan talked about Johnny Appleseed in his book "Botany of Desire." I recommend it! He made the case for Johnny being a "modern-day Dionysus."
@@RickMason-yj7pv That was Diogenes. He lived in a barrel and didn't believe in politeness. The story goes, when Alexander the Great conquered Athens he went to see Diogenes and said: "I can give you anything - what do you want?" Diogenes said "Get out of my sun!" But anyway, the point I wanted to make was, there is no mention of him ever finding any honest men in Athens 2300 years ago.
Great show on PBS based on the book. Apples are fascinating. I never knew that if you planted them from seed you’d have no idea what type of apple you’d grow. Their seeds carry random genes, usually different than the parent apple. So eating apples have to be propagated by grafting. Seed apples are more likely to be inedible, but great for cider.
You literally just explained the exact phenomena of how I found your Channels and how I basically watched EVERY SINGLE freakin video on your OG Channel.....
I'm an avid home baker, and am specifically interested in early american and other historical baking. Things like apple pie appeared in cookbooks as early as the 1760's. but in a form fairly different from today. The first modern 'Apple Pie" would've come from the early-mid 1800's. Things like "cooking" or "coddling" apples are referenced pretty frequently as well, so while the popularization of apples during prohibition may have been significant they were an aspect of american history from the very beginning. Great video, really loving this channel.
I just have to say that I am very appreciative of you and your channel, especially during this time of uncertainty. Your videos amaze and challenge me and my worldview. Thanks for doing all these. It really is awesome and it does not fall on unlistening ears.
Fascinating! Thank you for taking me away from politics for about 15 minutes. I really needed this relief. Somehow Johnny Appleseed reminds me of Francis of Assisi (sp?), who also loved all animals and lived a life connected with nature. These people are rare, probably a little mentally "different", startling in contrast to most of us who worry about almost everything - they are like a ray of sunshine in a dark world.
I literally was thinking about this guy the other day. I'm glad you posted about him, I had forgotten most of it. Just a side note too, I find it so weird that UA-cam will recommend stuff that I happen to be thinking about or thought about and then I notice a video about it in my feed. It happens so much to me that I swear they're using some type of quantum computer for the algorithm.
I'm pretty sure when Franklin was writing, germ theory was still in the future, but it's the sort of thing he _would_ say isn't it? Maybe Mark Twain? ;-)
@@brokenwave6125 They didn't know about bacteria, but people have always known about bad water giving you disease. Historians explain that the reason Alexander the Great was such an alcoholic - setting fire to Persepolis on his victory party, killing his best buddy in a drunken rage, etc. - was because most of the water they found was unsafe to drink, so they drank wine instead... And in the 17th century, not just drinking but washing was avoided as much as possible. Probably because the bath houses - very popular in the middle ages, and which were also brothels most of the time - had become notorious for spreading syphilis and other STDs.
A tin pot to keep the sun off his head? 😲 I would have thought that would make it worse, imagine how hot it would be after just a short while? 😲 🤣 🤦♂️💥
He lived back when most of that area was forest. It wasn't to protect from the sun since he mainly walked in shade. Acorns were another matter - helmet recommended.
I love how ignorant audience is confused about Live Action Mulan why it's missing major parts from the Animation. I guess it's not as relevant as 1400 year old fable.
There's heated debates whether "Song of the South" and Black Crows in "Jumbo" are from pure racism or Disney being just a product of his time. Apparently there's also a quote about Disneyland being for "white children". But it's difficult to google. "Disneyland+White" tends bring up "Snow White" references, etc. And the racist imagery is sometimes contrasted to his willingness to hire Black and Asian animators. It would be very interesting, but indeed it's an endless rabbithole
Being from Ohio, many of us learned about his life while we were in elementary school. What’s funny is the more I learn about his true life, the more I feel like a lot of Ohio’s subculture has been shaped by Johnny Appleseed. That would be interesting to research. Thanks for sharing this video. Also, I think you movie about him would be quite popular with us Ohio weirdos.
Keep the nuggets coming. I start looking in one direction and end up another, many hours later. You do end up with some interesting and some odd nuggets for your troubles.
@@PinataOblongata No Ydun is the wife of Brage, who is the barde of Asgaard. And Ydun has a tree whit golden apples. Once a year she give them to the gods, and that keep the gods forever young.
@@johannnyborg3998 Yes, I know, but don't you see the similarities, here? The name Ydun and the word Eden, for the garden with the tree with the apple - very similar. Golden apples of youth, forbidden apple of knowledge.... I'm not the first person to notice recycled themes and even names in religious narratives.
@@PinataOblongata Yes, and golden apples turn up again in the Garden of Hesperides (the Ancient Greek goddess Hera's personal orchard). From this orchard came the Apple of Discord which led to the Trojan War. Apples seem to be responsible for a lot...
When John Henry was a little baby, sitting on his daddy knee, his daddy picked him up and threw him on the floor, and said this baby done wet on me. "Smothers Bros."
Joe: Hey this was really fun . I forgot about the Swedenborg connection which I had come across somewhere else. Swedenborg should be interesting as he is the source of a series of Fortean anecdotes that are well documented and eerie. The Wiki on him is fairly comprehensive and sourced. You should check it out- it's like your other Fortean shows. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg
"Smash the dislike button!" Joe, I would love to see you and Simon Whistler do something together. Not entire sure if it's possible, but I could definitely see your personalities being hilarious together.
I watch my subscription using a script that I wrote, which will fetch only my subscriptions and I can watch them without any ads. If I want random recommendations, I just go on to regular UA-cam.
Thanks joe for doing this video brought back memories.i watched a show called tall tails and legends of Johnny Apple seed staring martin short back in 89 when I was 6 year ago. And of all place’s Pakistan and I was fascinated by the story back then.a story of a selfless man
I was raised in the Swedenborg religion. It’s such a tiny offshoot of Christianity you rarely hear it mentioned. First off Emanuel Swedenborg, who was kinda like if you combine Joseph Smith with Ben Franklin, was from Sweden and wrote 30 something volumes that became the foundation for the religion. Both Johnny Appleseed and Helen Keller were the religions celebrities in the church and as children we were taught about them. As far as I know the vegan lifestyle and the oneness with nature has nothing to do with the Swedenborg religion. We were taught that Johnny Appleseed was a church member who would hand out pages of the “Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg” to everyone he met on the frontier. He was an early evangelist for this fairly new religion. Swedenborg started having his visions in the mid 1740s and started producing his writings shortly after that. If you want to go down the rabbit hole, look into Emanuel Swedenborg.
Her Name. Yeah it is creepy. I lived in one of the largest congregations in the US. A tiny borough called Bryn Athyn in the suburbs of Philadelphia. It looks like any other town in the area, except it has several castles and a huge cathedral. I was educated in Swedenborg schools from K-12 before escaping to collage. One strange aspect of the religion is how it connects up with science. Emanuel Swedenborg was a respected scientist and inventor and had served the Swedish government, which I think was a monarchy at the time. His surname was changed to Swedenborg by the Swedish government, or monarchs, as some sort of an honorary thing. A lot of parallels have been drawn between him and Ben Franklin in terms of his scientific pursuits, inventions, and service to his government. Later in his life, when he had his visions, visited heaven and hell, conversed with angels and demons and wrote his writings; he included sections that talk about the anatomy of the heart as well as a fairly accurate description of the stages of reproduction, cells splitting, etc. I was taught this was undiscovered anatomy at the time and, unprovable because the instruments that where needed to make these discoveries didn’t exist. As a result, there was a much greater emphasis put into science classes in the Swedenborg schools I attended. This was a rare case in religion, where real science was taught, scientific method, evolution, etc. The only difference was that God set up the physical rules of nature. Evolution is God’s method for creating mankind. God also revealed all, that afore mentioned yet undiscovered information on the anatomy of human beings, to Swedenborg to write down, thus proving the existence of God. So, as a result, if I edit out all the God’s will bit of my science education, I actually got a good science education. And if that’s not wacky enough, one of Swedenborg writings is a book called Earths in the Universe. It’s an entire book about the conversations he had with the souls of aliens from other planets he conversed with while visiting them in the part of heaven that is set up for alien societies. I had to do a paper on this for my senior year religion class. Even though I had been completely indoctrinated from birth, lived in a religious town, and went to a religious school, this was a bridge too far. I knew I had to get the hell out.
Yea Casey Jones was the Railroad guy- John Henry was the Track Layin' Guy who beat a Machine Track layer. I think Disney made a LIVE Action movie that had those Americana Folk heroes featured in it- All of them except "Johnny Appleseed" and Casey Jones. . I sure wanted to like the movie, but it was a little lackluster Title was called "Tall Tale" and had Patrick Swayze, and Oliver Platte.
I make wine and cider in Colorado, and recently went to North Carolina to make cider in buildings nearly as old as Johnny's orchards themselves. This definitely resonates with me, thanks for the discussion!
Likewise with bananas, which has put banana production in a very precarious position. It's far too big a subject to go into here, but the race is on to save the banana.🍌
A major problem of reliably getting good apples from seeds is apple's extreme heterozygosity i.e. one can crosspolinate flowers from two trees of one cultivar (for example Gala) and get something completely different - sour yellow fruits two inches in diameter. Thus it's much easier to grow clones that will produce apples with known characteristics.
Im Pennsylvanian so I've spent at least THREE minutes thinking about Johnny Appleseed. I also recently watched the Today I Found Out video. Very interesting and informative.
I'm always amused when Joe struggles to remember things that are literally right in front of his face - or could be with a few keystrokes and mouse clicks. He even called himself out on it this time! :-D [I had copy-pasted the Merriam-Webster entry for deluge (noun and verb) here but decided that was just a bit too douchey even for me. But not this here. This is just the right amount.]
I’m in the UK and his song used to drive me NUTS as a kid as it was a repeatedly sung at Brownies & Guides on camp etc. Nice to know a bit of the history, but at this moment, I would cheerfully reach through the interwebs and throttle you for getting that hellsong stuck in my head again 😂
Books I wish people would read: “The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks” Randall Robinson “1177 B. C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed” Eric H. Cline “The Road to Total War: Escalation in World War II” F. M. Sallagar, April 1969 R-465-PR, United States Air Force Project Rand: The RAND Corporation. “The Hittites and Their World” Billie Jean Collins “SPQR A History of Ancient Rome” Mary Beard “American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America” Colin Woodard “How to Hide an Empire The History of the Greater United States” Danial Immerwahr “Pagans: The End of Traditional Religion and the Rise of Christianity” James J. O’Donnell
Nice list, could get some. I'm particularly intrigued by the Rand report (was skimming through it a bit and noted a passage about the temptations that American planners have to use Force to get their way but that they would be met in the short term by escalation by adversaries, and that put in place the potential for violence escalation loops, interesting stuff)
In the coldest part of the winter, the barrels of cider would freeze and cryo-distillation would provide cold distilled apple brandy, when the frozen barrels were properly drained. The colder the winter, the more highly distilled was the end product. This brandy was very highly prized on the frontier and was an important item of trade for many farmers.
*watches video on a whim* UA-cam: He likes it! Back the truck up! On the bright side, there are some channels I watch regularly but don't subscribe to, and the algorithm seems to keep up with that pretty well.
Hey Joe, I ran across the original Disney book and vinyl record from 1971 at a thrift shop yesterday so I decided I better watch your video. Thanks for the extra info. I was intrigued to see a big FAT gold leaf Bible in Johnny’s hand on the cover. That wasn’t in the school movie we watched in the 70’s.
As a child in the late 1950s (in Wales) we were read stories at school after which we had to write an essay and draw a picture depicting an aspect of the story. One such story was Johnny Appleseed. In a folder somewhere I still have the essay and drawing I did. I remember my mark was 9/10 and I got a silver star for my efforts. The story we were told was that he was the son of an apple farmer in Somerset ( S W England) and as a teenager emigrated to America with a sack of his father's apple seeds..... Amazing Joe. Do more like this if you like :D
As a Brazilian that lived in Virginia for some time as a kid . when I was there I really liked these American folklore.. since the US is young and have these stories that seen just really really old when you talk about it ... and really shows how folklore works ..
Johnny Appleseed was a big part of folk legend even in my area in Connecticut. A number of orchards have his name. And we would sing the Johnny Appleseed song before breakfast at Camp Woodstock
My grandfather was born in 1890 (yeah, I know, I’m old) and he always said “water is for washing, not for drinking”. Back in the day most water supplies were corrupted with disease, and sensible people were rightly afraid to drink it. Low alcohol beverages like beer and cider were considered a much safer alternative because the alcohol produced in the brewing process kills bacteria and parasites. Even more so in the early 1800s before the germ theory of disease was discovered.
just about anything i watch from you, The History Guy or Issac Arthur sends me down the rabbit hole lol . . . then theres the links you guys suggest . . . and the rabbit hole expands further . . . (thanks for all the hard work you guys do though, it really is cool to have access to so much great content) truth be told The Engineer guy was my first follow but the History was my first deep dive, been hooked on this stuff ever since
I had also heard that another part of the business model was Johnny would make a deal with homesteaders/ farmers and plant the apple trees and each year he would get a small percentage of the proceeds of the crops. Which is why he would keep cycling around to the same areas to collect his due.
I read about Johnny Appleseed from Michael Pollan in his book The Botany Of Desire. Great book. The apples were grown from seed (he planted nurseries rather than orchards) so most of the apples were sour and unpalatable and perfect for brewing hard liquor (applejack). He basically spread alcohol through the frontier.
A tin hat=very handy when you walk and work around trees and shrubs with low hanging branches, and pruning. I know, I do it all the time. It's a safety hat! For further information I recommend "Botany Of Desire", a BBC documentary from the good old days. It features a lengthy segment on Johnny.
I recently moved to Fort Wayne Indiana and visited Johnny Appleseeds grave earlier today and then get on UA-cam and this video is first thing on the page
Scott I love u normal videos but ur TMI is my fav r rambling makes me feel less weird I'm Glad someone has some weird crazy thoughts and mind set as me I feel like ur TMI is just like how my brain works
One thing I'll have to look up is what he actually planted. Generally if you plant seeds from your favourite apple you'll get apple trees that revert to what we call crab apples. Very bitter, small and hard. To grow your favourite you need to graft a bit of your favourite tree onto a root stock. There are a lot of videos on how to do it, but I thought I'd save a few enthusiasts a bit of disappointment.
The last time I saw a discussion of Johnny Appleseed was in "The Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollen. His take was more about the adaption of plants to human needs, how the apple in this case changes to become what humans want.
Re: Alcohol. Those apples had a very low specific gravity (they weren’t sweet) so you’d end up with “cider” less than about 3% abv typically. So you could go toward a narrative that fermented cider was really just a way to preserve a fruit year long, avoid scurvy, supplement your “workforce” and consume it all year without spoiling rather than something you’d get drunk from. Fermentation was essential to homesteading and that makes the 1800s quite fascinating. Anyway. Another historical rabbit hole you could go down from this jump off point if you want!
Yeah, I already went down the fermentation rabbit hole. Turns out people used to ferment or pickle damn near everything. I'd say it's a lost art if there wasn't so much science involved.
Yes, while there were concentrated alcoholic beverages, most of the fermented drinks were only mildly alcoholic so that they kept for longer in a time long before refrigeration was a thing. It was for preservation and not for getting drunk.
Benjamin Franklin said 'In beer there is freedom, in wine there is wisdom, in water there is bacteria' 😄
I bought some apple fritters yesterday (but haven't thought of Johnny Appleseed in a looong time).
If you haven't read it, you should check out "The Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan. There was also a Documentary on Netflix with the same name that covered the book's content. There's a whole section on Apples and the incredible history and complex biology going on.
Specifically Pollan talks about how each apple contains 5 seeds which will each produce a different Apple tree from the parent. Then depending upon how the flowers of the tree are pollinated, the child tree will produce a different variety of apples, all being too sour & acidic for humans to comfortably eat. To make the apples edible, the grower must cut and graft branches from other apple trees to get the grafted branch to produce edible apples. So if you plant seeds of an apple, you'll end up with apples fit for cider.
Johnny Appleseed: Lowest. Carbon-footprint. Ever.
Someday people will talk about a man who wondered through cyberspace telling fascinating stories about science, history, humanity, and all things unusual -- Joey Answerman.
Please upvote this!
Joey like a baby kangaroo. Awwwwww. 🥰
Movie idea right there
Joe is Answerman, Simon is Factboi
Joe referring to Simon Whistler, the circle is now complete.
That's my man✊🏿🖤✊🏿
Simon's funniest video: Dasani bottled water has spunk.
ua-cam.com/video/TK4IhaLwXVc/v-deo.html
@@dannymccune1888 Wow ! Our Boi with the Blaze was a kid back then.
The best Simon Whistler video, in my opinion, is that today I found out the video where he talks about how you used to get out of a marriage by proving the husband was impotent. It's only good if you watch it with the captions on I swear I laughed for a solid 15 minutes rolling on the ground. I don't think I've heard so many different ways to refer to male genitalia or to someone being bad in bed.
Simon's accent rubs me the wrong way
*starts raining
Johnny Appleseed 'I'm going to use thus frying pan, as a drying pan'.
Probably one of the cheesiest pokemon related quotes.
Me beeing a German watching this:
Yeah the majority of people don't know who Jonny Appleseed is.
Did I watch the video anyways? Heck yes!
Here's a real character for you to resheach: John Johnson, the inspiration for the book " Crow Killer" and the movie " Jeremiah Johnson". Book contains footnotes for references. You won't be disappointed. Wild stuff about one of the toughest guys you'll ever read about.
So I’m out camping with the family, just about to fall asleep when I hear a sound outside the tent. Startled I wake up the wife and kinda yell who’s out there what are you doing! Then I hear more movement. We (the wife and I) start trying to look out the windows to see what it is. I don’t think there are animals on the island we are camping on as it’s in the middle of a huge lake. I decide to go out of the tent to use the bathroom and look around. While I’m peeing I notice the shooting stars are amazing tonight. I call the wife out to look with me and boom there it is! An armadillo passing by at a blazing .25 mph. That little dude nearly caused me to shred the tent from the inside with a machete. Turns out armadillos love to swim and can actually swim very far. Anyway thought I would add a little TMI to your channel since were all wide awake now and you posted a video in middle of the night! Thanks for keeping us entertained joe!
StarDust15 L will do, and since your name is star dust I have to mention if you have a clear view of the north sky go take a look! A shooting star every minute or so tonight!
Hi, i forget what meteor shower it is right now, but wow! I was watching last night and they were really incredible.
@@bensmith1826 Perseids
Awesome adventure!
Out camping and still have your phone on... 😑
Little known fact about Johnny: He fashioned a hat out of a pot because they hadn't invented tin foil yet. True story.
There is a 16th Century Korean man who wore iron pot as a hat, because at that time period, adult man of gentry class must wear a hat when he is in public places. He was poor, and only hat he had got worn out. He wore iron pot used to cook rice as a substitute, and his family had to go hungry until he came back home, because that was the only pot the family had.
I heard it was because he was a fan of plants vs zombies.
Why do u have a like, um, federal symbol as ur logo? R u in the FBI? Lol.
The History Guy! My favorite historian from neighboring Illinois.
I like these folkloric posts of yours Joe. I am currently doing what I normally do between August and October, which is feeding the wasps. They like chicken and honey. Jam is not so easy to work with, unless perhaps it is diluted. I also put out peanuts and sunflower seeds for rodents and birds. I've let my garden grow wild this year...I have got a lot of rather wonderful uncultivated plants growing in my garden now - they have flowers that the bees are attracted to - including some absolutely amazing sunflowers. I didn't plant them - they just planted themselves. I know I hardly ever answer, but today I was inspired. Thank you.
Love this Joe. Brings me back to Golden Books when I was a little kid.
I found your channels last month because of the way the algorithm works. Sufficed to say, I love what you do here. Also, fun fact. I live about 20 minutes from the city Johnny Appleseed was born. So you've got my attention today.
I have lived in Fort Wayne, IN and this is where "Johnney Appleseed" was buried. I've seen at least three different places where that is. Hey! We have the "Tin Caps" as our baseball team too!!
Don’t forget about the Johnny Appleseed festival!
But he's buried all over America.... LOL! I always thought that story was an allegory about spreading Christianity. Turns out he was a Pagan or something. MUCH more interesting.
I live in Fort Wayne. When Joe said “around Ohio and Illinois”, I was like “come on, you’re so close!”
I’ve been to Tin Caps’ games and never put together that connection till reading your comment. And I’ve spent plenty of time in Fort Wayne. Thank you.
born and raised in Fort Wayne too! I was pissed they canceled the festival this year for covid
I knew it was going to be a History Guy reference as soon as I heard the intro and read the title. One of the best channels on youtube. He is literally a part of my morning routine.
You know, being a non American, I've never heard of Johnny Appleseed before, and I heard about him twice today... The last one was like 5 hours ago on Today I Found Out, talking about why apple pie is such a American desert...
Edit: wait, why is everyone talking about apple pies today???
Is there EVER a wrong time to talk about apple pies?! lolol
I know. My son and I were just talking about how Joe is the American version of Simon Whistler 😂 and then they both do Apple videos the same day.
Apples are ripening in the U.S., right now, maybe? The markets and grocers have a lot of them coming in.
Maybe that's it?
I imagine that the youtube algorithm really pushed one video on the topic a few weeks ago, and then several youtubers saw it and got inspired.
@@thomashiggins9320 It's a little early for the apple crop. There are some that start ripening in mid-September, but that's a month away. The really good ones ripen later in the season, in October.
Joe, you're definitely not the only person on Earth who thinks these aspects of history are interesting. I think they're interesting too. Thank you for sharing.
Michael Pollan talked about Johnny Appleseed in his book "Botany of Desire." I recommend it! He made the case for Johnny being a "modern-day Dionysus."
Searching for an honest man today would be a non satisfying career.
@@RickMason-yj7pv That was Diogenes. He lived in a barrel and didn't believe in politeness. The story goes, when Alexander the Great conquered Athens he went to see Diogenes and said: "I can give you anything - what do you want?" Diogenes said "Get out of my sun!" But anyway, the point I wanted to make was, there is no mention of him ever finding any honest men in Athens 2300 years ago.
Great show on PBS based on the book. Apples are fascinating. I never knew that if you planted them from seed you’d have no idea what type of apple you’d grow.
Their seeds carry random genes, usually different than the parent apple. So eating apples have to be propagated by grafting.
Seed apples are more likely to be inedible, but great for cider.
You literally just explained the exact phenomena of how I found your Channels and how I basically watched EVERY SINGLE freakin video on your OG Channel.....
The first time I heard about Johnny Appleseed was in a NOFX song.
Don’t Apple use Johnny Appleseed as their sort of made up user for their demos or am Imagining this?
I love that. Punk teaches you a heck of a lot, I've found.
Me too
Hahaha me too!
bahaha...look at my comment. should be right after yours
I'm an avid home baker, and am specifically interested in early american and other historical baking. Things like apple pie appeared in cookbooks as early as the 1760's. but in a form fairly different from today. The first modern 'Apple Pie" would've come from the early-mid 1800's. Things like "cooking" or "coddling" apples are referenced pretty frequently as well, so while the popularization of apples during prohibition may have been significant they were an aspect of american history from the very beginning. Great video, really loving this channel.
Who else was screaming "JOHN HENRY " HE was a badass never mess with a person with two first names
Yeah like Jack Benny!
I just have to say that I am very appreciative of you and your channel, especially during this time of uncertainty. Your videos amaze and challenge me and my worldview. Thanks for doing all these. It really is awesome and it does not fall on unlistening ears.
Past midnight in Mexico and about to go to bed, notification pops up, sleep can wait
agreed! almost 2am here in Massachusetts...sleep can wait.
Hi neighbor! :D Sleep is waiting, while I dive into Johnny Appleseed lore, here in Texas too. Best of luck in your Johnny Appleread-ing? lmao
@@vellexander4422 Hola!
Fascinating! Thank you for taking me away from politics for about 15 minutes. I really needed this relief. Somehow Johnny Appleseed reminds me of Francis of Assisi (sp?), who also loved all animals and lived a life connected with nature. These people are rare, probably a little mentally "different", startling in contrast to most of us who worry about almost everything - they are like a ray of sunshine in a dark world.
I thought when you were talking trains that you were going to say Casey Jones. He, too, was a real person and quite interesting.
me too
Me as well
I literally was thinking about this guy the other day. I'm glad you posted about him, I had forgotten most of it. Just a side note too, I find it so weird that UA-cam will recommend stuff that I happen to be thinking about or thought about and then I notice a video about it in my feed. It happens so much to me that I swear they're using some type of quantum computer for the algorithm.
They hardly ever suggest any new content that I would be interested in, but then, I am a bit of a unicorn.
I was only wondering about Johnny Appleseed the other day. This should be interesting.
Totally not kidding, I've had Johnny Appleseed rolling around in my head for a week - Get Outta My Head Joe!! Love the videos sir!
Maybe a Ben Franklin quote:
In wine there is wisdom,
In beer there is freedom,
In water there is bacteria.
I'm pretty sure when Franklin was writing, germ theory was still in the future, but it's the sort of thing he _would_ say isn't it?
Maybe Mark Twain? ;-)
And of course the classic: _In vino veritas_
Ben Franklin would never say that because in the 1700s they didn't know bacteria were pathogens.
And 'bacteria' wasn't even a word until the 1800s
@@brokenwave6125 They didn't know about bacteria, but people have always known about bad water giving you disease. Historians explain that the reason Alexander the Great was such an alcoholic - setting fire to Persepolis on his victory party, killing his best buddy in a drunken rage, etc. - was because most of the water they found was unsafe to drink, so they drank wine instead... And in the 17th century, not just drinking but washing was avoided as much as possible. Probably because the bath houses - very popular in the middle ages, and which were also brothels most of the time - had become notorious for spreading syphilis and other STDs.
I learned about Johnny Appleseed in grammar school in the 50’s and adored him. Thanks!
A tin pot to keep the sun off his head? 😲
I would have thought that would make it worse, imagine how hot it would be after just a short while? 😲 🤣 🤦♂️💥
He lived back when most of that area was forest. It wasn't to protect from the sun since he mainly walked in shade. Acorns were another matter - helmet recommended.
@@barrythebluebear Fair enough. You’re a logical thinker. I was going to comment about tin hat/re sun, but yeah, your explanation makes sense.
Thanks for the content Joe. Loved this video for probably the same reason you started exploring this topic. It's awesome
Would love a series on how Disney skewed American History or didn't. Let the facts fall where they fall.
That would be amazing.
I love how ignorant audience is confused about Live Action Mulan why it's missing major parts from the Animation. I guess it's not as relevant as 1400 year old fable.
Shit, that's how I became aware of Davey Crocket, king of the wild frontier... damnit.
There's heated debates whether "Song of the South" and Black Crows in "Jumbo" are from pure racism or Disney being just a product of his time. Apparently there's also a quote about Disneyland being for "white children". But it's difficult to google. "Disneyland+White" tends bring up "Snow White" references, etc. And the racist imagery is sometimes contrasted to his willingness to hire Black and Asian animators. It would be very interesting, but indeed it's an endless rabbithole
Love your channel, the history guy, and all of the Simon whistler Channels out there
Being from Ohio, many of us learned about his life while we were in elementary school. What’s funny is the more I learn about his true life, the more I feel like a lot of Ohio’s subculture has been shaped by Johnny Appleseed. That would be interesting to research. Thanks for sharing this video. Also, I think you movie about him would be quite popular with us Ohio weirdos.
Keep the nuggets coming. I start looking in one direction and end up another, many hours later. You do end up with some interesting and some odd nuggets for your troubles.
In Europa there is a different, an much older, history of Apples. Take the myth of Ydun and her apples, that kept the nordic gods young.
Ydun = Eden?
@@PinataOblongata No Ydun is the wife of Brage, who is the barde of Asgaard. And Ydun has a tree whit golden apples. Once a year she give them to the gods, and that keep the gods forever young.
@@johannnyborg3998 Yes, I know, but don't you see the similarities, here? The name Ydun and the word Eden, for the garden with the tree with the apple - very similar. Golden apples of youth, forbidden apple of knowledge.... I'm not the first person to notice recycled themes and even names in religious narratives.
@@PinataOblongata Yes, and golden apples turn up again in the Garden of Hesperides (the Ancient Greek goddess Hera's personal orchard). From this orchard came the Apple of Discord which led to the Trojan War.
Apples seem to be responsible for a lot...
I love your channel exactly for your curiosity and your great willingness to share.
When John Henry was a little baby, sitting on his daddy knee, his daddy picked him up and threw him on the floor, and said this baby done wet on me. "Smothers Bros."
I love hearing the reality of our historical stories. Great video!
Joe: Hey this was really fun . I forgot about the Swedenborg connection which I had come across somewhere else. Swedenborg should be interesting as he is the source of a series of Fortean anecdotes that are well documented and eerie. The Wiki on him is fairly comprehensive and sourced. You should check it out- it's like your other Fortean shows.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg
Agree, there would be a nice topic to explore
Thank You
Fascinating, thanks a lot!
The History Guy has a great channel and did a really good video on Johnny Apple Seed. Thanks for sharing.
"Smash the dislike button!" Joe, I would love to see you and Simon Whistler do something together. Not entire sure if it's possible, but I could definitely see your personalities being hilarious together.
Agreed
I would definitely watch that!
On which of Simons 6000 channels?
@@arnefines2356 Business Blaze is the one where Simon really encourages smashing the Dislike button... but none of his channels are immune to this.
@@laurendoe168 Allegedly.
That was awesome! It's a real slap in the brain when you realize how wrong the common understanding of popular characters is. Thank you.
I use private browsing when I don't want similar recommendations.
That's a great idea, but how to do that on UA-cam with a smartphone? 😕
I watch my subscription using a script that I wrote, which will fetch only my subscriptions and I can watch them without any ads. If I want random recommendations, I just go on to regular UA-cam.
@@MCsCreations so true.
Everyone knows that. Can you do than on UA-cam??
Is UA-cam private browser available??
Thanks joe for doing this video brought back memories.i watched a show called tall tails and legends of Johnny Apple seed staring martin short back in 89 when I was 6 year ago. And of all place’s Pakistan and I was fascinated by the story back then.a story of a selfless man
I was raised in the Swedenborg religion. It’s such a tiny offshoot of Christianity you rarely hear it mentioned. First off Emanuel Swedenborg, who was kinda like if you combine Joseph Smith with Ben Franklin, was from Sweden and wrote 30 something volumes that became the foundation for the religion. Both Johnny Appleseed and Helen Keller were the religions celebrities in the church and as children we were taught about them. As far as I know the vegan lifestyle and the oneness with nature has nothing to do with the Swedenborg religion. We were taught that Johnny Appleseed was a church member who would hand out pages of the “Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg” to everyone he met on the frontier. He was an early evangelist for this fairly new religion. Swedenborg started having his visions in the mid 1740s and started producing his writings shortly after that. If you want to go down the rabbit hole, look into Emanuel Swedenborg.
Hell yeah do that!
Thanks
Her Name. Yeah it is creepy. I lived in one of the largest congregations in the US. A tiny borough called Bryn Athyn in the suburbs of Philadelphia. It looks like any other town in the area, except it has several castles and a huge cathedral. I was educated in Swedenborg schools from K-12 before escaping to collage. One strange aspect of the religion is how it connects up with science. Emanuel Swedenborg was a respected scientist and inventor and had served the Swedish government, which I think was a monarchy at the time. His surname was changed to Swedenborg by the Swedish government, or monarchs, as some sort of an honorary thing. A lot of parallels have been drawn between him and Ben Franklin in terms of his scientific pursuits, inventions, and service to his government. Later in his life, when he had his visions, visited heaven and hell, conversed with angels and demons and wrote his writings; he included sections that talk about the anatomy of the heart as well as a fairly accurate description of the stages of reproduction, cells splitting, etc. I was taught this was undiscovered anatomy at the time and, unprovable because the instruments that where needed to make these discoveries didn’t exist. As a result, there was a much greater emphasis put into science classes in the Swedenborg schools I attended. This was a rare case in religion, where real science was taught, scientific method, evolution, etc. The only difference was that God set up the physical rules of nature. Evolution is God’s method for creating mankind. God also revealed all, that afore mentioned yet undiscovered information on the anatomy of human beings, to Swedenborg to write down, thus proving the existence of God. So, as a result, if I edit out all the God’s will bit of my science education, I actually got a good science education. And if that’s not wacky enough, one of Swedenborg writings is a book called Earths in the Universe. It’s an entire book about the conversations he had with the souls of aliens from other planets he conversed with while visiting them in the part of heaven that is set up for alien societies. I had to do a paper on this for my senior year religion class. Even though I had been completely indoctrinated from birth, lived in a religious town, and went to a religious school, this was a bridge too far. I knew I had to get the hell out.
Wow, I didn't know this was still a thing. Thanks for sharing!
Their is a small Swedenborg Church in Urbana Ohio. With an Johnny Apple seed museum at the University.
I love your little niche deep dives like this. And I saw the today I found out episode too.
Being from Fort Wayne, yeah, everyone learns about him in elementary school.
Here in Ohio too!!
To clarify, he’s buried here, there’s a park named after him where he’s buried and we have a Johnny Appleseed festival every year in that park.
The History Guy deserves to be remembered
Today I Found Out also did a "Is Apple Pie Actually American?" video.
Bye bye miss American Pie
it's strudel, right?
I immediately went and looked up Midlake. And I'm a fan! I appreciate the recommendation!
Was wondering if you were going Casey Jones.
Yea Casey Jones was the Railroad guy- John Henry was the Track Layin' Guy who beat a Machine Track layer. I think Disney made a LIVE Action movie that had those Americana Folk heroes featured in it- All of them except "Johnny Appleseed" and Casey Jones. . I sure wanted to like the movie, but it was a little lackluster Title was called "Tall Tale" and had Patrick Swayze, and Oliver Platte.
This is why I watch this channel. Great video. at least 2 of us find this interesting.
Respects nature, doesn't hurt animals but runs a business stealing land from the people who live there already.
I make wine and cider in Colorado, and recently went to North Carolina to make cider in buildings nearly as old as Johnny's orchards themselves. This definitely resonates with me, thanks for the discussion!
Mr. Appleseed was anti-grafting and cloning. Interestingly all apple breeds now are clones of one apple. Lots of grafting.
Likewise with bananas, which has put banana production in a very precarious position.
It's far too big a subject to go into here, but the race is on to save the banana.🍌
You should check out Temperate Orchard Conservancy. They are saving THOUSANDS of apple varieties.
A major problem of reliably getting good apples from seeds is apple's extreme heterozygosity i.e. one can crosspolinate flowers from two trees of one cultivar (for example Gala) and get something completely different - sour yellow fruits two inches in diameter. Thus it's much easier to grow clones that will produce apples with known characteristics.
Im Pennsylvanian so I've spent at least THREE minutes thinking about Johnny Appleseed. I also recently watched the Today I Found Out video. Very interesting and informative.
I see you watch Simon Whistler as well. Clearly you're a man of culture.
Allegendly
@@jhuds5011 lol
Smash that dislike button
Sounds like the sort of person we need more of .Just like you don't let trolls get you down .LOVE From Australia.
(“DEL-yuge”)
I'm always amused when Joe struggles to remember things that are literally right in front of his face - or could be with a few keystrokes and mouse clicks. He even called himself out on it this time! :-D
[I had copy-pasted the Merriam-Webster entry for deluge (noun and verb) here but decided that was just a bit too douchey even for me. But not this here. This is just the right amount.]
I thought it was day-luge. Maybe it's a regional thing.
I’m in the UK and his song used to drive me NUTS as a kid as it was a repeatedly sung at Brownies & Guides on camp etc.
Nice to know a bit of the history, but at this moment, I would cheerfully reach through the interwebs and throttle you for getting that hellsong stuck in my head again 😂
Books I wish people would read:
“The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks” Randall Robinson
“1177 B. C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed” Eric H. Cline
“The Road to Total War: Escalation in World War II” F. M. Sallagar, April 1969 R-465-PR,
United States Air Force Project Rand: The RAND Corporation.
“The Hittites and Their World” Billie Jean Collins
“SPQR A History of Ancient Rome” Mary Beard
“American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America” Colin Woodard
“How to Hide an Empire The History of the Greater United States” Danial Immerwahr
“Pagans: The End of Traditional Religion and the Rise of Christianity” James J. O’Donnell
Nice list, could get some. I'm particularly intrigued by the Rand report (was skimming through it a bit and noted a passage about the temptations that American planners have to use Force to get their way but that they would be met in the short term by escalation by adversaries, and that put in place the potential for violence escalation loops, interesting stuff)
In the coldest part of the winter, the barrels of cider would freeze and cryo-distillation would provide cold distilled apple brandy, when the frozen barrels were properly drained. The colder the winter, the more highly distilled was the end product. This brandy was very highly prized on the frontier and was an important item of trade for many farmers.
It is very annoying. I have hand crafted wooden ships popping up for weeks for watching one hull video...
*watches video on a whim*
UA-cam: He likes it! Back the truck up!
On the bright side, there are some channels I watch regularly but don't subscribe to, and the algorithm seems to keep up with that pretty well.
As a non-American I only had heard about the disney version.
But a more realistic version was eye-opening. Thanks Joe, as always.
First
Hey Joe, I ran across the original Disney book and vinyl record from 1971 at a thrift shop yesterday so I decided I better watch your video. Thanks for the extra info. I was intrigued to see a big FAT gold leaf Bible in Johnny’s hand on the cover. That wasn’t in the school movie we watched in the 70’s.
I enjoy these rabbit holes you fall into. Always interesting.
in the last minute of the video I've already shared it with 5 people. You're not the only one who finds this interesting!
This is my favorite video you’ve done! Too interesting random and funny not to love. Kudos and keep it up :-)
As a child in the late 1950s (in Wales) we were read stories at school after which we had to write an essay and draw a picture depicting an aspect of the story. One such story was Johnny Appleseed. In a folder somewhere I still have the essay and drawing I did. I remember my mark was 9/10 and I got a silver star for my efforts.
The story we were told was that he was the son of an apple farmer in Somerset ( S W England) and as a teenager emigrated to America with a sack of his father's apple seeds.....
Amazing Joe. Do more like this if you like :D
I dig the rabbit holes you take us through. Bravo
Thanks for this video. Always intersting to hear about these "forgotten" bits of history.
This deserves the full Answers with Joe treatment :D Great stuff.
As a Brazilian that lived in Virginia for some time as a kid . when I was there I really liked these American folklore.. since the US is young and have these stories that seen just really really old when you talk about it ... and really shows how folklore works ..
This was fascinating. Thank You Mr. Scott.
Johnny Appleseed was a big part of folk legend even in my area in Connecticut. A number of orchards have his name. And we would sing the Johnny Appleseed song before breakfast at Camp Woodstock
OMG craziness, my favorite UA-camr mentions how great my second favorite UA-camr is 😱
My grandfather was born in 1890 (yeah, I know, I’m old) and he always said “water is for washing, not for drinking”. Back in the day most water supplies were corrupted with disease, and sensible people were rightly afraid to drink it. Low alcohol beverages like beer and cider were considered a much safer alternative because the alcohol produced in the brewing process kills bacteria and parasites. Even more so in the early 1800s before the germ theory of disease was discovered.
just about anything i watch from you, The History Guy or Issac Arthur sends me down the rabbit hole lol . . . then theres the links you guys suggest . . . and the rabbit hole expands further . . . (thanks for all the hard work you guys do though, it really is cool to have access to so much great content) truth be told The Engineer guy was my first follow but the History was my first deep dive, been hooked on this stuff ever since
I saw the history guy video when it came out. Johnny Appleseed's story is truly fascinating and a good example of reality being stranger than fiction!
I had also heard that another part of the business model was Johnny would make a deal with homesteaders/ farmers and plant the apple trees and each year he would get a small percentage of the proceeds of the crops. Which is why he would keep cycling around to the same areas to collect his due.
I read about Johnny Appleseed from Michael Pollan in his book The Botany Of Desire. Great book. The apples were grown from seed (he planted nurseries rather than orchards) so most of the apples were sour and unpalatable and perfect for brewing hard liquor (applejack). He basically spread alcohol through the frontier.
Thanks Joe.... All your stuff is super interesting ✌️
I'd love to hear more of these low key deep dives. Joe just telling us cool stuff he's been reading about.
A tin hat=very handy when you walk and work around trees and shrubs with low hanging branches, and pruning. I know, I do it all the time. It's a safety hat!
For further information I recommend "Botany Of Desire", a BBC documentary from the good old days. It features a lengthy segment on Johnny.
I recently moved to Fort Wayne Indiana and visited Johnny Appleseeds grave earlier today and then get on UA-cam and this video is first thing on the page
Funnily enough, i passed over the Today I Found Out video in my feed to watch you instead
You and CCP GREY are two UA-camrs I respect the most. Love it.
Joe, you're not the only one that finds the subject interesting, I was married to a distant relative of Johnny Appleseed..
I thought JA didn't have any kids..?
@@Scott_C no kids doesn't mean no siblings.
Scott I love u normal videos but ur TMI is my fav r rambling makes me feel less weird I'm Glad someone has some weird crazy thoughts and mind set as me I feel like ur TMI is just like how my brain works
Swedenborg, the guy who founded the church, was from Sweden but apparently the Church started in an organised fashion in England.
I love your videos, ESPECIALLY these ones on very obscure topics.
Just awesome Joe! I feel like a historian now!
"love you guys, later."'
best ending of a video ever ;)
Great episode! Johnny Appleseed we a way strange dude. Love this type of history.
One thing I'll have to look up is what he actually planted. Generally if you plant seeds from your favourite apple you'll get apple trees that revert to what we call crab apples. Very bitter, small and hard. To grow your favourite you need to graft a bit of your favourite tree onto a root stock. There are a lot of videos on how to do it, but I thought I'd save a few enthusiasts a bit of disappointment.
This is how I found you and got hooked 😂
The last time I saw a discussion of Johnny Appleseed was in "The Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollen. His take was more about the adaption of plants to human needs, how the apple in this case changes to become what humans want.