Tonight, for our monthly Snoozecast Deluxe bonus episode, we’ll read a Snoozecast original story featuring the day in the life of the famous American folkhero Johnny Appleseed.

Born Johnathan Chapman, Johnny was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced trees grown with apple seeds (rather than through grafting) to large parts of many states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Ontario and West Virginia. He became an American legend while still alive, due to his kind, generous ways, his leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance that he attributed to apples. He was also a missionary for The New Church and the inspiration for many museums and historical sites.

The popular image is of Johnny Appleseed spreading apple seeds randomly everywhere he went. In fact, he planted nurseries rather than orchards, built fences around them to protect them from livestock and wildlife, left the nurseries in the care of a neighbor who sold trees on shares, and returned every year or two to tend the nursery. 

It is said that toward the end of his career he encountered a travelling missionary preaching to an open-air congregation. The sermon was long and severe on the topic of extravagance, because the pioneers were buying such indulgences as calico and imported tea. The preacher repeatedly asked "Where now is there a man who, like the primitive Christians, is traveling to heaven barefooted and clad in coarse raiment?" Finally, Johnny Appleseed walked up to him, put his bare foot on the stump that had served as a pulpit, and said, "Here's your primitive Christian!"

Thank you to our premium subscribers, and we hope that our Deluxe listeners enjoy tonight’s sleep story. If you are interested in learning more about what Snoozecast+ and Snoozecast+ Deluxe offer, please go to snoozecast.com/plus

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