When those who sailed for the New World, to settle in a new land that was totally disconnected from the lands of Spain, as in the settlement of St. Augustine, Florida (1585); or from Europe, whether Jamestown, Virginia (1606); or Plymouth Rock 1620); they had to bring with them their own living equipment and provisions, including food production. This meant, of course, shelter (which they brought with them the tools to build shelters) and agricultural needs (which they brought with them the tools for tilling and plowing the ground to plant seeds, which they also brought with them).
There was no going down to the corner grocery story or 7-11 to pick up dinner, you ate what you grew or starved (hunting and fishing were never enough to feed an entire colony).
The problem each of these and all other initial colonies encountered was that seeds from Europe did not grow in the New World.
Early Settlements that had great difficulty initially feeding themselves
• As an example, St. Augustine has a Humid Subtropical Climate—however, their seeds came from a hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters climate.
• Jamestown has a Humid Continental
Climate—however, their seeds came from an Oceanic Climate .
• Plymouth, Massachusetts, has a Humid Subtropical Climate, however, their seeds came from an Oceanic Climate.
Each of these colonies found that their seeds brought from the Old World would not growing sufficiently to provide needed food supplies.
Even as late as the 1800s, when the first European settlers in Alberta, Canada, planted wheat seeds they had brought from warmer climates, the seeds did not grow properly. Success with wheat production came only after one wheat farmer wrote to his brother in Russia and asked him to send a small quantity of wheat seed from the Moscow area. These imported Russian seeds grew exceedingly well in Alberta, and became the seed stock for much of the wheat grown in Alberta today, including today.
Alberta, Canada, and Moscow, Russia, both sit along the cold front of the Arctic—Moscow at 55 ºN, and Alberta, Canada, 54 ºN; and both have Continental Climates. Thus, the climate of the Moscow region, of course, is an analog to the climate of the wheat growing area of Alberta.
The critical story behind the mutiny on the Bounty saga was not the mutiny of the crew, but the aborted mission of transporting bread fruit plants (and their seeds) on the ship Bounty from the tropical south Pacific island climates to areas of the same climate in the Caribbean islands.
Mutiny carried breadfruit for food storage and support of early settlements
The crops of the introduced bread fruit plants were intended by the British to help eliminate wide-spread starvation. Commercial production of Kiwi fruit and Granny Smith apples started in New Zealand decades ago in growing areas classified by climatologists as Marine West Coast climates. Now seeds of these southern hemisphere plants produce these same commercial fruit products in the identical Marine West Coast climate of the State of Washington. Even today, groups espousing the theory of global warming, and fearing its consequences, are stockpiling seeds from around the world in cold storage locations in Norway, at the cost of tens of millions of dollars.
By this means they hope to protect the world’s seed stock and then redistribute seeds to world areas when climate change prevents the successful planting from a local inventory of seeds.
Again, it is significant to note that the seeds brought by the Nephites from Jerusalem would have required a like Climate—both being Mediterranean Climates. That is, seeds developed in a Mediterranean Climate (Jerusalem) require another Mediterranean Climate (Land of Promise) for planting and growth.
It is inarguable that those Mediterranean Climates in the Western Hemisphere where Lehi could have landed would have been either California in the North, or Coquimbo Bay, Chile, in the South.
Despite all the rhetoric to the opposite by a myriad of theorists, Lehi could only have landed in one of these two sites—California or Chile. And California would have to be eliminated, since none of the other more than 40-scriptural references and descriptions, by Mormon and others, makes that quite clear in these earlier posts, which have pointed out that neither Mesoamerica, the Heartland nor Great Lakes has the climate for Lehi’s seeds to have grown “exceedingly” and produced an “abundant” crop from the seeds brought “from Jerusalem.”
Obviously, the climate of the Land of Promise would have had to provide a close match to the climate of the land of Jerusalem. Thus the seeds brought by the Nephites from the land of Jerusalem would have been planted in an analogous environment where they could “grow exceedingly.”
Olives, the foodstuff of the Israelites
Growing in land of Jerusalem in 600
BC were grapes, olives, figs and barley, and potentially would have grown just
as abundantly and successfully in the Nephite’s new Land of Promise since those
were some of the “seeds of every kind
Nephi would have brought with him. In
addition, evergreens such as Pine and Cypress trees are mixed with deciduous
trees such as several Oaks, Jujube, Dracaena and Argania, with the climate good
for cereal and vegetable crops, including wheat, hard winter wheat, grains,
barley and pulse.
In addition, there were almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, chestnut, pomegranates, apricots, kumquat and citrus as well as apples, pear, plum, apricots, nectarine, persimmon, grape, blackberry, blueberry, artichoke, asparagus, and an assortment of annual vegetables and herbs. There were also broad-leaf evergreen shrubs, bushes, and small trees, as well as opuntia cactus and the large Agaves.
Of course the most significant fruits of the time were grapes that could be made into wine; figs that were not just a simple fruit—they were consumed fresh or dried, and both figs and raisins were also mashed into cakes or dried fruit cakes; and olives, which were important as well for their oil. Unless a family was wealthy, large cuts of meat tended to be reserved for important meals
Nathan MacDonald of Hebrew Studies at the University of Cambridge, who completed his doctorate on the book of Deuteronomy, and taught Old Testament at the University of St Andrews, spending eight months as a Humboldt research fellow at the Ludwig-Maximillians-Universität München. In 2008 he was awarded a Sofja-Kovalevskaja Prize which enabled him to lead a research team on Early Jewish Monotheisms at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. According to MacDonald, bread and other grain-based foods probably provided over half to three-fourths of caloric intake during biblical times.
In addition, hard or durum wheat is suited to Palestine’s dry and warm climate and was the primary kind of wheat cultivated in ancient Israel. The other staple crop, barley, was perceived inferior, as evidenced by its usage alongside straw as horse feed during the reign of Soloman and the distinction made by Josephus that those who were wealthy ate wheat bread and the poor ate barley bread.
Wheat and barley, of course could be consumed in a variety of forms—fresh, roasted, or most laboriously, processed to make bread. In order to provide for a family of five or six, processing could take an estimated three hours a day and would have been done by women and servants. However, a more common preparation method would be mixing flour, salt, and water and cooking it on a flat hot stone to make an unleavened cake similar to a chapati.
MacDonald (left) believes pulses, some vegetables, and perhaps a little fruit would have provided the remainder of the meal’s nutrition—vegetables were probably on the lowest tier. Meat was most preferred but due to cost, pulses were likely to have been the main source of protein for the majority of people.
The point, as always, and once again, is that seeds brought by Lehi from Jerusalem would have required a like Climate—both being Mediterranean Climates. That is, seeds developed in a Mediterranean Climate (Jerusalem) require another Mediterranean Climate (Land of Promise) for planting and growth.
It is simply inarguable that those Mediterranean Climates in the Western Hemisphere where Lehi could have landed would have been either California in the North, or Coquimbo Bay, Chile, in the South—and despite all the claims of opposition, Lehi could only have landed in one of these two sites—California or Chile.
There is simply no chance that Jerusalem seeds would have grown in the Oceanic Subtropical Highland Climate of Guatemala, nor the hot-semi arid climate of the Heartland, nor the humid continental climate of the Great Lakes.
And this is just one of the more than 40 scriptural matches that are required to locate Lehi’s Land of Promise.
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