Individuals or churches may want to set aside a garden plot separate from those used for ornamental plants or trees and shrubs to grow short rows of common grains used in Bible days. If you do this, find a seed store selling these seeds in bulk so you can purchase tiny scoops of seed. These are considered farm crops in most of the world. I suggest picking up a book on growing grains or contacting your local agriculture department representative (such as a cooperative extension agent in the United States) for information on proper fertilizing and cultivation

Barley -- Hordeum distichon or H. Hexastichon

Barley, both winter and spring, was a common grain. It was used as food for both animals and man. Barley was used in the jealousy offerings discussed in Numbers 5:15. These passages also mention barley: Deuteronomy 8:8, Exodus 9:24-31, and John 6:8-10.

Numbers 5:15: Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

Beans -- Vicia faba

Beans were used as both animal and human food. This species is an annual plant reaching three feet tall. Beans were part of the food items carried by David's troops in II Samuel 17:27-29.

2 Samuel 17:27-29: And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse, And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

Cucumbers -- Cucumis sativus

Numbers 11:5 names cucumbers as one of the foods the Israelites missed while they wandered in the wilderness.

Numbers 11:5: We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick.

Lentils -- Lens esculenta

Jacob fed Esau a pottage of lentils in Genesis 25:29-34. No one knows where lentils originated but it was clearly used as food in Bible days.

Bible References

Genesis 25:29-34: And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: and Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. ... Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

Millet -- Panicum miliaceum

Ezekiel 27:17 talks about people trading wheat and pannag. Pannag was the old testament name for millet.

Ezekiel 27:17: Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm

Spelt (Rye) -- Triticum aestivum var. spelta

The plagues that forced pharaoh to let the Israelites go did much damage. Exodus 9:32 mentions that the rye, which we call spelt, was not affected because it had not grown yet. Some people mistakenly believe this to be the plant those in the northern hemisphere call rye.

Exodus 9:32: But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up.

Sweet or Sugar Cane -- Saccharum officinarum

Jeremiah 6:20 and Isaiah 43:23-24 both mention sweet cane that obviously was greatly valued by the Israelites. [Requires tropical growing conditions.]

Jeremiah 6:20: To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

Isaiah 43:23-24: Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.

Wheat -- Triticum compositum

Genesis 41:5 mentions corn. Corn did not grow in the Holy Lands. The crop being discussed is really wheat according to the botanists.

Genesis 41:5: And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.

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