There is also a seed saving forum that you may want to post in as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed saving frum

Mary, that's cool. Do you save new seeds from your plants every year, or are you still using individual seeds that you bought years ago?

Your enthusiasm for seed-saving made me think of the siege of Leningrad. The scientists trapped in the seed-saving complex had no food and could have eaten the seeds, but they stuck to their duty to preserve the seeds for the future. There's a book about this called Hunger by Elise Blackwell. The book inspired the Decemberists' song When the War Came.

There's also the seed vault on a Norwegian island in the Arctic (link to Wikipedia article below).

Melissa

Here is a link that might be useful: Svalbard Global Seed Vault

You have a neat system. I want to get a vacuum sealer as well. Has anyone tried the ziploc handheld gadget? Funny, I was just reading that article about the seed vault. I don't store my seeds in the fridge but I also collect quite a few tomato and pepper seed. Not rare or endangered but variety is my quest;) I'm getting pretty anxious to get started, too. I save 2 liter pop bottles to use as mini greenhouses for both indoor and outdoor seed starting. I normally use standard seed trays for my peppers and tomatoes. Lori

Melva, I save seeds every year also and share with my friends but I always have to try some of the 8 year old seeds just to satisfy my curiosity! I know a lot about the seed vaults. We are losing so many species and the day may come where those who can grow their own food will survive while others perish (Not that's a cheery little thought for this early in the day! LOL)

Gardengalrn, I have not tried the hand-held sealer and don't know anyone who has. I use my regular one for so many things. Beyond produce, I use it to put chicken breasts in marinade and freeze them so then all I have to do is pop the bag in the microwave. I dice up poulds of different colored peppers, freeze them on a cookie sheet and then fill quart foodsaver bags. Doing it this way, you can each in and get a handful or 2 without having to defrost a whole bag. A head of lettuce will keep nearly 3 weeks and celery the same. Mary

Did a brined roasted chicken yeasterday. REALLY GOOD. Added some of my herbed butter under the breast skin too. When I start my asparagus from seeds, they take nearly a month to sprout. I always use plastic pots and a soilless mix for sprouting the seeds. They are in 2'x4' trays with a clear plastic domed lid, and a heat mat under them. I had to throw out all the rest of my pea seeds as they just didn't germinate well enough to use them after 3 years of storage in a cool dry place. I must have about 10+ pounds of various garden seeds. Some were my dads, from over 15 years or more. I think they are all going to get dumped out, especially the many cucumber seeds he collected over many years. I may try to get a few to sprout, but I think the success rate will be next to nothing, and those that do emerge, may be very stunted. Have you ever priced seedless watermelon seeds? I saw a catalog for only 12 seeds at about $18.00+, and they needed a pollinator type nearby to set fruits. Whe I freeze peppers, I just cut into chunks and clean out the seeds, then freeze in zip lock bags. They have quite a lot of moisture that I don't mind that it gets pulled away from the peppers, and once thawed, they release a lot more moisture. For peppers, I like meaty pimento types which are much thicker than a bell type. They are pointed at the bottoms, but I found that the plants are higher yields compared to regular bell types. They ripen to red a lot faster too, which makes them really sweet.

I always though seeds needed oxygen to remain viable
never to store in an airtight container.

I don't know but this method has worked for me. Perhaps some air is trapeed within the individual seed packs that are all in one vacuum bag? I don't know! I see that there is a seller selling the seed starting heat mats for 19.00 and 4.90 shipping.
http://cgi.ebay.com/SEED-GERMINATION-HEAT-MAT-For-10-x-20-Seedling-Trays_W0QQitemZ110228123426QQihZ001QQcategoryZ43555QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

Bidding has ended for that eBay item, but I would expect that the seller has more. To apply the link, copy and paste the link into the URL window below the message.

Here is a link that might be useful: ebay link

I save my seeds in a sealed jar, with silica jel crystals, in the freezer, from what I understand, there isnt a time limit on viability. (would love to have a vac. sealer, on my want list).

As regards the seed starting mats above, He has several more listed if you click on the See all items for sale by seller.

Ceresone, if you buy a vacuum sealer, by the food saver kind. They really are superior. I have an attachment that allows me to seal canning lids on canning jars. THis is great for items like pickled peppers that stay in refrig (I have quit canning them the regular way as they are never as crisp as the ones I just put into the pickling mixture and refrigerate.)NOTE: YOU CANNOT USE THIS METHOD FOR REGULAR CANNING, ie; foods that MUST be waterbath and/or pressure canned. I only use the vacuum lid method on really acidic canned itms like pickles or pickled anything that will be refrigerated. I have 2 of the Food Saver vacuum containers and use one of them to keep my coffee beans fresh (I am a coffee connoisseur!)I mainly use the other one for marinating things. Truthfully, since I found the 1/2 gallon Ball jars for sale online, I use them for storage, etc using the vacuum-the-lid-on attachment. Tea, Pasta, Cereal...all stay so much fresher. Certainly cheaper that the Food Saver COntainers. I also buy "generic" bag rolls/bags on Ebay. Cuts the cost to about half over using the Food Saver Brand. My husband uses the vacuum sealer for small screws/bolts of the same size/thread. He also uses it to store his silicone, yellow gasket sealer etc. (Hint: Store super glue, rubber cement, etc in vacuum bag and it NEVER dries out.) I do re-use bags by washing them in anti bacterial soap, rinsing really well and then microwaving the empty bag 3 minutes to destroy any bacteria etc. (I read about this online.) To allow them to dry, I put them on upside down on top of wine bottles. Anyway, as is obvious, I really do use my foodsaver a lot! Mary

As to canning peppers with no water bath, I have successfully done that for a few years now. I like the small, tender pepperoncini peppers and use a full strength vinegar and salt as a pickling brine. First, I wash and cut off all the stem and part of the crown. Each pepper then gets pierced with a skewer to allow air out and brine in, and is placed in the largest Food Saver canister with the vinear and salt brine. Instead of the Foodsaver vacuum, I use a more powerful pump, and pull a vacuum on them to force the brine inside the peppers. The vacuuum is left on for several minutes, as I also have a gauge to monitor its vacuum. Once I see no bubbling anymore, I remove the peppers into quart canning jars and make a fresh batch of vinegar salt brine. Each jar gets about half filled with the brine, then I pull a vacuum on them again, which makes a lot more bubbles and gets them to swell up a bit. I partially refill each jar several times, until I see very little of the bubbles. Then, I fill the jars with the brine to the headspace level, and also add a few more peppers due to them settling a little, then I add the lid. This is the final step for the vacuum and it will actually pull some of the vinegar brine out of the jars, and through the vacuum line. I have a large moisture trap that catches the liquid before the pump can see any of it. I pull the line off the top of the FS adaptor, which forces the canning lid into/onto the jar to make the strong vacuum seal. Then I remove the adaptor and rinse each jar under hot water to rinse off any liquid on the outside. Each jar gets a band screwed on, and the canning is done. This is the ONLY item I can using the vacuum method, as I do feel confident that the full strength vinegar and salt, will prevent any possibility of contamination, botulism, or listeria problems. The peppers do stay quite firm for about a year, and then start to soften a little. The last batch were milder peppers for some reason, either that, or I am getting used to the mild heat they exhibit after being pickled. Right off the plants, they are very mild and you would never think they had any heat. It only shows up after they get pickled. Next time, I plan to do a big batc of sweet cherry peppers, which are also one of my favorites. As mentioned, they are the highest acidic food that I use the vacuum pump to can.

Brokenbar, I am a seed saver also, I have been trading in the canadian garden exchange forum but still have a hard time finding the unusual stuff. like peanuts, coffee, tea, cotton..(not easy to come by in Canada) Did you save those sorts of seeds also or just food?

I was an accidental seed saver this year. I don't know what I was thinking, but when I went to start a few vegetable seeds in pots for the window sill, I filled the pots with soil from last year's tomato pots.

Now I have 6 pots filled with tomato seedlings. (I only planted two with tomato.) I did get a cuke and some herbs...but either the tomatoes beat the cilantro, parsley, and zucchini into submission, those seeds must have not sprouted. :D