I have been a member of Seed Savers Exchange since 1999. The organization was formed to preserve varieties that might otherwise disappear. It should not be viewed as a seed catalog. Heritage Farm grows out and preserves thousands of varieties of fruits and vegetables. Members grow out varieties that they offer through the Yearbook which comes out in February each year ( not quarterly) . This year there are 20,443 total listings and 12.920 unique varieties. Members request seeds from other members directly and pay for them with their order. There are two kinds of members-listed--meaning you have seeds offered in the yearbook -and unlisted which means you are not offering seeds. For small seeds ( like peppers, tomatoes, etc. the fee is $2 per sample of 25 seeds for listed members and $3 for unlisted members.There are also categories of listings--HAS means any member can order the seeds, LQ means the member has a limited quantity and only listed members can order them, MR- refers to seeds in danger of being lost and means the recipient agrees to re-offer the seeds through the exchange and these are also available only to listed members.

There are probably more varieties of tomatoes offered than anything else but there are a fair number of peppers. Each page as about 30 varieties on it. There are four categories. This year there are about 12 pages of "Hot" or hot C. annuum, 3 pages of Sweet bell, about 7 of Sweet non-bell, and about 5 pages of "other species" of hot peppers. They range from the common to the unusual. I have a very large collection of peppers at this point but am still able to find many I don't have and a couple of real interest--for instance one listed as Aji-var. Rocotillo which is a C. chinense and supposedly the one Jean Andrews talks about. I have grow the C. baccatum version but have not been able to find this one which the source found in a Mexican grocery store. Another was Nioi offered by the Heirloom Seed Saving project of a high school here in Maine. This pepper grows wild and was collected on the N. Mariana Island of Tinian.

As you can tell I am a believer in this organization. This year I offered 19 peppers but have offered more in the past, including tomatoes.

I also belong to the Flower and Herb Exchange which is an affiliated organization for those preserving flowers and herbs.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Savers Exchange

Ncage, regarding your 3rd question........if you sign up right away I suspect they will send out the most recent publication (the year book), at least that's what happened to me a few years ago when I signed up in March.

If you're concerned about this I'd suggest sending them an email or giving them a call. There are some great people working there and they've always been extremely helpful every time I've contacted them.

Sorry, that's correct.They say they send them out until they run out of them.