I agree, I support their cause also, but 35 for me is too much with nothing tangible in return.

I am supporting them by buying many of their peppers though :)

The purpose of Seed Savers Exchange is to preserve varieties of heirloom and other open pollinated varieties. They maintain thousands of varieties at Heritage Farm. Members also maintain thousands of varieties and exchange them among themseleves. Without the work of the exchange and it's members many varieties would no longer be available. Though they do sell a small portion of these varieties to the public they should not be viewed as simply a seed source. So, you are right that if you are just interested in obtaining seeds it's probably not worth $35.

John

The did have a program that you could buy some seeds w/o being a member. About the same price as Johnny's seeds.

I am not sure if this program is still available

Here's the public link for ordering from SSE.
I understand members have access to more items than shown here.

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

To give an idea of the scope--2005 Yearbook

Listed members-801 that is members who offer seeds- there are many members who do not offer seeds

Unique varieties--11,848
Total listings--18,946
Pages of peppers ( hot and sweet)--23- average over 30 varieties per page
Pages of tomatoes-123