Hi Emily!
I was actually an obsessive seed saver/trader for years. A few years ago I took a "promotion" which left me with little/no time to indulge my passion for heirloom gardening, so I gave all of my seed away to folks who could use them. Like you, I often was not able to save seeds from crops I had grown due to fears of cross-pollenation issues, but over time I did a fair share of home seed production by isolating flower clusters, pollenating by hand, etc...usually I did what you did and traded away my leftovers. I often bought a little larger package of varieties that I thought might be sought after to make the trading fly. We just bought our first house and I will be planning our first kitchen garden over the next few weeks. I imagine I'll fall right back into old habits and by this time next year I'll have enough seeds to start an heirloom farm...
