seed saving basics

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These are the basic items you will need if you want to collect, clean, and save seeds. These methods are for processing small to medium sized batches of seeds. Many of these items are things you can easily acquire. For larger batches, machines for threshing, winnowing, and cleaning may be built or purchased to save time and labor of processing seeds, but these machines are very costly.

• Screens - Use screens to dry down seed heads. Drying them down on screens will prevent them from becoming moldy. Screens also achieve the same goal as sieves by separating seeds from larger chaff.
• Sieves - The thing that I most go for when deep cleaning seeds is my big pile of sieves. They don't have to be new, any old sieve will do. Keep an eye out when thrifting or at garage sales for cheap sieves or colanders. A wide assortment of different sizes and shapes of holes is key. Generally, we start with the biggest and work our way down until we are left with just seeds and chaff. All larger plant material like leaves and twigs are removed in this process
• Cutting board & knives - Some seeds will need to be removed from the fruits by cutting them open (peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, ground cherries, etc)
• Gloves - Protect your hands and skin while harvesting or processing seeds. Some examples of when gloves are necessary are while picking spiky sea holly or poisonous datura. Gloves will also stop capsicum from getting onto your hands while processing spicy peppers.
• Various-sized glass jars with tightly sealing lids - These are used for processing or storing your seeds. Some seeds, like poppies, can be gently shaken in a tightly sealed jar to remove them from  their shells. Jars can also be used for storing seeds.
• Bowls in assorted sizes - These are used to process seeds. For example, while winnowing, seeds are gently poured from one bowl into another in front of a fan or outdoors in the wind. Bowls are also needed when running seeds through sieves
• Buckets & bins - Use buckets or bins to harvest seeds. Once you harvest seeds from things like flower heads, remember to lay the flower heads in a single layer on a screen to dry down. Leaving the flower heads in a bucket will cause flower heads to mold, as air circulation will be poor.
• Paper envelopes - Paper envelopes are a great way to store your seeds. Information can be written on the front, such as the name of the variety, year they were grown, and any additional notes that you want to include
• Pens or other markers - These are used for writing information on seed envelopes or jars

Store the completely dry seeds in a paper envelope or inside a glass jar  and place in a cool, dry, dark place for better preserved seed viability