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So, you've become a seed-saver and you've saved some of your own seeds. Maybe you've
started with the self-pollinating tomatoes and flowers, peas, and beans. But, you want
to take it to the next level. Well, after the self-pollinating crops, of course you
can move on to the cross-pollinating crops, and you can begin to even get involved with
isolation and hand pollination. If you wanted to be sure of this squash being pure, you
could go to the female flower of the Heirloom Butternut squash and with a little paintbrush
you can take some pollen from the male flower and hand-dust it right onto the female flower.
And then when you're done, tape it closed with a bit of masking tape, and mark the flower
with a ribbon. That will increase your chances that your seed will be pure. After that, there's
plenty of directions to go, but the thing that I want to emphasize is working in collaboration
with other seed-savers. I can save 10, maybe 20 varieties in a year, but I can't save everything.
However, as I said, it's far easier for me to save those 10 varieties, but to save a
good number of seed, and maybe my neighbor or my friend or my comrade can save the seeds
that I'm not saving.