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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> I'm trying to warm thoughts, so I was wondering if any of you have any
> favorite reference books on seed saving, how to clean and store seeds
> properly after harvesting, etc.

Good for you. If you pursue experimenting with lots of various plants and 
saving seeds from those that do best in your garden and that you like the 
results from most, you will benefit not only from the pure fun of it but 
also will become largely if not wholly independent from the big seed 
companies, of which there are fewer each year, they offer fewer varieties 
each year, and they keep raising the prices.

As you get into it, you will find challenges, and that is much of the fun 
of gardening. For instance, I have grown garlic from saved bulbs for 
decades but I have yet to feel that I have created ideal storage 
conditions. And with garlic there is the tasty issue of eating the seed. So 
grow lots more than you might want to eat.

As James noted, saving seeds is no great mystery. Seeds hate to die. In 
general, notice plants that do well in your garden and that you like the 
taste and keeping qualities of, let the seeds mature, dry them, keep them 
dry, cool, and dark, and next year they will reproduce. If you are most 
comfortable with more complete directions, then buy the book: Seed To Seed. 
Here is my review of it on my web site and at Amazon.com:

SEED TO SEED, by Suzanne Ashworth
Sixty million American gardeners buy their seeds from mail order seed 
companies. In the period 1984-1987, 54 of the 230 seed companies in the 
U.S. and Canada went out of business, resulting in 943 non-hybrid varieties 
becoming unavailable. One answer to the extinction of food crop varieties 
is Seed Savers Exchange, the publisher of Seed to Seed. Begun in 1975, SSE 
maintains more than 18,000 rare vegetable varieties at Heritage Farm in 
Decorah, Iowa. (Call 319-382-5990 for catalog and membership information.) 
Another answer is for individual gardeners to save their own seed from 
non-hybrid varieties. Varieties that grow and taste exceptionally well in 
specific areas can be planted year after year from home-grown seed. A 
further advantage is protection from seed price increases. Ashworth 
provides definitive information on seed gathering, processing and storage 
techniques. Twenty family entries include taxonomy, pollination 
characteristics and techniques, general production and processing 
techniques. Each of the 160 species entries includes botanical 
classification; pollination, crossing, and isolation; seed production, 
harvest and processing; seed viability. Ample black-and-white photographs 
complement the text. Hybrid seeds are in the control of large companies. 
You can be in control of heirloom varieties that do best in your garden. 
Happy eating.

http://www.ruralize.com/countrybookstore.html#garden