Interesting. I’m thinking of just starting small and saving some tomato seeds and maybe green beans.
Did you worry about cross-pollination? Not only do you have to be concerned about plants from the same species crossing but also neighbors’ plants and sometimes up to 3 miles away! That is so extreme. I don’t know how anyone could do it.
Technically, tomatoes and green beans can cross-pollinate. Realistically, due to the way the flower is structured, it’s unlikely to happen naturally. So, as long as you started with non-hybrids, you can get pretty pure seeds without worrying about it.
Those are the exceptions, though. With most vegetables the chances of crossing are a lot higher. The plants with nice big flowers like squash, you can tape a few blossoms closed when they’re just getting ready to open, then pollinate manually. I’m afraid I don’t have much experience with saving other types of seed from smaller-blossomed plants, I’m still getting started on seed saving myself. Still hoping the watermelon seeds I saved last year are fairly pure, they were Golden Midgets, which can get hard to find sometimes because they sell out so fast.