The thing about seeds, is that unlike other things that people see as valuable (like gold or cash) they are living embryos that produce far more than any one person could use each year and must be perpetually re-grown to retain genetic integrity and vitality. Thus, the seed saver is motivated to both perpetually cultivate and gift them to others. This is especially true of the recalcitrant seeds like the ones shown in the image above (Malus sieversii wild apple seeds) as the seeds only retain their viability and ability to unlock an immense ancient genetic library of potential for one year (as they must remain moist, living and breathing). This has compelled me to share an abundance of Malus sieversii seeds with people all over the world, locally and to guerilla garden them in parks.

So, to answer your question more directly, the best way to “save” seeds is to give them away to worthy and ecologically literate individuals. Perpetual cultivation and gifting them into one’s community along with the stories of the seed’s indigenous past is the best system for saving them for future generations.

Those that attempt to treat living seeds like gold to be hoarded in a vault for the benefit of the few (like that Bill Gates funded high tech seed vault) are not involved in the sacred act of saving seed, they are pillaging and dishonoring seed.

Therefore, as I work to both plant the seeds for an emergent place based biocentric culture and preserve the genetic diversity of seeds, my preferred method to save the seeds, is to find people striving to become ancestors worth descending from and gift the seeds to them so they can pass them onto their descendants.