One of the advantages to growing heirloom flowers and vegetables is that they “come true” from seed – in other words, the offspring produced by the seed will pretty much exactly resemble the parent plant. This means seed can be saved year to year and you’ll continue to get good results and the same tomatoes that look and taste like you expect them to. Saving seed on tomatoes is pretty simple, but it is generally recommended that you rot them a bit first to dissolve any gel on the seed that may prevent germination. To do this, squeeze the seeds out of a very ripe tomato and rinse off as much tomato flesh as you can. Put them in a cup with about a half cup of water and let it sit in a warm, bright spot for about five days. Mold will form, but that’s good! Skim it off, stir the seeds, pour off the water, and rinse. Do this a couple more times to remove any tomato tissue, then discard any seeds that float – only those that have sunk to the bottom are viable. Let these dry on a plate (Rick’s pick, because the seeds can stick to paper towel), then store in a cool, dry, dark spot until next season.  Saving the lettuce seed is even easier – just let it elongate, which indicates it is going to flower, then let the flowers develop into seeds. Let the seedpods become dry and brown, then collect or shake them into a paper bag. Store them, like all seed, in a cool, dark, dry spot until you sow them next season.