We are a small family growing a garden that is always more than we can use. Often we sell at a farmers market, as well as giving lots of produce away.
Located in north-eastern South Dakota, the growing season isn't real long, but with black garden fabric we can get watermelons to ripen, as well as sweet potatoes.

We use the guideline from Seed Savers Exchange seed saving guide for isolation distances. When distance is not practical, we hand pollinate, or grow only one variety at a time.

We try to grow food as organic as possible. We use fabric for weed control and plant disease resistant varieties. For instance, Super Sugar Snap is resistant to powdery mildew. Found one pea plant that looked different and had developed powdery mildew. Pulled it out. None of the rest of the row was affected. Yay for disease resistance!

We've always had a garden, and like to know where the seeds come from. Nothing more disappointing than to order seed from a catalog and have none of them germinate.
Started saving easy seed crops like beans and tomatoes, moved on to hand pollinating watermelons and cucumbers. Even bagged corn to save seed one year.

We try to grow varieties that ripen early for our short growing season.