"Large crops of pink, 8-10 oz that have a full, old-fashioned tomato flavor. Smooth, blemish free fruit are borne in large numbers over a concentrated time period, making this variety a favorite in Southern states for canning and eating. Strong determinate. 80 days, #4515 (30 seeds) $2.55" [Tomato Growers Supply seed blurb] My opinion is that description comes from somewhere other than a grower of Bradley, if you get my drift. I mean it seems to ape other seed blurbs for Bradley rather than the results I've experienced over the past 4 years growing Bradley. First of all, I agree with the 80 days to maturity from transplant. But I don't think I ever got a 10-ounce tomato off a Bradley plant. Maybe 8 ounces with plenty of them running 6 - 7 ounces. "Full, old fashioned flavor" maybe in a hot, dry summer but I'd describe it more on the sweet side of old fashioned and down right bland and watery if the season goes overly wet. Tends also to get soft inside with skin splits in overly wet conditions. I had some excellent results in containers, though, where I did get truly blemish free, 8 ounce, tasty fresh slicers. Concentrated set? Not so much. And surely not like many determinate canners that set one huge crop with maybe a second wind smaller crop then peter out completely. The Bradleys I've grown started yielding at 80 days from transplant and continued with reasonably generous yields until cool, low light conditions in autumn tended to shut them down or render the fruit tasteless. Bradley definitely is a producer though, and does have genes that are useful for increasing yield and standardizing fruit size when crossed with an heirloom like Cherokee Purple. I did that in 2007 and in 2008 grew the F1 that yielded more tomatoes of a uniform size (about 6 - 8 ounces) than any other regular size tomato in the garden ... like 8 - 12 fully ripe tomatoes per picking with two or three pickings a week at the peak season. Awesome. And in no way was the F1 Bradley x CP semi-anything. It was robust indeterminate and grew as long or longer than JD's Special C-Tex and Cherokee Purple as next door neighbors. Out produced them both, too. See below: Bradley x CP, one vine, one day.

I'm here . . . at least for a moment! It was nice of you all to think about me. I miss everybody and this great forum a lot, but have been so darn busy these past few months; I don't get much time on the Net lately. And, I haven't been doing any special tables and no house decorating, except painting DD's desk and credenza black two weeks ago. We spent some time on a trip here in NM in January and then in February I spent a week in the Tarpon Springs area at my parent's winter home there. More to help them out with Spring cleaning and some weeding, while trying to talk them into moving back to live in Michigan full-time again. They're now in their early 80's and not able to keep up with the heavy work around their Florida home. No luck so far, though, but it was a fun trip anyhoo. Flew back and apparently brought back a lone bedbug from the airport. No bites, but it was alive and very identifiable. Still, what you have to go through to make sure you've gotten them all is nothing short of a very long, exhausting, expensive (and creepy) nightmare! Please be careful when you travel these days. You don't want to go through that! DS called the other day to tell us that he's proposing to his girlfriend this weekend. We're happy for them both as they, and DH & I, head into this next life phase. I'm going to be a mother-in-law! Emily is now busy with end of school time, her tennis team and the annual Spring round of concerts with her (not school based, but private)chorale group and it's new spin-off group of only high-school girls. The group's name is River Voice, which I think is lovely. I sit on a few committees for the school, which seem to be taking up so much of my free time lately. I'm the head of one large parent group and have been nudged into the spokesperson for them, as well. I'll be glad when summer arrives! Speaking of Summer I'm, as always at this time of year, in the midst of planning our big week-long family gathering at the beach on Lake Huron in Michigan. Our clan keeps growing with new babies being born to my nieces and nephews, as well as new spouses as our children marry. Unfortunately, the place we stay at doesn't grow and so it's my job to find places for everyone each year, to help plan menus, events and to pay all the bills, as I'm the executor of our family's reunion fund. We're hoping that DS and fiancee will be able to make it this year. And, being a glutton for punishment, we're taking our newly-17 y/o Emily on a Spring Break trip to Galveston Island's beach soon. I've been busy researching everything and making those arrangements all this week. At this point, I'm both looking forward to the relaxation, gulf views and fresh seafood . . . and dreading trying to keep our luggage and ourselves bedbug-free! Hopefully, things will calm down (at least for a while) once Emily's out of school for the summer and I can get back for some serious time here. Till then, I hope you all are well and have a great Spring. Lynn

Such great stories! I don't have terribly funny experiences, but a cute one...Christmas Eve I tried to get the kids to bed, but had little luck. We kept telling them that Santa couldn't come till everyone was in bed, so they headed off to their rooms. I could hear the boys giggling in their room and then I heard DD2 (who was 6 at the time) loudly whisper to them "BE QUIET! I heard the reindeers on the roof!" And the boys gasped and shut up really fast. That morning as they were opening gifts she told us that she heard the reindeer on the roof and she saw the shadow of Santa's sleigh on her window shade. She was utterly serious! That same year at Easter she was up early and caught me as I was trying to hide eggs. Her eyes got really big when we heard a thump on the porch (the dog) and she whispered "mommy, do you think that's the Easter Bunny?" I whispered back yes, and she quickly ran back to bed to wait till her sister got up so it would be safe to come out. Only other story is the year my Aunt was getting married. The wedding was on December 26th and my Mom was hosting Christmas dinner. She'd had the 28 lb turkey sitting in the sink thawing (they did that back in the 70's!) and our dog got hold of it while everyone was at the rehearsal dinner. We got home to find a VERY sick dog and a half eaten half frozen turkey carcass. Dad had to find an emergency vet (on Christmas Eve) and mom luckily found a butcher open so she could find a ham instead. The dog survived, but my mom has never trusted another dog since.

I got this one: Nesco Roaster Oops - Just checked - cheaper on Amazon - $67.20 and free shipping Love mine; don't have anything to compare it to. My DIL used an older Nesco that her mom had picked up at a thrift store and I knew I wanted one like it. It seems just like the older one - not really sure. When researching, I read that Nesco was the original maker of these type of roasters, so that is why I went with it. Mine will hold up to a 22 pound turkey. If you get one, make sure you follow the directions to "cure" it on high heat for about an hour before using the first time. I think it is aluminum.