And On His Farm He Had Some -Tomatillos?

I was just reading this interesting article about how the trends in immigration are driving changes in what American farmers grow and the possibility of new markets being opened up to them.

With the help from agricultural experts at Rutgers

"..The Plan is to create a blueprint that would develop a market along the East Coast--including Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida and Georgia--to link growers with ethnic markets. Farmers would produce potentially more profitable vegetables like bok choy, tomatillos and bitter gourd that be successfully grown in their own local markets. Gourmet consumers and specialty stores are also interested in ethnic produce."

I'm all for it. Just today I was doing some grocery shopping and was wishing I had an Asian grocery store closer to me so I could pick up some edamame beans. If you find yourself near an Asian grocery store stop in and pick up some Taro (Colocasia esculenta) to plant in your garden. It's a lot cheaper than purchasing plain green Colocasia corms at a garden center plus you can eat it. It's one of many plants from the grocer that can help you garden frugally.

You can read the article at the link below.
heraldsun.com: Farmers See Growing Ethnic Veggie Market

Where To Buy Cacti In Chicago

Looking over the site stats for my blog that FeedBurner provides I've noticed a number of visits to my blog are from people doing internet searches looking for retailers in Chicago that sell Cacti and Succulents.

Today someone was looking for a place to buy Senecio rowleyanus in Chicago and since most people are too shy to post in the comments and ask a question if they didn't find the answer I'll take a few moments here and divulge my cactus buying locations in Chicago.