Green! Green! Tomatillos Growing in the Community Gardens

My cousin tells me that these tasty green plants (or maybe the fruit?) are called tomatillos, and that they are the main ingredient in most green salsas and in green enchiladas. (Since I have not sampled green salsas or green enchiladas, I guess that I'm missing out. There's a new Mexican restaurant in town that my family has been planning to try; I'll have to see what I can find.)

I am reminded of a story that I was told about our local Community Gardens. Apparently few years back, there were some children who had been caught with grocery bags, going through the gardens, picking out some samples here and there from the different plots. As the story goes, their mother had actually sent them with a 'shopping list'; she thought it was a 'community garden' -- meaning that the community was welcome to come and harvest whatever they wanted. (This perhaps also explains why some of the plots at the garden have since been fenced in with 6 foot chicken wire, etc.)

Anyway, here are the promised tomatillos:

(08/23/13)