B2  PALO VERDE VALLEY TIMES, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2018

March’s Crop of the Month: Asparagus

BY CATHYLEEN RICE Providing an excel- like tomatoes, or simply
TIMES REPORTER lent source of folate, prepared with light salt,
If you’re a big green- Vitamins A, C, E and K, pepper, oil and some-
foods eater who enjoys there are so many ways times even cooked with
hidden crunches in be- asparagus can be used nuts.
tween succulent bites, to either protect your Containing molecu-
then this month’s fea- body’s cells and boost lar antioxidants, which
tured crop is something your immune system or helps keep the skin and
you may want to plant. to help build romantic hair healthy as well as
Cultivated in Egypt excitement. your eyesight and diges-
more than 2,000 years As also reported by the tive tract, Food Facts
ago, the perennial spring “Harvest of the Month” by Dr. Joseph Michael
vegetable asparagus has booklet, “The name as- Mercola, an alternative
long since served many paragus was derived medicine osteopathic
purposes as the “spar- from the Persian term physician says that as-
row grass” became intro- “asparag,” meaning paragus is also, “Low
duced to other cultures. “shoot.” An asparagus- in fat, cholesterol, and
Considered to be a based aphrodisiac from
sodium, [with the addi-
healthy delicacy that is the same area was dis-
tion benefit of having]
packed with flavor and covered in a 16th centu-
vitamin A (also known
hearty benefits, the tall, ry love manual, [where]
PHOTOSPIN.COM
experts advised consum- as retinol because it pro-
green plant is a widely duces pigments in the
used super food both in let, “White asparagus is long plant in the United from between 15 to 20 ing [the vegetable] three
days in a row [would cre- retina), E--having strong
the United States and grown by burying the States, HOFM also says, years after their roots
crowns under a foot of because asparagus re- become permanently ate] the most potent ef- antioxidant properties,
in other regions of the
world. soil preventing photo- quires a period of dor- established, top qual- fect.” meaning it reduces oxi-
As a related member to synthesis, purple aspar- mancy, “Naturally, in ity spears of asparagus As a complimentary dative damage caused by
onions, leeks and garlic, agus spears turn green California, during win- shoots up from under- item that can be added oxygen, which can harm
asparagus is harvested when cooked. [Nonethe- ter, when cooler tem- ground and become an to any main dish or per- human tissue, cells, and
in three different colors: less,] while there are peratures inhibit plant edible stalk many people haps eaten alone, the ten- organs; and K which
purple, white and green, several varieties of each growth, the first year of take comfort in eating, der, green vegetable can helps your blood clot.
with green asparagus color, they are most com- planting asparagus is while doctors use it to be baked, grilled, boiled, Mercola says aspara-
with purple tips being monly marketed by their essential for ferns to de- treat disease such as: steamed, microwaved gus also contains magne-
most commonly grown color (e.g., green aspara- velop and for the spears cancer, diabetes, hang- or stir-fried into dishes sium, zinc and selenium,
in the U.S. gus, etc.).” to not be harvested in over, cataract, rheu- quite frequently paired as well as fiber, thiamin,
According to Califor- In addition to Cali- order for the roots to de- matism, tuberculosis, with other veggies like riboflavin, niacin, vi-
nia’s “Harvest of the fornia being the larg- velop.” depression, and neuro- bell peppers, sliced on- tamin B6, iron, copper,
Month” (HOFM) book- est producer of the tall/ Lasting anywhere degenerative diseases. ions and carrots; fruits and manganese.

Pioneering Blythe: The Lindbergh Legend

BY URIEL AVENDANO refuge in Blythe on a
TIMES EDITOR trip en route to Phoenix

T
ucked away from Albuquerque, New
in the gated Mexico.
backroom of Their short 18-hour stay
the Palo Verde in Blythe has long been
Historical Museum sat the held as one of the area’s
1934 registry entry book more enduring legends,
for what was then known with only bits and pieces
as Blythe’s Bungalow of authentication docu-
Hotel – subsequently mented over time — the
most notable of which
named El Solano Motel.
In it, under the date of reside at the Palo Verde
Sept. 16, 1934, a signature Historical Museum’s ar-
is found on the third-to- chives today.
last line of a page, signed A photo of Mrs. Anne
“Mr. & Mrs. C. A. Lind- Lindbergh, provided by ABOVE: The Palo Verde
bergh” — with a signed Mary Davenport, is en- Historical Museum
residency of New Jersey; closed with a handwritten currently only has a few
a booked room number of letter reading: documented articles
20; and a departure date of “The enclosed photo- and records on the
Sept. 17. graph is from a snapshot September, 1934, 18-
The signed surname given me by Florence hour stay of Charles and
belonged to, just as legend Setzler, wife of Grady Anne Lindbergh at the
had it, Charles Augustus Setzler, editor and owner
then-Bungalow Hotel
Lindbergh – the renowned of the Palo Verde Valley in Blythe, California.
American military aviator Times. (...) The lady walk- LEFT: A photo provided
who captivated the na- ing briskly in the fore-
ground is Anne Morrow to Mary Davenport by
tion’s attention in 1927 Florence Setzler of Anne
when he made the first Lindbergh. The woman
on the right holding a Morrow Lindbergh in
transatlantic flight, from Blythe, pictured in the
New York to Paris, in parasol is my mother,
Florence Davenport. The foreground, currently
the famed single-engine
monoplane, “The Spirit of woman holding the baby is resides at the Palo Verde
St. Louis.” unknown but the woman Historical Museum.
In 1932, the heroic Lind- behind her has been BELOW: A post-marked
bergh story arc took a trag- identified as Mary Hill and 1936 souvenir of the
ic turn when Lindbergh’s the woman with her back Bungalow Hotel in
20-month-old son Charles slightly toward the camera Blythe, California, where
Jr. was abducted from is Estelle Miller.” Charles and Anne
his crib in Highfields, NJ. The worn and weathered Lindbergh stayed during
Two years later in March post-marked 1936 photo a stopover enroute to
of 1934, despite a ransom of the Bungalow Hotel is Phoenix in 1934
having been paid, Charles the only found photo titled
Jr.’s body was found not as such before the name Photo
far from their home. change to the El Solano
As documented by Motel. Included is the by Uriel
former Palo Verde Val- signature on the Bunga- Avendano/
ley Times editor and area low’s hotel registry which, Palo Verde
historian Grady Setzler in interestingly enough,
his 1970 book “Ramblings has the Lindbergh’s stay Valley
of a Country Editor,” date signed as Sept. 16, Times
roughly six months later 1934 – not Sept. 18, 1934,
in September of 1934, the as all known publications
grief-stricken Lindbergh on their Blythe stay have pvvt.com
and his wife Anne sought cited previously.