I start growing stir-fry very early in the year and the project continues throughout the gardening season.

Cabbage and broccoli are the first ingredients I will place in my freezer containers. In my area, Low-Country South Carolina, cole crops will grow through the winter most years. I have harvested cabbage and broccoli after 10°F nights in January; but when weather warms in April, these plants bolt to seed, or rot in place.

I start cabbage and broccoli plants in flats sometime in late fall. Since it may still be warm enough for cabbage butterflies to flutter over the garden, I set flats on my screened back porch. When seedlings have two sets of true leaves, I set them into the garden rows and spray with bacillus thurengiensis to ward off damage from cabbage worms. (Leaves sprayed with Bt may get nibbled, but the worm that does the nibbling will have a fatal case of indigestion-he won't be back for a second helping!)

Growing cole crops through the winter allows me to harvest them as needed, since the garden becomes a cold-storage spot. In early spring, when weather starts to warm, I harvest everything and prepare the ground for the spring crops. At this time, I begin to build my stir-fry mixture.

I shred the cabbage in a food processor. To retain nutrients, I always use a minimum of water to boil vegetables. In this case, I cook cabbage only until it is thoroughly wilted, about three minutes. I then spoon it into freezer containers, and set the containers into the refrigerator to chill. Then I stack them in one corner of my freezer.

When Nancy adds squash in May, the containers are already more than half full. Photos by Don Farris

Broccoli is next on my list. Broccoli tolerates a bit more warm weather than does cabbage. After Easter, broccoli will start to develop a strong flavor. Before that happens, I harvest all the edible parts, pull the broccoli plants and feed them to my chickens, and set pepper or tomato plants in the vacated row.

In the kitchen, I cut the broccoli into bite-size pieces. Using just enough water to prevent scorching, I boil the vegetable for two or three minutes. I then dump the warm food into a shallow container. I place a sealed bag of ice cubes on top of the vegetables. When the broccoli has cooled, I take the freezer containers from the freezer, add a layer of broccoli to the cabbage, and return the containers to the freezer.

Soon, I start harvesting snow peas. Since I plant only a short row, I may have only a small amount at each picking. I cook the snow peas for about one minute, and cool them with ice. Depending on how many snow peas I have, I remove one or two and place those at the bottom of the stack.

After all containers have had a spoonful of snow peas added, I want to add some color to the vegetable mixture. By this time, spring-planted radishes mature-too many to use in salads. I pull a handful of the red globes, slice them thinly, cook for about a minute, and add a few to each stir-fry container. They add something round, with a touch of red color and a bit of zing to the stir-fry flavor.

Next to go into the mixture will be spring-planted carrots. I usually cut them crosswise, cook for about two minutes, chill, and add to the stir-fry containers. Now the mixture is getting more colorful.

In mid-May, sweet onions indicate their maturity: the tops fall over. I pull the onions and spread them in shallow boxes and set on my back porch to dry thoroughly. Onions which are scuffed or otherwise damaged will spoil quickly. A good way to preserve them is to add them to the stir-fry mix.

To prepare onions for freezing, I cut a large onion in half, place the two halves cut-side down on a cutting board, and slice into strips. With just enough olive oil to prevent sticking, I sauté the onion strips in my cast-iron skillet. I cook them just until they become transparent. I pour them onto a tray and cool with sealed bags of ice, then add to the stir-fry containers. The containers are now more than half full.

Cabbage is the first vegetable to go into Nancy’s stir-fry containers.

In May, I also have squash and green beans. If the snow pea harvest was scant, I might add some French-cut green beans. The flat, pole types, like Roma II are especially good in stir-fry. I boil the beans just until they are limp, then cool and add to the containers of stir-fry vegetables.

I split squash (yellow or zucchini) in half, then place the halves on the cutting board and cut them into strips. I steam them for about a minute. (Cooking too long will make them mushy.) After chilling with ice, I add them to the stir-fry containers, which are now almost filled.

In our hot summers, most of the garden goes semi-dormant in July and August. Pepper plants will survive the onslaught of hot, dry days and bear a crop in September and October. I start my pepper plants in March in my cool greenhouse. I usually grow a mixture such as Carnival (Burpee) or Rainbow (Park's Seeds). I set plants into the garden after Easter, utilizing space vacated by early spring crops.

For stir-fry, I allow the peppers to ripen to red, gold, or purple so they add maximum color and nutrients. To prepare these for the freezer, I cut a pepper in half, remove the seeds, lay the halves on a cutting board, and slice into strips. I freeze peppers without blanching.

As you read this, you may think, "That sounds like too much effort." It really isn't, because you are dealing with small quantities of each vegetable as you pack the layers. The reward comes on a dreary day in January, when you remove a container from the freezer and pour out your own sun-kissed vegetables. Just add your favorite seasonings to make a side dish that is attractive and nutritious.