Eat with the Season: Summer Balance Starts on Your Plate

A vibrant midsummer CSA share from Many Hands Organic Farm—overflowing with cooling greens, cucumbers, potatoes, and fresh herbs. Nature knows exactly what we need.

While we’re still in the tail end of Kapha season here in the Northeast, the early signs of Pitta’s arrival are beginning to stir—longer days, warming soil, and the first greens peeking through. The Earth offers a gentle nudge: it’s time to shift. Tender greens are starting to pop up, the first farmers' markets are opening, and maybe you’re even noticing the early stirrings in your own garden. This is one of the best times of the year to eat seasonally. Ayurveda teaches that food is more than fuel—it’s medicine. And the best medicine? It's what grows around us, right when we need it most.

Last summer at Many Hands Organic Farm, where I worked, cucumbers and tomatoes were overflowing. The days were hot, the soil was dry, and nature responded with abundance: foods that are watery, cooling, and perfectly suited to bring balance to the heat and intensity of the season. That’s the beauty of seasonal eating—it mirrors what’s happening in nature and what our bodies need to stay in rhythm.

Summer According to Ayurveda

Summer is ruled by the fire element—hot, sharp, and bright. Ayurveda teaches us to stay cool and balanced by aligning with nature, not fighting it.

In Ayurveda, summer is ruled by the fire and water elements—this is Pitta season, characterized by qualities like heat, sharpness, lightness, and intensity. When these qualities dominate outside, we can start to feel them inside: irritability, inflammation, and overheating become more common.

To stay balanced, we turn to foods and practices that cool, calm, and gently hydrate. And that starts with how we eat.

Cooling herbal infusions like rose and mint water support digestion and hydration during the heat of summer, when our internal fire softens and simplicity becomes medicine.

Agni and the Summer Heat

Our digestive fire (Agni) naturally softens in summer. Just as the sun burns brightly outside, our internal flame tends to dim—leaving us with a decreased appetite and less digestive strength. Many of us begin to crave what the body intuitively needs: lighter, fresher foods that are easier to break down and assimilate.

Heavy meals, fried foods, and excess spices can burden digestion and leave us feeling heavy, bloated, or depleted.

Ayurveda honors this seasonal rhythm and encourages us to align with it by choosing meals that nourish without overwhelming.

Simple, seasonal meals. Juicy fruits. Fresh herbs. Hydrating infusions like rose and mint water. Cooling teas with fennel, coriander, or hibiscus. In summer, less is truly more—and gentleness is the medicine.

Harvesting kale at Many Hands Organic Farm. Bitter greens like kale help cool the body, cleanse the blood, and balance the fire of Pitta season.

Tastes of Summer: What to Favor

Ayurveda encourages us to balance the heat of summer by focusing on the sweet, bitter, and astringent tastes.

• Sweet – think naturally sweet foods like melons, ripe berries, milk, basmati rice, ghee, and summer squash.

• Bitter – leafy greens like kale, dandelion, arugula, and cooling herbs like cilantro and mint.

• Astringent – lentils, green beans, apples, pomegranate, cranberries, and even green tea.

These tastes help to cool the body, calm the mind, and gently cleanse the digestive system. Cucumbers are another beautiful seasonal food—extremely hydrating, cooling, and easy on the digestive system, making them a perfect summer staple. They also grow abundantly this time of year if you tune in.

Try incorporating more mint, cilantro, fennel, and rose into your meals and teas. They not only cool the body but offer emotional ease as well.

Support Local, Eat Local: Join the CSA

From crisp greens to peaches, beets, and sweet corn—this is the kind of abundance you can expect from a CSA share at MHOF.

Eating seasonally is made even sweeter when you support your local farmers. I’m thrilled to be a pickup location for Many Hands Organic Farm CSA again this year at Treehouse Studio, starting June 2. Pickups will be on Mondays from 3–7 PM.

I’ve participated in a CSA for over 15 years—five of those with MHOF—and I can say with confidence that this is the best CSA I’ve experienced. Not only do they offer an incredible variety of fresh vegetables, but they also include a generous amount of herbs and even fruit, which is rare in most CSA shares.

Over the years, I’ve learned how to truly make the most of a CSA share—how to store it, prepare it, preserve it, and, most importantly, how to enjoy it without waste. I’ll be sharing support all season long through both my own newsletter and MHOF’s—offering tips, recipes, and guidance to help you feel confident and inspired in your kitchen.

Sign up for Many Hands Organic Farm CSA

In Closing

When we eat with the seasons, we eat with the Earth. We tune into the rhythms that have always been there, quietly guiding us toward balance. Food becomes more than something we check off a list—it becomes a relationship.

This summer, I invite you to pause. Look at what’s growing around you. Let your body be nourished by what this moment in the Earth’s cycle has to offer.

And if you need help figuring out how to bring more seasonal foods into your kitchen, I’m always here to help.

With love and nourishment,

Jennifer