Kaysville’s Farmers Market: Fresh-Picked Food and Home-Grown Fun

Week’s Berries displays its fresh fruit at the USU Botanical Center’s Farmers Market.

Kaysville’s Farmers Market has grown into its own personality in the ten-plus years it’s been operating on the USU Botanical Center grounds. If you’re one of the locals who don’t know it exists, it’s time to get acquainted.

Squash for sale at the USU Botanical Center Farmers Market in Kaysville.
Entry to the USU Botanical Center Farmers Market in Kaysville.

It’s open on Thursdays, from 5-8 p.m. at 875 South 50 West in Kaysville (across the street from the Ponds and the Utah House) through Sept. 11. Look for the vendor booths spread out along the USU fields.

Lemonade and treat stand at the USU Botanical Center Farmers Market in Kaysville. They even sell dog biscuits.

Besides buying produce from farmers, you can find tasty dinners, drinks or dessert. You can bring your gardening questions to master gardener volunteers in the information booth, take a hayride to tour the gardens, or check out the Utah House.

Glass-enclosed beehive on display along with honey-based products at USU Botanical Gardens Farmers Market in Kaysville.

You can sample some of the varieties of peaches or grapes raised on the USU farm, to decide what might work in your own garden. Your family can enjoy some of the entertainment and kids’ activities.

Corn grilling demo, with samples, at the USU Botanical Center’s Farmers Market in Kaysville.

You maybe able to sniff some aromatic homemade soaps, or rub on a little honey-based cream while you check out the crafts. One advantage is that it’s not nearly as crowded as the bigger markets such as Pioneer Park in Salt Lake, so it’s easy to navigate.

Mother/daughter duo from Layton’s Haystack Farm selling corn and other produce at the USU Botanical Gardens Farmers Market in Kaysville.

According to the market’s rules, vendors must make or grow their own products. So, you won’t find cherries shipped in from Washington State or crafts imported from overseas. One of the few exceptions is Aggie Ice Cream, but hey, it’s made at Utah State University in Logan, and that’s pretty close to home!

Sheepish about lamb? “Ewe” can learn more about it, and buy some of this grass-fed meat from Olsen Lamb & Wool, at the USU Botanical Gardens Farmers Market in Kaysville.

The schedule lists the following highlights for this Thursday, Aug. 15:

  • Arboretum Tour
  • Plant Diagnostics Clinic
  • Aunt Em’s Giveaway
  • Cherry Petals Flower Farm
  • Giveaway Edible Garden Tour
Preserves made by Yoders Family Kitchen from the Tremonton area, at the USU Botanical Gardens Farmers Market in Kaysville.

After going to a lot of farmers markets throughout the state, I’ve come up with my survival tips:

1. Bring cash, in case some of the booths can’t take credit cards or Venmo.

2. Stroll around ALL the produce stalls to check out prices and quality before buying.

A vase made with a 3D printer while customers watched, at the Farmers Market in Kaysville.

3. If you’re planning to buy a lot of produce, bring a wagon, rolling cooler or a baby stroller to carry it.  (I recall the time I bought a huge watermelon at Pioneer Park, not realizing how hard it would be to lug it three blocks to the car.)

Cool geodes and rocks for sale at the Farmers Market.

4. Take your time and enjoy it.  It’s not just a matter of buying something — you can do that from home on Amazon. It’s about the whole shopping experience, talking to the farmers or vendors, rubbing shoulders with other Kaysville residents, and feeling part of a farming community.

Here’s the schedule for the rest of the season, from https://usubotanicalcenter.org/events/farmers-market

August 22, 2019

  • Peach Sampling
  • Utah House Tour

August 29, 2019 

  • Salsa Showdown
  • NEHMA Art Truck
  • Varga Arboretum Tour

September 5, 2019 

  • Edible Food Demonstration Sampling

September 12, 2019 

  • Grape Tasting
  • Samples for Smoked BBQ
  • Utah House Tour

September 19, 2019 

  • Apple Tasting
  • Geodes from Houdini Hudson’s Gemstones and Fossils
  • Varga Arboretum Tour

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