Foster Home Journal Articles

Borders Farm News

November 2021

The Farm is now in its fall / winter mode and will not be hosting activities until next spring. If you missed the Land Trust Days walks or the Providence Brigade Band concert, be sure to keep a lookout for them next year. An added bonus was that a number of people on the walks were able to collect mushrooms (as well as hearing about the Farm and having a great walk). The Providence Brigade Band is better each year, giving new information about the evolution of the instruments and the music. 

For our FHJ articles in the next months we will give some history of the farm and the people who have lived there. Although various people have done research on this, much of it is passed down from Charles, Margery, and various family members. It reminds us of Margery Matthews’ wonderful articles “So I’ve been told.” So, as we’ve been told*:

We were still an English colony when George Phillips was granted the land where the Farm is by the King of England, part of a region known as West Quanaug. George Phillips was a sea captain, and his family farmed the land through the 1800s and into the early 1900s. The land was passed down through the Phillips family for over one hundred years. The Phillips’ 1800s small farmhouse was on the south side of the road (see the photograph coming soon). You pass by the old foundation and the cellar hole, on the yellow hiking trail. Nearby there is a distinctive stone wall border around what used to be Abijaiah Sweet’s onion patch. 

All Rhode Islanders should know about Samuel Slater, who stole the plans for the spinning machines from the Arkwright Mill in England (hiding them in his underwear). He ended up in Rhode Island and formed a collaboration with Moses Brown to build Slater Mill and then other mills in the area. The mills created a need for wool, and many farmers began to raise merino sheep, as they had the best, long fibered wool for the spinning mills. The price of wool doubled, and then doubled again. Farmers cut down their woodlands to create new pastures. It was possible to see from the hill where the farmhouse now sits clear to Foster Center. The new wealth from the sale of wool gave New England farmers the ability to build larger homes. There must have been a builder in the area with a flexible set of plans, because within a mile of the George Phillips Farmhouse there are four other houses with the same floor plan, and there are many others around Foster, Glocester, and Scituate. 

The farm passed down through the mothers’ side, so that the names of the owners went from the Phillips to the Sweets to the McGintys, but all were direct descendants of George Phillips. In 1923 Charles’ parents bought the farm from the McGinty family. Charles was born in the house in 1925, the fifth of six children, Bertha, Edward, Jeanette, Russell, Charles, and Ruth.

*If you have information on the farm and the family we would love to hear from you, particularly if you think that any of what we’ve been told is inaccurate.  Follow us at bordersfarm.org, facebook.com/bordersfarm1923, and Instagram (Instagram handle @bordersfarm1923).

We would like to thank Carol McCullough for providing our community with this wonderful means of spreading local news.

Borders Farm News

October 2021

The equinox has passed and the farm is shifting over to its winter mode. The seven calves, four steer and three heifer, are growing fast, and the three little pigs are now huge. The first cut of hay produced more than 2000 bales and is stacked into the black barn. The second cut is in progress.

The Food Bank garden, run by Tom Bazelak, Bruce Peyton, and volunteers including Katherine Chansky, visiting from New York, provided tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, garlic, green beans, and butternut squash to the Foster Food Bank and other organizations. Radishes and carrots will be ready before frost. 

The money from the Borders’ table at the Foster Community Yard Sale will be used for maintaining the Farm. People went away with tools like historic block planes and lanterns, garden tools, and household items. Many people knew Charles and Margery Borders and could appreciate the origin of the items.

The next meeting for Borders Farm is our Annual Meeting and Pot Luck dinner on October 4. Although in the past we have always met together and shared dinner at the Farmhouse, this year we must be remote again. We hope maybe you will join us on our zoom link. Please contact us on our Facebook page if you would like to receive a link. If you are not already a member and would like to get involved, here’s some information: Our members meetings take place on the first Monday of the month, at 7 p.m., in February, April, June, August, October, and December. They are currently via zoom. 

To become a member of Borders Farm you need to come to a meeting and say you’d like to be a member, and the membership will vote you in at the following meeting except at the Annual Meeting, in which case we can vote you in right then. We welcome ideas for events or educational opportunities.

Why would you want to become a member of Borders Farm? Borders Farm maintains a beautiful working farm that could have easily been made into many house lots. You can volunteer! Here are some ways:

• Forestry and Trails—Borders Farm has several hiking trails open to the public which need frequent maintenance.

• Community Garden—A large vegetable garden is planted by volunteers each year, with produce benefiting our local food banks.

• Historic Farm Buildings—Volunteers are needed to help with ongoing projects such as painting and carpentry repairs to maintain Borders Farm’s historic buildings.

• Collections—Borders Farm has an interesting collection reflecting old and new farming practices, and the personal lives of the Phillips family and the Borders family; help is needed to document and preserve the collection.

This winter please look for a series on the history of the farm and the Borders Family’s stay there. 

Borders Farm News

September 2021

Land Trust Days and the Providence Brigade Band at Borders Farm

On Saturday, September 25 (rain date, Sunday, September 26) there will be various events at Borders Farm, at 31 North Road in Foster. Please feel free to participate in any or all of the events being offered. Bring a chair and blanket and your lunch and spread out on the lawn in between events. 

The first event will be a guided hike on the Farm’s walking trails, in conjunction with the Foster Land Trust. The hike will leave from the Farmhouse at 11:00 and will last an hour or so. The trails are fairly easy walking in most sections and have both natural and historical points of interest. One part of the trail is now included in the North-South trail system. 

The second event, at 2:00, is a free concert of Civil War era music by the Providence Brigade Band. If you are a musician, a history buff, or have family to entertain, be sure to put this on your calendar! 

The Providence Brigade Band was formed in 1846. Then, as now, the members were not professional musicians but did it for the love of music. One member was a music professor, but there was also a blacksmith and a jeweler among the members. They gave concerts and played ‘to foster civic pride.’ 

The formation of these bands was the result of improvements to horn valves by Adolph Sax around this time. The ‘Saxhorn’ has survived almost unchanged, as have valved bugles. These instruments were so popular that thousands of brass bands were formed in this country, although not all have survived as successfully as the Providence Brigade Band. At their concerts the PBB band members show off their instruments, which are now more than 100 years old and still making music.

The PBB members play a variety of music from the band books of the period. The stories of the origin of this music are often as interesting as the music itself, and the band members do a great job of making the stories a part of the concert.

Please plan to join us at the Farm, at 31 North Road. Bring blankets and a picnic lunch. Plan to check out the Borders Farm Food Bank Garden!

This is a free event, although donations that help maintain the farm are always welcome. Hope to see you on the farm!

Borders Farm News

August 2021

Summers on the farm are busy! Unlike last year, when the first and only cutting of hay was finished by early June, weather has slowed hay-making this year. We hope there will be more than one cut. Help on the hay wagons is always welcome – please let us know if you need practice throwing bales.

The three little pigs have now become three very curious big pigs. They love visitors and will oblige by coming to find out about you through the fence across from the Farm Managers’ house. 

We have welcomed six new calves so far this spring. Cows and calves are grazing in the shade of the trees in our silviculture (wooded) pasture. In order to keep the herd at optimal size for our pastures, some of the cows were culled in May, and went to an USDA certified butcher. Beef is now stored in approved freezers. If you are interested in buying, contact our farm manager, Zach Bain, or attend one of the farmers’ markets.

It’s also possible to buy meat, veggies, and plants at the farm manager’s house, 38 North Road, on Thursdays from 9:30 to 5:30.

Zach and Lauren have been attending three farmers’ markets this summer, and you can find Borders Farm beef and Lucky Dogs produce at the farmers’ market at Goddard State Park on Friday mornings, Scituate Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings, and Fisherman’s Memorial Farmers’ Market on Sunday mornings. 

The Food Bank garden has been planted and is producing under the direction of volunteers Tom Bazelak and Bruce Peyton. Help is always appreciated. 

The walking trails on the Farm continue to be improved, although this years’ weather has created some new wet crossings. The North-South trail committee has extended the trail that leaves the road from the parking area on South Killingly Road north through Borders Farm, coming back out onto North Road just west of Balcom Road. There is parking near the picnic area on Balcom Road, just across North Road. The Foster Conservation Commission has donated money and is getting signage and a new kiosk for this location. Trail maps can be found on line and at the kiosk near the farm managers’ house at 38 North Road.

Please look for the September issue of the Foster Home Journal to find out about the Providence Brigade Band’s return for a concert at Borders Farm, in conjunction with Land Trust Days walks. Follow us at bordersfarm.org, facebook.com/bordersfarm1923, and Instagram (Instagram handle @bordersfarm1923).