Frank Chase Farm

02/28/2026

We love to hear these memories of Frank from those who grew up knowing him and working with him at the farm! As we try to revive the farm, we welcome any and all stories of our great-grandfather or our grandmother (his daughter!). He is our inspiration and why it has been and alway's will be Frank's Farm.

Just checking the ticker: Thirty years ago, Lucy Sunderland of the Visiting Nurse Service checked the heartbeat of 96-year-old Frank Chase during a home visit. Mr. Chase was still working at the family farm, located at the bottom of Quaker Hill, after nearly 50 years. He recalled his days of delivering 8-quart containers of milk by horse and buggy in Island Park. This photo appeared on the front page of the Feb. 21, 1991 Sakonnet Times.

02/28/2026

Frank was kind and a man of few words...but when he spoke it was always something worth listening to...

Not done yet: Forty years ago, octogenarian and 50-year farmer Frank Chase prepared for yet another growing season. “Every year I keep saying this is my last year of farming,” the 87-year-old said. “No one believes me anymore, because I’ve been saying that for 10 years.” This photo appeared on the front page of the April 1, 1982 Sakonnet Times.

02/03/2026

Excited to see other folks around the state doing cool work and sharing the education project we have been working on behind the scenes at Frank Chase Farm! Thanks Rhode Island Environmental Education Association - RIEEA for always hosting an engaging space for these collaborative sharings!

Registration is officially open for our 2026 Annual Summit! https://www.rieea.org/programs/summit/

Education Through Cultivation: Rooting Teaching, Farming, & Healing in Relationship to the Land�
Saturday, March 14, 2026, 8:00AM – 12:00PM
�Rhode Island College Donovan Dining Center

We are delighted to have Sienna Viette as our keynote speaker. Sienna, an agricultural educator and farmer at Open fArms Retreat, will share practical strategies from her work on Farm to School initiatives across Rhode Island. The program also includes facilitated discussions, cross-sector networking, breakfast, raffles, and door prizes. Whether you work in a classroom, on a farm, in a nonprofit, or in your community, this Summit is designed to leave you inspired, connected, and equipped with ideas you can put into practice.

Registration includes a 2026 RIEEA membership. �Already a member? Please register with the code that was emailed to you separately for a discount.

LEARN MORE & REGISTER: https://www.rieea.org/programs/summit/

02/03/2026

Helpful info for those exploring varieties to start from seed…and from quality sources!

A few questions we get a LOT around here are, "What are open-pollinated seeds?", "Are your seeds heirloom?", and "Do you sell hybrid seeds"?

To start, all of our seeds are open-pollinated - you won't find any hybrids here. Open-pollinated seeds are stable, non-hybrid varieties of plants that result from pollination between the same or genetically similar parents. A common misconception is that the word heirloom is an appropriate stand-in for open-pollination. Heirloom is an adjective that mainly identifies the time frame of the development of the seeds. The widely accepted definition is that heirloom seeds were developed pre-World War II. While all heirloom seeds are open-pollinated, not all open-pollinated seeds are heirloom. Many beloved open-pollinated seed varieties were lovingly bred by dedicated, modern breeders, after World War II.

There are lots of benefits to growing only open-pollinated varieties:
🌱Seeds can be saved and replanted year after year.
🌱Save $$$! By saving your own seed, you won't have to re-purchase every new growing season.
🌱OP seeds have survived so many generations in large part due to their beloved traits including superior flavors.
🌱When you grow OP seeds, you're keeping a story alive! Saving seed calls attention to our shared history as well the seed itself.
🌱And of course, saving seed means self-sufficiency and being in charge of your own food sovereignty. Save some for yourself, save some for your community!

Read more on our Garden Blog: https://sowtrueseed.com/blogs/gardening/everything-a-gardener-needs-to-know-about-open-pollinated-seeds

11/20/2025

Frank's daughter (my grandmother)...

We are grateful to Gloria Schmidt and Portsmouth Historical Society for keeping Portsmouth history alive for future generations as we work to continue our family's farming legacy!

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4346842422011820&set=a.581124588583641

Notable Portsmouth Women: Mary Chase Hanks, farmer and artist. Many of us remember Mary Chase Hanks and her farm stand on East Main Road. A 1994 Daily News article by R. Reiner gives us good background on Mary Chase Hanks. At the time Mary was growing peaches, pears, tomatoes, peppers, berries, flowers and corn and selling them at her "Stonewall Stand" on East Main Road. Mary was using organic techniques and was quoted as saying, "I like natural things, the natural way of preserving life and doing things that's going to help the other fellow." She didn't use herbicides or insecticides. That was the Chase farm way since before the Civil War. Mary stated that the farm was once part of her great-great-grandfather Samuel Chase's much larger farm. Frank Chase inherited part of that farm - around 18 acres of it from Quaker Hill to Bloody Run Brook. In 2002 Mary hosted a class of Elmhurst students who were learning about farming in Portsmouth. The fact that both Mary and the organic farmer who was farming on her land were women was a great delight to the girls in the class. Mary told the students about traditional farming methods and Nicole Vitello of Manic Organic shared her methods. The students were surprised that both women shared similar methods. Women have been part of Portsmouth's farming heritage throughout the years.

Mary Chase Hanks was dedicated to farming on her father's side, but she was also artistic like her mother. She earned a degree in commercial art, but didn't use her training for a while. She married and went on to raising four children in California. She became a portrait painter with children as her subjects.

11/20/2025

We have a collection of articles written about my great grandfather, the farmer, but this is one my family, descendants of his eldest grandson, have never seen. In 1982, in his 80’s, he spoke of the future of the farm being uncertain, never knowing that his eldest grandson (my father) would work so hard to preserve the farm just as it was, the farm his grandfather loved. Thank you for this amazing newspaper clipping. Hoping "Grandpa Chase" (aka "Uncle Frank" to those that knew him and worked for him) is smiling on the other side!

11/20/2025

A lovely memory of Frank Chase still going strong at 96 and still farming!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17Vso5vjFn/

Just checking the ticker: Thirty years ago, Lucy Sunderland of the Visiting Nurse Service checked the heartbeat of 96-year-old Frank Chase during a home visit. Mr. Chase was still working at the family farm, located at the bottom of Quaker Hill, after nearly 50 years. He recalled his days of delivering 8-quart containers of milk by horse and buggy in Island Park. This photo appeared on the front page of the Feb. 21, 1991 Sakonnet Times.