Tier-2 and git

It just dawned on me that tier-2 platforms don't get pkg support,
which makes the instructions for bootstrapping ports at
https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/ports/#ports-using
somewhat difficult to use.

Can a preliminary ports tree be obtained via some other means?
One could do a recursive sftp from another local system, 
am I missing something obvious?

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska