Spring sunshine and an afternoon of fruitful labor awaited volunteers who gathered at the Mill Pond Conservation Area off Reed Road Saturday to plant an orchard.

With guidance from Emily Vogel, a landscape architect who teaches at Rhode Island School of Design and who first imagined this project, along with Steve Connors of the Westport River Watershed Alliance, the crew divided into teams.

By the time they were done, they had filled the new Mill Pond Grove with ten varieties of fruit trees: Twenty Ounce, an heirloom apple variety from New Bedford; Liberty, Goldrush, Akane and Belmac apples that are all known for disease resistance; three hardy peach varieties; and an assortment of Asian pear trees, paw paws and berry plants.

The Westport Land Conservation Trust, which owns and manages the property, envisions the grove becoming an easily accessed place for people to visit, picnic and hike.

The Trust’s Ryan Mann said visitors will be able to "enjoy a quiet, peaceful place, let the youngsters run about." Any apples will be a happy bonus he said and they'll decide what to do with them when the time comes — "maybe pick-your-own."

It will be a healthy place, too, said Ms. Vogel in an earlier presentation.

"Since this will be a public space where children will be playing we need to find alternatives to toxic chemicals to maintain the orchard health. Spraying with compost tea, neem oil, and liquid fish will help make the trees healthy and prevent having to spray with chemicals," Ms. Vogler said.