FARMINGTON — Life Enrichment Advancing People (LEAP) has received a $2,500 grant from the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to improve an existing forest orchard and to plant new apple trees on its property on the Farmington Falls Road.

According to LEAP Executive Director Darryl Wood, there are at least 30 heirloom apple trees on site that have become overgrown and have ceased to be productive.

The grant will help pay for equipment that volunteers can use to open up, or “release” the existing trees so they get adequate space and sunlight to again start producing fruit.

Other parts of the grant money will be used to purchase apple trees from a local nursery to augment an existing small orchard and to plant trees along a community trail system.

“This project is a continuation of an ongoing effort to get people outside doing healthful things,” said Wood.

Plans for the future include trail improvements for better access and the creation of an educational forest where people can learn the variety of trees in the area and the benefits of forest biodiversity.

Recreation can be expensive, said Wood, but it doesn’t need to be. “There is a peace and harmony in a well-balanced forest that benefits humans and all the woodland creatures,” he said.

The Stone Soup Gardens woods includes an overgrown field, mature softwoods and hardwoods, rocky outcropping and a bubbling spring, and is located a mile from downtown Farmington.