May is when the valley's grass finally commits — the ballfields go from tan to green in about ten days and never look back. Salida Turf spends the warm half of the year on exactly that: mowing, trimming, edging and keeping lawns cut through a growing season that runs short and intense at this elevation. The cold half belongs to snow — drives plowed, walks shoveled, lots opened while the town is still dark and the river is steaming. Same ground, two different jobs, and both of them show from the street. Work runs through Salida, Poncha Springs, Nathrop and the nearby valley.