Fall arrives in Banks County from the north, color coming down out of the Blue Ridge a week at a time until it reaches the wooded lots around Homer. Southeast Land Management follows it with rake and blower — leaf cleanup, final mowings, brush cut back off the lawn's edge, drives and walks cleared. Yards carved out of hardwoods are generous with summer shade and expensive come November; both are part of the same deal. Mowing, trimming and edging hold the warm months, and the cool ones go to putting the ground back in order. By the first hard frost everything is clean and the lawn is ready to sleep.