Warthan Outdoor Services

About Warthan Outdoor Services

Northwest of Maquoketa the land stops pretending to be flat: the road tips into wooded hollows and limestone ridges on the way out to the caves, and in late October the whole run of it turns rust and bronze. Warthan Outdoor Services does its best work in that light — the last cuts of the year going on in a cold wind, leaves coming down faster than they can be gathered, breath showing by four in the afternoon. Lawn care at this end of the season is mostly patience: mow it low and clean, trim what the deck missed, edge the walk one more time, and haul off what the maples dropped so the turf goes into winter with air and light on it. Do that right and a Maquoketa yard comes back in April looking like it was never put away. It's outdoor work in a place that gives you all four seasons whether you asked for them or not, and there is real pleasure in leaving each yard tidier than you found it.