Braceville sits in old coal country, where the strip pits filled with water long ago and cottonwoods took over the spoil banks out at Mazonia. Burch tree landscaping mows and maintains lawns around the village, working yards hemmed in by prairie grass that is forever trying to come back. Wind moves steadily across this open Grundy County ground, so clippings want blowing off the drive before they end up on the porch. A yard cut clean against all that rough country looks especially good — order set right beside the wild. Week to week through the growing season, that contrast is what the work is for.