September in South Hope arrives smelling of apples, and the orchard rows go heavy while the lawns finally slow down enough to breathe. Steven's Lawn care takes that season seriously: the last careful mowings, leaves pulled out of the beds and off the grass before rain mats them down, everything set up to come through the winter without smothering. Earlier in the year the work runs the other direction, opening yards out toward Alford Lake once the frost lets go and the ground firms up. Between the hills and the ponds, this is a town of long dooryards and old sugar maples that shed generously. Raking a property clean in October and standing back to look at it is one of the plain, good rewards of the trade.