October wind comes across the open fields with nothing to slow it, and the oaks along the two-tracks let go all at once. A lawn can go from mowed to buried between one visit and the next. So autumn here is cleanup as much as cutting: leaves lifted off the turf before they mat down, the final mow taken while the ground is still firm underfoot. Done right, the yard goes into winter breathing instead of smothered. And there is something satisfying about that last pass of the year — the mower shut off, the grass short, the whole place squared away before the cold sets in.