Late August in Farwell is dry heat and long grass, crickets loud in the ditches and the pines gone that dusty green they take on before fall. Elm Creek Ltd mows through it — regular cuts, trimmed edges, walks blown clear, clippings carried off rather than left in windrows across the yard. This is porous ground; a week of rain can double a lawn's growth and a dry spell can stop it cold, so the route bends to whatever the grass is actually doing. Around the small lakes and along the town's older streets, a kept yard stands out bright against all that pine shadow. Then the leaves come down and the season closes out with a good raking.