The year starts in mud here. When the Sturgeon River headwaters run brown and the banks along the two-tracks shrink to gray ridges, Earthplan Landscaping & Lawncare is already out pulling sand back off the turf and opening the beds to the light. Through summer the work is steady and unglamorous — mowing on a schedule, trimming close to posts and stones, hauling off what the season sheds. Then the arrow swings the other way, the plow goes back on, and drives and walks get cleared through a winter that does not hurry anywhere. They see the same properties in every mood those properties have.