Hoop Lawn & Snow

About Hoop Lawn & Snow

Late September in Hillsdale smells like cut hay and fair midway, and the little headwater creeks that eventually become the St. Joseph run cold and clear again once the summer stops drawing them down. Autumn is the hinge of the year for Hoop Lawn & Snow — the last mowings, the leaf cleanups, and then the waiting for a first real northwester. Through the green months the work is mowing, trimming and edging on a steady rotation; through the white months it's plowing, opening drives and walks, and putting down salt before daybreak. Rolling ground makes snow interesting: you push with the grade rather than against it, and you learn where the drifts always decide to build. A cleared drive on a hill at six in the morning is a small and completely finished piece of work.