Dowagiac Creek threads through Pokagon Township past rolling Cass County farm ground, woodlots, and yards that run right up to a fence line and stop. M&J Lawn service LLC keeps those yards cut through the season — mowing, trimming and edging, with the cleanups that mark either end of the year. June is the wild month here, everything growing at once, the ditches full of it and the lawns not far behind. Staying on schedule is how that gets won; otherwise the mower never quite catches up. A yard finished, tools loaded, the next drive just down the road — that's a good summer day in southwest Michigan.