Shepherd is maple country — the Salt River easing past the village, sugar maples down the side streets, farm ground beginning where the sidewalk ends. Koeppen Lawncare, LLC mows through the Isabella County season, village lots and long country yards alike, trimming around porch rails, the elevator-side fence and the stumps where an old tree used to stand. Mid-Michigan summers swing from soaked to parched and back again, so the cut height moves with the weather rather than the calendar. When those maples finally turn loose in October, the cleanups follow right behind them. A lawn kept even all season is the sort of thing a small town notices without ever saying so.