Lake Michigan sits about twenty-five miles west of Sparta, close enough that February arrives sideways and keeps arriving all week. Alternative Lawn Care meets it with plowing, shoveled walks and salt, reopening drives that filled in again an hour after the last pass. Come June the wind off the same lake is a mercy, and the trucks carry mowers instead, cutting, edging and trimming yards through the long light. Two entirely different jobs, held by the same people on the same streets. Alternative Lawn Care works throughout Sparta and out toward Kent City, Casnovia and Alpine Township.