Sandhill cranes come back over the Stockbridge fields before the frost is all the way out of the ground, and not long after them comes the first mow of the year. Higgins outdoor services runs the season from that thaw forward — cutting, trimming, edging, clearing winter's litter off lawns along M-52 and the gravel roads that spin off it. Summer settles into a rhythm of weekly passes, grass carried right to the curb, nothing shaggy left in the corners. By November the blowers are out and the yards get put to bed. A township of farms teaches you that the calendar is the boss, and the work happens when it needs to happen.