The Cutting Edge

About The Cutting Edge

Bayboro keeps time by the Bay River, the tide easing up through the marsh, the boats running down toward the sound, the flat pine-and-farm country stretching away on either side. The Cutting Edge keeps the ground around all of that in order, mowing, edging and trimming, fertilizing and seeding, hauling off leaves when the sweetgums finally let go in December. A crisp cut reads a long way on this land, because there is nothing between a lawn and the horizon but more lawn and a treeline. Pamlico County ice arrives maybe once a winter, and when it does the driveways, walks and steps get scraped and salted before the day gets going. It is steady outdoor work in a county where the growing season barely stops to catch its breath.