The Wallkill leaves Sussex heading north, which surprises people the first time they hear it, and the wide green floor that river cut is where Austin's lawn care spends its mornings. Dew sits late down in that valley, so the first pass of the day comes off the deck heavy and sweet, and by ten the lawn has dried into stripes you can read from the road. Mowing, edging and trimming are the whole of the day, done at a walking pace that lets you learn which corner of a yard drains slow and which one bakes by August. Autumn brings the cleanups, when the wind coming across the open fields does half the raking and patience does the rest. What's left at the end is plain and worth doing: a lawn that looks looked-after from the mailbox.