Piffard sits on the flat rich bottomland of the Genesee, where the river has been laying down soil for longer than anyone has been farming it and the valley opens wide toward the abbey fields. Genesee Valley Landscape Co. inc. works that whole span of the year — mowing, trimming and cleanups while the valley is green, plowing and salting once the wind comes up the river with snow in it. Out here the flat ground means weather arrives visible from miles off, which is a fair warning and no protection at all. There is craft in both halves: a lawn cut even across a big open property, and a driveway scraped clean to the gravel before anyone needs it. The valley gives plenty of room to do the work well.