Portland lies on the shelf between the Lake Erie shore and the escarpment, where the grape rows run in long green stripes toward the water. Elite Lawn Service keeps the lawns of that shelf in the same good order — weekly mowing, edges cut in along drives and walks, string trimming where the deck cannot reach. Spring here starts wet and late, so beds are raked out and mulched once the ground firms; fall ends fast, with leaves gathered before the first hard band of weather comes off the lake. Between Brocton and the Route 20 farms the yards run wide and open, and a straight mowing line across one of them is worth standing back to look at. It is ordinary work done attentively, in a town that grows things for a living.