April in Bethel is a negotiation: frost heaves, a foot of matted grass, and the winter's sand piled exactly where the plow left it. North Road Property Services starts the year right there, raking the sand and leaf mat out before the first cut of the season goes down. Through summer it stays steady — weekly mowing, edging along walks and drives, trimming where the mower cannot reach — on back roads where the nearest neighbor may be half a mile off. In October the maples let go all at once and the whole thing runs in reverse. A yard that opens clean in spring and closes clean in fall is the entire point.