All About Trees

About All About Trees

The first mow after mud season leaves a Brattleboro yard looking newly awake — grass laid down in even bands, the edges honest again, the whole dooryard breathing. That is the pleasure of this work: lawn care on the steep little streets that tilt down toward the Connecticut River, with Wantastiquet standing across the water keeping score. Winter turns the job inside out, and snow removal begins before the brick of Main Street has any light in it — hill drives opened so the day can start on time. There is something plain and good about a cleared driveway at six in the morning, the blade edge clean against the pavement, the dark still holding. Around Brattleboro and the Windham County towns nearby, the two halves of the year ask for two different kinds of care, and both leave a place looking tended.