The New Haven River comes down out of the mountains cold and quick, and by the time it reaches the flats it has slowed enough to lay mist over the hayfields at sunrise. JRL Landscaping and Plowing LLC works those flats — mowing, trimming, mulch laid dark around foundation beds, cleanups spring and fall, all of it while the corn along Route 7 is still knee-high. The clay ground here grows grass with real enthusiasm, and keeping it in order takes a weekly rhythm and an eye for the straight line. Nothing looks better than a farmhouse lawn cut close and square against the long green sweep of Addison County. The mist burns off by nine and the whole valley opens west toward the lake.