A regular old fashioned work bee took place in Morrin on Monday, July 6, as the construction of the Morrin Sod House began. Earlier this year a committee was struck to refurbish the sod house. This time the landmark was to receive concrete footings and upgraded windows, doors and wall reinforcement.
With the concrete in place, assembly began. Rain however caused some concern. While the day started with volunteers soaking up the sunshine, it ended with them sopping up water.
“We were worried about the rain because it started to slide a little bit,” said Charlie Pierce of the committee.
The construction held strong and the crew was able to complete building the walls and install the ridgepole for the roof.
“It worked out pretty good, we got a lot done, and the walls are up, now we just have to wait for it to settle a bit, and then we'll finish it off,” said Pierce.
The community came out in support of the project last Monday, as about 30 volunteers with strong backs and stronger equipment worked on the project.
Production started in a low spot on a piece of land north of Morrin. Terry Riggs cut a row of sod on his restored antique Minneapolis Moline, pulling an even older plow. This was the same plow used the first time the sod house was built about three decades before.
Each cut strip was trimmed into workable blocks, giving the chainsaws quite a workout, and then loaded and taken to town.
At the sod house site, another crew carefully stacked and arranged the blocks, building up the walls. Others chipped in by bringing out coffee and snacks to the workers.
There was a cross section of both younger workers who were close to the same age as the original sod house, while more senior community members were also busy.
While the rain threatened the progress, the weather can’t be controlled.
“We needed the rain anyway, if we had known we would have built the sod house in May,” Pierce laughs.
