My great grandmother lived in a sod house once upon a time. In the family album is a photo of her standing next to the tiny dwelling with a baby in her arms. Studying it, as I often did, I couldn’t help but wonder how she kept her house pest free. When I lived in a mobile home in Nevada desert country, there was always some kind of critter trying to get in and I did not have the disadvantage of a dirt floor and roof.
A little background: sod houses, or soddies, were built on the Great Plains during the latter part of the
19th century using blocks of sod as building materials. Some were dug into banks. The use of sod blocks for walls was a practical solution for the lack of timber on the plains. The roofs were made from a framework of branches or wood if available, covered with hay or straw, then topped with more sod. The floor was usually packed dirt. As you can imagine, the buildings were well insulated, but could be damaged by prolonged rain.
So how did the sod house dwellers keep out insects, rodents, snakes and the like? The short answer is they didn’t. Not entirely anyway. It wasn’t unusual to find the occasional snake taking refuge from the elements or mice eating through the walls. I won’t even get into the insects and spiders. That said, here are some of the steps they took to cut down on the unwelcome visitors.
Keeping a cat kept down the rodent populations. Of course, the cat was also prey to larger creatures such as coyotes, so keeping a cat could be tricky.
Walls were plastered, white washed or covered with newspaper to both lighten the room and to keep varmints from infiltrating the space. If something did burrow through, it was easier to see the tunnel or home.
A fabric cover, of made of feed sacks, was spread under the ceiling to keep insects and spiders from falling on the occupants of the sod home.
The dirt floor was swept often, thus removing creeping insects and disturbing the nesting spots of those that stayed in the corners.
Plants and herbs were used to repel pests.
Food was kept in containers if possible to keep out weevils and other hungry invaders. If the container was fairly air tight, such as a covered tin or jar, the odor of the food would not bring in rodents.
Despite these precautions, it wasn’t unheard of for a sod home to become so infested with insects, particularly bedbugs and fleas, that the occupants had to abandon their home and build another. There was no calling in the Orkin Man.
We have it so easy now when it comes to pest control. I’m proud to say that I lived off the grid for 22 years in the desert and never had a mouse in the house. That said, I once had more than 20 starlings fly down my chimney and enter the house via the flue. You just never know. Have you ever had a pest adventure?
