Fitted with curved guiderails, the sodbreaker lifted the newly liberated sod cluster and turned it so that the sod ribbon would gently plop upside down, ready for settlers to slice it into individual sections weighing about 100 pounds (45kg) each.

ECONOMIST: Building houses

It includes sod roofs, a row of oblique projecting windows and an organic entrance canopy.

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Now known as the Sod House Museum, it is open to the public six months a year and attracts nearly 60, 000 visitors.

ECONOMIST: Building houses

Fake grass costs nearly twice as much as sod to install, though it costs less to maintain.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

It is no longer easy to build a sod house, though that didn't stop Merle Block from trying it himself about a decade ago.

ECONOMIST: Building houses

And the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team is set for its June 18 home opener, though it's unclear whether its damaged field will be replaced with sod or artificial turf.

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