In the hustle and bustle of our world today, it seems too easy to become distracted by external influences: television, radio and magazines entrenching thoughts toward consumerism. Harkening back to a simpler time when kids played kick-the-can until the wee hours of the evening, today seems different. Many people are indoors; after all, there are many lures to keep us glued to a couch or mesmerized by a screen. Neighborhoods often stand empty even on the most pristine of evenings when the crickets are beckoning for the kids to come out and play. Rows and rows of identical houses stand quiet, doors and windows locked. Will generations of the 21st century keep getting fatter and lazier and become junkies of reality TV?

Maybe that is why this one garden stuck out so forcefully for me; it is a total departure from any outdoor space you will ever see. It screams, “I will not conform.” So, I knocked on the door. I wanted to see who created this unique garden that seems to tell a tale of the people who live in the petite home. Two blond, shaggy-haired kids, Goldie and Cooper, shadowed their father, Nick Schmiedeler, as he gave me the garden tour.

Cindy and Nick Schmiedler have lived at 710 Mo. for a decade. They enjoy adding quirky elements to their property, like the wire brushes shown above.

“I can never explain why I do this,” Nick says. “I know something that I like right away though, I really consider myself a collector more than a sculptor or any title with artistic leanings.”

This garden is full of bowling balls, industrial chains, farming artifacts, springs and pumps. Almost anything that is old and rusty is fair game.

“I never know what I’m looking for,” Nick says. “I’ll grab pieces, and soon we will have a stockpile in the backyard of some pretty peculiar items.”

While Nick is the “collector/arguably artist” of the group, this is very much a family affair. Cindy tends to the garden, planting annuals and perennials in some unusual vessels, and Cooper and Goldie are ready with eagle eyes for weekend scavenging trips.

This fairy is Goldie Schmiedler's stamp on the family garden: Statuettes of winged friends sit for tea at a minuscule table placement.

“We do a lot of alley surfing and try to hit the salvage yards, looking for rusty old stuff,” Nick says.

The front yard morphed into a sculpture and rock garden area because of necessity. The Schmiedelers couldn’t seem to grow any grass there. And like most of the yard, ideas just started flowing.

“I started thinking about the river and how I wanted this area to match the rustic look of the house,” Nick says. “This house looks like something that would be sitting on the banks of a river with the rough cedar siding. We would all jump into the canoe and go scavenge along the river for rocks, driftwood and whatever caught our eyes. It is a great way to spend time with your family, the kids really get into it, it’s peaceful and meaningful entertainment, we all get to be imaginative and create, plus it is free.”

The “Zombie Man,” made of iron, looks down at an old ’50s-era TV monitor. The two colorfully, hand-painted bathtubs are overflowing with blooming mums and water flora. Normally, I am not an advocate for any bathroom accessory in the yard, but these tubs really work and look great to boot.

License plates from all 50 states adorn one corner of the Schmiedlers' yard.

The fencing that encases the yard is incredible; no two 6-foot sections are alike. One section is hanging rusted garage door springs, swaying and bouncing with scurrying squirrels antics. Another section is license plates alphabetically arranged from all 50 states, with Kansas represented at the top and an upside down district of Washington, D.C., plate as a political statement. Yet another section boasts a variety of old hubcaps and antique gas station numbers that read the address of the home. There are industrial pipe hangers, the back of a Chevy truck, steel brushes, relic fishing lures and on and on. Even though that might sound like a bunch of junk jumbled together, it is not. It is beautiful in its composition; the way in which items are grouped and juxtaposed together is quite artistic with the obvious sense of whimsy and abandon. It is very difficult to pull off a slew of “junk” in the yard without the neighbors calling the city for a cleanup crew to haul off your treasured finds, but the Schmiedlers have really created a true expression of themselves.

The Schmiedlers use quirky finds from weekend scavenging trips to decorate their backyard and garden at 710 Mo.

Next, we meander under the 30- to 40-foot-long, gorgeously crafted driftwood arbor. The wisteria is dripping over the top dangling overhead, yet rooted firmly, twisting and gnarled around the salvaged river wood. To the left sits Goldie’s stamp on the yard: a fairy garden with statuettes of winged friends sitting for tea at the minuscule table placement. Cooper has a dinosaur perched inside an old rusted-out bird cage, mouth a gape, roaring in some thunderous tone we adults cannot hear.

The large fan blades of old cooling and heating systems dangle from the trees. Attached to giant, industrial chains, they rotate in the wind, adding another kinetic form to the garden.

Not everything is sharp and steel in the garden. There are an inordinate amount of bowling balls.

“This woman had a garage sale, and she had a mountain of bowling balls in all different colors, and I said, ‘I’ve got to take those home,'” Nick says.

The family will travel to Winfield later this fall with the old camper in tow. Cooper and Goldie will continue to run and romp in the garden, as a child’s play space was meant to be. Cindy will keep planting and weeding.

And no doubt Nick will continue to come home with his arms full of “junk,” turning into more garden treasures.