When you retire, what do you see yourself doing?

Any plans to build a giant sculpture garden? Well that's what a farmer from Arcadia did in the late 50's.

Now it's known as Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden and we take you there in this Wandering Wisconsin from Buffalo County.

Outside Fountain City, the creative juices were flowing when a farmer left his fields for this former dance hall.

"Herman Rusch's garden started when he was 65 years old. He retired , he came over here and started building and he just never stopped. I think he quit when he was about 93," says Marjorie Kammueller.

By the time he was 89 back in 1974, his garden had grown to 40 sculptures like a large fence he formed over wheel rims to achieve an arch.

"He was driven with this artistic talent that he had to produce, each piece led to another piece," Kammueller says.

Marjie Kammueller and Gary Schlosstein are members of the Friends of Prairie Moon. They're keeping up his concrete creations, known as depression art.

"Depression art is the kind of thing that's made with simple materials and usually by people who are not particularly trained in the arts," Schlosstein says.

"He constructed things out of concrete and some he colored before forming the thing and some he had painted after wards," Kammueller says.

If you look closely at his art, you'll see sea shells, bits of glass and pottery. People brought him rocks from all over the U.S. so he could stick the stones in the sides of his sculptures.

"It's fascinating he had all this in him waiting to get out," Kammueller adds.

As you walk around the room where his life story lives. You learn he was a master fiddler, that he showed art at the Walker Art Center in the Twin Cities, that he lived to be 100 and his art was auctioned off.

"His stuff went all over the world. Now we are starting to get some of it back," Kammueller adds.

The Kohler Foundation came in and restored the remaining art, so future generations could experience the big concrete creatures.

"People come all the time, almost every day. People are growing more interested in art and art closer to home," she says.

And now the Prairie Moon Art collection is growing, with the works of three rock artists.

"We've got it all in the same location. My grandfather's is one style, it's miniature in style compared to Herman's pieces, which are all monumental in scale and we just moved in the exhibit that's behind me here which is the George Marringer art from Fountain City and his rock art is another distinctive style which uses a lot of broken glass of various colors blended together with the rock and cement," Schlosstein says.

Schlosstein's grandfather Fritz built little buildings in the 30's and 40's, including a model of his own general store in Cochrane, now preserved alongside Herman Rusch's legacy, in and around an old dance hall off highway 35.

"I take pride in any time you can keep together something that is really worth keeping," Schlosstein adds.

The Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden and Museum now belongs to the Town of Milton. It survives on donations. You can check it out anytime outside, but if you want to get in to read about Rusch's life or see more of the art, you need to make an appointment.

Call: (608) 698-8250 or click here for directions and information.