- Content: Pioneer Woman’s Daughter Ditches Cush Job for Country Life — She Loves It
By Movieguide® Contributor
After Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond’s daughter, Paige Drummond, found her corporate job in Texas too boring, she traded it in for a full-time job on her parent’s cattle ranch.
“When I was younger, I never really thought that I would be back here working on the ranch. I kinda had it written off,” 24-year-old Paige explained in a video on her mom’s blog. “I didn’t enjoy it as much when I was younger, but then as I got older and I went away to college and then started working a full-time job, I just really realized how much I missed it and that I just wanted to come back here and try it out.”
“My dad was like, you know, you don’t have to be here forever if you don’t want to, but you’ll never know if you like it unless you like, give it a shot. So that’s kind of what I’m doing right now. And it’s been great so far.”
The Food Network Star’s daughter is the only girl who works on the ranch, but it’s nothing new for her.
“She can really hold her own with the cowboys,” Ree said. “She’s not learning it for the first time. She grew up doing this.”
“It’s a hands-on job,” Paige said. “It’s physical. It’s tiring. You get kicked by cattle. I have bruises all over my legs. It’s definitely something where you kind of feel and see the physical toll of it.”
While that part does have its challenges, she doesn’t have to put up with any discrimination, which she’s grateful for.
“Thankfully, no one really treats me any differently than the next person,” Paige continued. “They don’t expect me to take it any easier, so I have to work just as hard as everyone else.”
“College didn’t prepare me for this,” she said in The Pioneer Woman Magazine. “But my childhood prepared me for it. I’m proud to be back here.”
The hardest part is just getting up in the morning.
“For this job, it’s like multiple 4 a.m. mornings every day doing that and then working like 12-13 hour days, it gets to be pretty exhausting,” Paige said.
“I don’t think a lot of people understand what it’s really like,” she noted. “Ranch life is glamorized on TV.”
A normal workday has Paige up at 3:30 a.m. She feeds horses, saddles up her horse, drives from Oklahoma to Kansas and then wrangles and vaccinates calves.
“You see people riding horses, and it looks wonderful,” Paige added. “If you could ride your horse all day, every day, everyone would want this job.”
“But 90% of the time it’s just hard, hard work. You’re getting kicked, you’re getting crap on you, you’re fixing fence, you’re doctoring cattle…it’s a time-consuming, exhausting — yet rewarding — profession.”
She and her siblings have helped out on the ranch numerous times since they were kids.
“He definitely wanted us to work,” she said in the video. “When we were kids, we would work quite a bit. We were also homeschooled, so it kind of gave us a lot more opportunity for him to take us out there and work.”
“But I’m learning new things that I didn’t do as a kid, like taking care of things myself that I didn’t have the responsibility of when I was younger. So it definitely is a lot different.”
Paige says her younger brothers Bryce, Todd and maybe foster brother Jamar will come and help out on the ranch soon.
“They’ll definitely come back,” she said of her brothers. “So I’m excited for whenever they get older and graduate college and they’re back here too. So it’s just a cool thing to be able to do this with your family.”
Ree added, “She is actually living in town, in the house that was my in-laws’ house. So it’s kind of nice that we still have that house, hadn’t sold it, and so she’s moved in and made it her own.”
Ree’s in-laws, Nan and Chuck, died in 2018 and 2021 respectively.
“In terms of how long she’ll stay or whether it’ll be a period of her life or forever, we’re not really trying to predict or think about it too far in advance,” Ree said.
Paige doesn’t know if she’ll stay for good or move on to other things, but for the moment, it’s just what she needs.
“I definitely could see myself staying here,” she shared. “I don’t know, I’m not sure, but for right now, this is great.”
Movieguide® recently reported that Ree’s now a grandmother:
Drummond’s daughter, Alex Drummond Scott, and her husband, Mauricio Scott, are expecting their first child.
“Alex and Mauricio just shared some big news today, and they asked me to share it here with you, since many of you have read my blog since my oldest was about nine years old,” Drummond wrote on her blog. “Rather than just come out with the news right away, though, I think I’ll let my perfect granddog George be the first to share. Check out his bandana…”
George is wearing a sage green bandana with the words “big bro” written on it.
And in other news, Paige just got engaged on Aug. 4, to her boyfriend, David Andersen.
“I get to marry the love of my life! How is this real??” Paige said on Instagram. “God’s greatest gift to me and my person forever. I love you, David Andersen! I can’t wait to be your wife!!! ??️??☺️”
Ree shared photos of the engagement, too, and said, “Happiness is seeing your daughter happy! ?❤️ Congratulations, David and Paige! (This is gonna be fun!)”
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