The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond Talks About the ‘Less Romantic’ Side of Ranch Life
The Pioneer Woman has been the wife of cattle rancher, Ladd Drummond, since 1996. Some people think ranching is exciting and romantic, but Ree Drummond says there’s a side to living and working on a ranch that isn’t all that thrilling. There’s a lot of hard work, dirt, and grime that comes along with the package. Here’s a look at what Drummond refers to as the “less romantic side” of ranching.
Ree Drummond had a tough time adjusting to life on the Drummond ranch
Life on the ranch hasn’t always been easy for Drummond. She admits it took some time to adjust to living in the country and not having all the comforts of her old life on the golf course. In her book Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, she talks about some of the sounds, smells, and uncomfortable situations she had to get used to.
One inconvenience was that the closest grocery store was 20 miles away. She says she had to adjust quickly because if she needed to buy food, it wasn’t as simple as walking to the nearest store and picking up the things she needed.
Another thing Drummond wasn’t prepared for was encountering wildlife and coming across rodents. She says she once saw what she thought was a mountain lion sitting on top of her car. She immediately called Ladd, but he told her it was probably a bobcat. Drummond also had a bit of a fright after hearing the sound of mice in her bedroom wall.
Ree Drummond on the ‘less romantic’ side of ranching
During an episode of The Pioneer Woman, Drummond gives a demonstration on how to make donuts. Before she begins cooking, she speaks about Ladd and her children, and their task for the day. They had the tough job of rolling up the fence, which Drummond describes as “the tougher, less romantic side” of ranching.
Back in 2014, Drummond described the process of building a new fence for the ranch. They needed to separate the pond from where they kept some of the animals. She says Ladd, with the help of their children, his father, and his brother put up the new fence. They not only had to replace the posts that held up the fence but also rebuild the entire fence.
Drummond joked about the unimpressed expression on her son, Todd’s face. She says he was probably thinking about what he wanted to do next. At the time, he wanted to start his own sports website.
“As you can see, my baby is absolutely riveted,” jokes Drummond. “He’s likely thinking about the website he wants to create. He thinks about it all the time. It would be a place where he would write about all things related to sports—football and basketball, mostly—and would be very similar to ESPN, except he told me yesterday he would probably call it TSPN, as in Todd Sports Programming Network.”
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