Just before Ree Drummond got on Zoom to speak with PEOPLE, her daughter Paige had just walked out the door of their family’s ranch to get a tractor tire changed.
The Pioneer Woman star’s youngest daughter recently moved back to Pawhuska, Okla., to work with her dad Ladd as a cattle rancher.
“It’s really great to have her home,” says the cookbook author, who launched a new Walmart line of small appliances.
But despite moving back to work, Paige, 24, a University of Arkansas alumna, isn’t staying at Ree’s newly-built home.
“She is actually living in town, in the house that was my in-laws’ house,” Ree tells PEOPLE. “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.” Ladd’s father Chuck, also known as Pa-Pa, died in 2022, while his mother Nan died in 2018.
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Ree previously revealed that Paige came back to work on the ranch full-time in January. Since then, she’s taking the job day by day.
“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,” says Ree. “I love that she’s here. She’s the first of our kids to really come back and work on the ranch full time.”
Ree and Ladd are also parents to Alex, 27, Bryce, 21, Jamar, 21 and Todd, 20.
In a May Pioneer Woman blog post, Ree wrote that Paige is “getting banged up, scratched, bruised, and clobbered,” on the job. Despite the taxing work ranching demands, Paige is able to hold her own, Ree tells PEOPLE.
“She’s very strong, not just physically, but she’s got a pretty strong heart and personality, so it’s fun to watch her kind of jump in and learn the ropes — not as Ladd’s kid, but as one of the cowboys basically. Cowgirls, I should say,” she laughs.
In April, Ree gave her followers a glimpse of Paige’s ranch duties in a clip from Ree’s Food Network show, The Pioneer Woman.
“Paige starts pretty early around daylight,” Ree explained in the clip. “She arrives at the ranch from town, fills up her feeder, and then heads out into the pasture to feed the cattle.”
Paige pointed out that her life is very different compared to when she was working in an office. “I’m out here with all the cows. So, it’s definitely really different, but I personally love it,” Paige added.
Ree’s other daughter Alex also has plenty of exciting life changes to celebrate. Ree announced that the 27-year-old and her husband Mauricio Scott are expecting their first child — Ree’s first grandchild.
Walmart
Ree recalled her raw reaction of the big reveal to PEOPLE.
“Gosh, it feels totally different than I thought it would feel,” she admits. “Since we just kind of became empty-nesters, Ladd and I feel like we just finished raising our kids — not even finished! A couple of them are in college, so we’re still raising our kids.”
