Ree Drummond struggled to adjust to living on a cattle ranch in the small town of Pawhuska, Oklahoma (per USC News). "It was jarring. I'm living out in the middle of nowhere, no grocery store down the street. There were cows in my yard and mud was everywhere," she acknowledged. Drummond adjusted and carried on, and a new venture began 10 years after her wedding.
At that point, the family had expanded to include Paige, Bryce, and Todd too. One day in 2006, Drummond's husband said he was taking the kids with him to work cattle. "He said, 'You stay home and take time for yourself,'" she told The New Yorker. "It was literally the first time I had been alone in the house for a several-hour period." She decided to launch "one of those blog things," using the nickname "The Pioneer Woman" that she'd earned from friends years prior (per People).
"I think she just had all that creativity bottled up of 10 years of living out here with not a lot of extra adult conversation," her husband, Ladd Drummond, told People. "Being a mom and wife is very fulfilling but she obviously has a lot of creative talent and it needed an outlet."
Initially, Drummond blogged to share updates with her mom across the country and relay various mommy musings. The following year she was given a "Best Kept Secret Award" at the "Bloggies" award show.
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