This is part 1 of a 5-part series. Paula Deen’s full story appears in the fall 2018 issue of Shrimp, Collards & Grits magazine.

There’s more to oysters than eating. 
That’s why folks around Wilmington Island marshes might do a double take. 
When Earth’s orbit bestows autumn upon the land, Georgia marshes give up their green. The air chills a tad and winds ghost over marshes, rippling across golden spartina like billowing wheat fields. Winds whistle through gray rock-like clusters, and salt air quickens the pulse. Autumn. 
It’s an ideal time to seek bounty along the riverbeds, and a most recognizable woman ventures onto the razor-sharp shells. Bucket close by, she rakes and digs oysters, and she takes her licks. 
“We left a trail of blood, honey. Oyster shells are so sharp, and they’re not very sanitary. So, when you cut yourself you have to be very careful.” 
Yes, very careful when you’re Paula Deen. That’s one way Georgia oysters end up in her home. Their future? Aunt Margaret’s Fried Oysters? Oyster bisque? Maybe, maybe not. 
Whatever their fate, Paula’s hand-gathered shells won’t be recycled. Over 6 weeks, she’ll use those ivory-gray shells to sculpt and bejewel a bust sculpture. “It’s like putting together a puzzle, getting all the shells to fit,” she said. 
Getting things to fit. You could say that’s what life’s about, too. Putting together the puzzle called life has proven momentous for this Georgia girl who was landlocked once upon a time. 
But she’s down on the coast now, down on the salt, and her passions include cooking, sculpting, painting, and “anything with a heartbeat.” She loves animals. She loves ’em so much she even raised a baby squirrel, “Earl D. Squirrel.” 
Her dogs, Gus, Max, and Lulu attest to her love for animals. They’re in a good place today and so is their mom. Said Paula, “God blesses me every day.” And her passage to this good place and time? Courage, family, and a heritage of good cooks charted a course like few others. 
So, what’s a typical day like for Paula Deen? 
“Honey, there’s no blueprint. I love to get up just to see what’s going to happen. See what God’s got in store for me today.” 
No typical day is right. Explore estuaries along and beyond the Wilmington River, and you might spot a silver-haired woman on the oyster beds. Check out Evine, the shop-at-home network, and you’ll see that silver-haired lady holding up fluffy biscuits to die for.  
The pecan capital of the United States, Albany, Georgia, sits smack dab on U.S. 19, once a snowbird passage to Florida. It was on Highway 19 that Paula Deen’s grandparents diverted some of those Yankee dollars. 
There they operated River Bend, a little resort featuring a restaurant, motel, cabins, skating rink, and pool. 
Back then little Paula Ann Hiers’s beloved swimming holes were that pool and the Flint River. “I lived in my swimsuit and roller skates,” she said.
Skatin’ and swimmin’. Sounds idyllic. About the time she turned six, her mom and dad bought a business across the road from River Bend. 
“Daddy had a gas station across the street and a little bitty gift store. We lived in that store. Open the door and you were in our kitchen. All we had was the public restrooms, so we had to go bathe in that nasty ol’ Men’s bathroom because it had a shower, and I hated it. Just hated it,” Deen said.
 As she wrote in her memoir, It Ain’t All About the Cookin’, “Paradise was done and finished for little Paula Hiers.” 
Next: Paula’s move to Savannah and her struggle with an anxiety disorder. 
Watch Paula Deen On Evine. Find out where it airs and what time at 
www.positivelypaula.tv