04/14/2026
Big Boy Stuff!
This was the first pick up this morning.
This particular place is somewhere I love coming to. It's not just about the metal.
This family is some of the nicest and most genuine people I have ever been around. I naturally gravitate toward them and their cattle farm because of who they are as people, what they do, what they're trying to keep alive, what they're trying to accomplish, and the natural feeling I have when I'm around them. The Grizzle family has been on this soil in Hickory Flat for a handful of generations and this truly is a family tradition.
You might be asking yourself why is it I feel this way?
A little context and history.
My Great Grandfather was one of the first settlers off of Shallowford Road on Keheley Road. His name was William Keheley. He married my Great Grandmother
California "Callie" Shaw. Her side of the family were one of the other first families (the Shaws) in the same area. Shaw Park, Shaw Road, etc. being no coincidence.
Fun fact. Does anyone know Pete Shaw Road? That would be my Great Grandmother's brother. Uncle Pete Shaw to most.
On the soil of my Great Grand parents a farm was started long ago. The farm raised cattle, bulls, chickens, other livestock also including produce and fruits. Great Grandad even grew watermelons and would truck them to the Farmers Market in Forest Park to sell. The family was a decent size for them including 6 children,
Ernest, Billy, Margaret,
Maize (my grandfather), Dorothy, and Bobby.
My father Randy, was an only child and the only son that carried on the last name. So naturally what I knew as aunts and uncles were actually great aunts and great uncles. Ernest was a pistol and he had a zero filter approach when I was growing up around him. I'm quite sure he was always like that. He was my favorite. I loved the pure grit that man had but no one was ever prepared to hear what may fly outta his mouth. 😉
Ernest was a farm tractor mechanic and had his own shop for years. My grandfather was also a tractor mechanic.
I'll get to the point of why I feel the way I do when I'm around these fine people and soil they live on.
The land and the farm that my Great Grand parents created is all gone. No Keheley owns any of the original property anymore. From the time I was 4 years old a lot of the land was gone. The older I got the more went away. The last small piece was gone after one of my Great Uncles passed. That particular piece was where my Great Grand parents had their home and started it all. For me it's really really sad and I miss those younger days that I experienced there. From my Grandad putting me on his 1950 Ford 8N Tractor at the age of 5 years old literally teaching me how to drive to when I was older with a license and stopping by the old home place to see Uncle Ernest and visit with him. He had so many stories to tell. I wished I heard all of them. My families tradition, the farm, the legacy, the hard work, the hard living, the grit, the joys and pains, the blood sweat and tears, the rise and the fall, the start and the end, it's all gone. I wish I was in a position to carry it on and kept it alive but I can still carry on a little of it within me.
That's what it means to me to be around this family. The father of the family, Mr..Grizzle reminds me of some the men that meant so much to me that are no longer here. He knew of my family and knew my Uncle Ernest and went to tractor shop he had. So needless to say I gravitate toward him because he's from that era of time and were around some of the men that helped mold me into the man/person I became.
Just with a little twist ofcoarse 😉.
To me I feel it's just as important as it is to them to help keep what they're doing alive and well. That said, I would encourage you to help support this family and one of the few active and longstanding cattle farms in Cherokee County. If you want actual grass fed beef that isn't pumped with who knows what and you know exactly what you're buying and where it's actually coming from, then please go to their website and look into them.
Thank you very much to Mr. Grizzle and Summer for the help today. I appreciate you making that first call months ago and letting me be able to feel some of those feelings that I haven't had in a long time through the experience of being in yalls company. It only feels natural to me. It's truly a pleasure every time and I look forward to the future. See you on the next one and all of you take care.
-Dusty Keheley
https://www.thefarmsathickoryflat.com/shop
