About Us
Welcome to our journey
Together, we have worked to build our dream of being a self-sustained, small business. We walked away from our life in the suburbs selling a vast majority of our belongings along the way. We purchased a small, mountainside homestead located between Maryville and Seymour, TN where we raise our daughters.
Dusken
Dusken is a devoted husband & father who spent eight years in the Army National Guard as an Infantryman. He deployed to Iraq in 2009 and later showed his true Tennessee spirit by volunteering for an additional deployment to Afghanistan in 2014. At the end of his eight years of service, Dusken had achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant, graduated from the Army's Mountain Warfare & Air Assault Schools and was awarded the Army‘s Combat Action Badge. Among his decorations are several Army Commendation Medals, including one with Valor. After his military career he worked to aid the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Search & Rescue operations as an AD Hire. Shortly before the birth of his first child, he resigned from this position within the National Park Service. He worked in the construction industry after his resignation primarily installing underground utilities and as a licensed handler of explosives. Thanks to overwhelming support from chefs, Dusken was finally able to take Wake Robin to a full-time occupation in the spring of 2021.
Jessi
Sitting at Dusken's right hand is his wife Jessi. Jessi holds a bachelors degree in Human Services and Social Work. She worked in a variety of settings such as emergency medicine, healthcare and child services before having the privilege of being a stay at home wife and mom. She is passionate about finding natural and sustainable ways to take care of her home and family. When Jessi isn’t wrangling her children or homeschooling you can find her heading up operations at Wake Robin while continuously expanding her knowledge on herbs, tinctures and other natural remedies. Of Jessi’s many passions in the kitchen, her favorites are baking with sourdough, making homemade butter and experimenting with Appalachian cuisine.