When Jackson lived in the log farmhouse at the Hermitage, limited resources and cramped housing for white and black residents blurred the line between indoor and outdoor life, and the area was busy from dawn to dusk with work, sounds, and smells. Enslaved workers cooked and stored food, did chores, and socialized outdoors, and archaeological evidence shows that they kept the work yard between the farmhouse and kitchen swept clean of grass and debris, an African American cultural tradition. During his years in the farmhouse, Jackson planted 100 or more acres of cotton every year, grew vegetables and corn to feed his family and enslaved workers, and raised other crops for livestock. As his finances improved, additional slave cabins and new agricultural buildings spread across the Hermitage landscape, and in his first three years on the property he also built a 125-gallon corn-whiskey distillery and a cotton gin and press for additional income.