During most seasons there was little time for either of them to rest. Epsey restricted her time in the corn, wheat, flax, and tobacco fields, but she still called the garden her own and expected Ethan to break the land with his ox-drawn plow only when one crop of vegetables was harvested and it was time to plant another. She grew Irish and sweet potatoes, beans and peas, okra, onions, sweet corn, and greens. She carefully saved her own seed, bedded the sweet potatoes in a hill of alternating layers of pine straw and earth, and stored Irish potatoes and onions in a cool attic space above the ceiling joists. Her vegetable rows were well fertilized with animal manure and humus, and mulched to minimize weed growth and the time required for hoeing. She dried or smoked some of the venison and turkey that Ethan brought home from his hunting trips, and worked with him in butchering hogs and shearing sheep. Together, they tanned the hides of deer and cattle, rubbing them with salt and lime, and then completing the process with tannin obtained from oak and hemlock bark and chestnut wood. This final product prevented further shrinking and rotting of the leather.

After all the buildings and necessary fences were completed, Ethan dug a well in the yard, which obviated trips to the spring about one hundred yards from the cabin. It was now much easier for Espey to keep the garden watered during the hot and often dry summer season, by carefully ladling a cupful from her wooden bucket at the base of each young plant. Epsey had previously considered cutting firewood to be partly her job, but now Ethan insisted that, with the baby, this was his sole responsibility. She still helped care for the animals when they were in the fenced pasture or corral, and milked the two cows, or whichever one was fresh at the time.

Epsey tried to do most of this outdoor work during the cooler hours of the day, with her housework done in between. She often carried little Henry in an old shawl slung across her back, and Ethan built a small covered crib at the edge of the garden—on stilts, due to concern about snakes and rodents—where the baby could lie in the shade while Epsey worked.