[Ginger]

It is an easier lifestyle in the sense that if your job were to go under, you would have the ability to still feed your family. Can't pay the power bill? Can't afford food? "Can't" won't be in the definition of jobless. It isn't hard to find the materials you need for your garden, or your own cabin even. You can re-purpose seeds you get from vegetables at the store, and once they're grown you can trade them for different seeds. If you have a rabbit you can easily use its waste as fertilizer. Land isn't too much of an issue if you use the space you have efficiently. A person can be fully-sustainable on 1/4 acre of land, depending on how they go about it. There is aquaponics, traditional gardening, and you can have chickens that produce eggs and a goat or cow that produces milk. To feed them you can just fence your property and have them be land grazers, and ask a few people if you can have their grass-clippings from mowing their lawns. I see free stuff and things that are thrown away every day that can be put to good use, like wood pallets, old tires, dirt, rocks, wood that can be used for firewood or making furniture to trade/sell, sand, home-improvement things, and the list goes on. People have made entire houses with these things, and the only things they had to pay for in the building process was plumbing, electric, and well installation.

You're right that it definitely does take a lot of time and hard work, but in my opinion it pays off. It might be pricy starting out but if you use free, recycled materials it can dramatically reduce the cost. In the long run I would have to say that it is cheaper. It all depends on what the person is comfortable with going and how far they want to take it.

Many areas prohibit self-sustaining lifestyles because it takes away from the government, but look at our debt and how much we owe. If we don't look out for ourselves who will?