My point is your fair-share 8 acres nets you 2000+ kcals per day, enough BTUs to keep you warm, enough shade to keep you cool, and enough fibers/leather to keep

My point is your fair-share 8 acres nets you 2000+ kcals per day, enough BTUs to keep you warm, enough shade to keep you cool, and enough fibers/leather to keep you clothed. Having been raised where we grew half our food, heated on burning wood, and clothed largely via "thrift" sources, all with an eye being able to achieve complete self-sufficiency in short order, my baseline question is "what does a normal adult require for outright self-sufficiency?" Crunching your numbers brings us decently around the US poverty line of ~$17,000/person (less for larger families). That's a connection I was looking for and hadn't gotten to yet. ...and, oddly, you touch on the reason illegal hard liquor was popular to produce in my region: you could get a lot more money out of a bushel of corn if you fermented & distilled it first, using pretty primitive equipment. Easier to transport, too. Eventually moonshining collided with automotive technology, leading to NASCAR (powerful engines & skilled drivers outrunning police). But I digress...