In this case, idleness appears alongside the requirement to maintain a plantation. So I think it more has to do with a requirement to be able to provide for one

In this case, idleness appears alongside the requirement to maintain a plantation. So I think it more has to do with a requirement to be able to provide for oneself (particularly when it came to sustenance) rather than a prohibition on any particular set of activities. I don’t have a reference handy but during this time and several centuries thereafter there were (enforced) laws that sought to prohibit what we’d now call tramps throughout the English countryside. It appears that that is one part of home that they’re trying to leave behind.