I tried to back in my 20s but after several years improving a cabin and the surrounding woods and lot, the owner of this big spread wouldn't actually sell me the place. He offered a 99 year lease, but I just moved out instead. I grew over 90% of my own food, cut all my heat and cooking wood by hand, did extensive "ruth stout" method gardening, maple sugaring, all that stuff.
Where I am now, after a large amount of time living and working back in town, getting hurt, losing all my equity I had in a house, etc, I am back to living in someone else's cabin on their land and working for them. I am semi retired, and work part time, albeit 7 days a week. We'll see what happens if/when I can't work much anymore. He said I could stay here forever, but my past experience with millionaires is..they are salesman, say whatever it takes to make a sale and everything is a sale to them.
Be that as it may, I do have some solar now, a two panel and do-dads array, and a past larger experience with solar and alt energy though. And back in the day, ton of friends in the ole hipster back to the land movement and stayed and helped at a variety of farms and communes and whatnot. It was cool, and much fun. Cut a lot of wood with mostly old heavy saws and hand split even more. Hard work, but still nifty. Much less legal BS and permits back then to move onto raw land and go for it.
My biggest regret is not ever locking in land ownership back when it was cheap.
My fondest memories are getting to live a lot of places that people pay big bucks to just go on vacation for a week or two. That and all the beautiful hippie girls back then. Man..just man. Yep....