Yep. So did my family, until Mom and Dad made enough dough so that they didn't need to anymore. Mom still knits good wool socks and sweaters, hats and mittens. Other than the socks, they'll likely last me for about ever. They're great!
I'd argue that there's a huge difference between doing something because you *enjoy* doing it, and doing something for survival. For instance, I have a small (really small!) garden - I get enough tomatoes to share with the neighbors, a handful of peppers, and fresh herbs because I like the way they taste. BIG difference between that, and the work involved with the huge garden we had as a kid, where we put up a couple hundred quarts of assorted fruits and veggies - canned and frozen - for the winter.
Also, if the deer+other assorted wildlife (another thing to shoo away in a post apocalyptic world, beyond the cast of two-legged looters) get into my tomatoes overnight ....well, I likely say a few bad words, then wander over to the neighbors and see if they got cleaned out too. In the "mad max" world that so many FReepers enjoy thinking about....if that happens, you have no tomatoes that year. And if there aren't any seeds, you don't have any more tomatoes, period.
IMHO, there's a lot of reward in hard work. But, hard work just for it's own sake, is foolish.
believe it or not, we grew up without running water in the house, we had outhouses and in the wintertime, chopped our own firewood, hauled water for about 1/4 mile away, killed chickens, canned food, and it was a hard life. I dont want to live like that again, but if we have to, we have to