My mom's 11 brothers and sisters were in the same shape, They were sharecroppers in rural Mississippi.
All were literate, clean, and Christian, and all eventually lived to have happy, successful lives.
I am a child of the 50's. Lots of my relatives and my husband's lived in primitive (for today) conditions. Heck, I can remember when during my high school years (the 60's)parts of Indianapolis still didn't have indoor plumbing.
This story is unusual today, but mainly because it is unusual for someone in trouble to be self-sufficient and live off the land. I think it admirable.
I suggest that people contemplate what they would do if they were cut off from almost all funds. Once, in the early 80's, we were without funds and I culled fallen apples from an orchard. My son still talks about that and how proud he was of me that I could make dinner with what other people would think of as discards.