Actually, there was a PBS show that did exactly that, "The Frontier House". They took four families, put them in Montana and turned back the clock to 1880. Then they told them that they have six months from Spring to Fall to get ready for the brutal Winter for that part of the country. A panel of historical experts then evaluated their efforts and told them whether they would survive the harsh winter conditions. According to the experts the wealthy family, who were quite conservative, would not have survived. This wasn't based on food stores, but on the fact that they didn't pile enough firewood to last the winter. The experts said that it took a minimum of six hours a day to cut enough wood to survive the winter and they simply didn't do enough.
- how did that bi-racial couple fare - he seemed to really love his dad while they were building the cabin -
Stupid experts - you can cut wood all winter long.