Yeah, the government has pretty much prevented this very thing with the hard-hitting combo of real estate taxes and income tax. If you produce enough food to sell and pay you real estate tax and the guy that certifies your well and your vehicle registration, gasoline, and maintenance, buy a new water heater when it goes out, clothes for the misses and kids (You'll probably be looking for a good solid woman after a couple of years...if for nothing else to help out with all the work. Self-sufficient homesteads can be exhausting to maintain. And of course woman is interchangeable with man/tg/draft horse/dog pack. I'm not trying to be a bigot here in case there's some ultra-lefties reading.) Anyway, I make just around 9000 of taxable income per year and the government takes around 13% of that. That's amazingly harsh when living on such a small amount of money. And as far as being on a south-facing slope, you might want to rethink that. The northern slopes might have the only source of surface water once global warming kicks in full strength.