I'm pretty sure, left to my own devices, my life would be a series of weeks largely focusing on one or two things each. Some of these might last as long as a month or two, for bigger projects. Focused programming for a couple weeks, then a week of working on my house, then a week of garden building & set-up, then a week of working on music, a three-week run of research and writing, and so on.
What sucks is spending 50ish weeks a year doing 40 hours/wk of the same damn thing. I don't hate hard work—I love it—I hate lack of autonomy to choose what to work on, in a very broad sense. Work is nice, jobs are fucking awful.
This x1000. You've basically described my dream lifestyle. It does seem indeed very hard to achieve without being retired, but I feel like for those making good money in tech it should be at least partially achievable, through a combination of proper money management, relocation to low cost of living area, and transitioning to freelance/consulting. Easier said than done but certainly not impossible .
I like doing things by hand. But I am generally a hard working man, by hand or when using my head.
Two observations:either work can become obsessive. When you start working with your hands for leasure, this can become a burden on it's own. But even more so: I do not need to make living out of carrying for my land. And: the grass looks always greener on the other side of the river!