On the being independant part. That is near imposible for modern people .
I lived next to a guy that did it with his family. 10 acers, farm house, small barn coups etc. He made about $8-10 k year for
diesel, suger etc, and was 90% all his own food.
Major blocks are equpiment, enough good land, and Agriculture skills.
Considering the cheapness of factory farm food, in most cases it is more expensive to do it yourself, not counting your labor at all.
When I had chickens the feed alone cost more than just buying them at a store. I did it for the eggs and fun.
If you have min 10 acres , house, kubota sized tractor, (all no loans) and some cash to help the learning curve, then
you might make it. Otherwise forget it.
Living on a boat is a much better idea.
Yeah, there's a lot of sweat equity in self-sufficiency, but the trade-off can be worth it. And really, self-sufficiency is more about communities of scale than literally being completely independent. Locally networking and trading.
I've never even thought of self-sufficiency on a boat! Interesting... are you doing it?