Why do they think subsistence farming is 'backbreaking work for 16 hours per day, no weekends off'? Between all holidays, festivals, vacations, and plain idle time people in feudal England worked 200 days a year, 12 hours a day, and that's including ~60 days of work in the lord's land. Imagine being in control of your own production and having 5 months worth of holidays on top of that.

And hunting and gathering is even lazier, as long as imperialism doesn't exist and you have enough land to do it.