That being said, I'm still curious: can you live without money

In a modern country? No. Land needs money for taxes, and no one person can make or produce everything they need. Even the Amish have jobs and sell goods.

Have you ever heard of people doing that?

People working resource extraction jobs (lumber, fishing, oil) who live cheap and bank everything they make, which is what I did, can come out of the experience with enough money to live for a year or three before the money runs out. This is very hard to do, but it can be done with character and discipline.

I have no idea about where one would sleep/rest and other such activities, though.

I lived on a boat, with the expectation that I was working 20 hour days when the product was being harvested. Logging camps for some people I knew in Alaska provided shelter, which amounted to glorified heated tents and not much else.

Indeed, I was hoping for something far more romantic than that.

I blame the movies and TV selling a fairey tale. The reality is so bad most people honestly can't understand nor handle the truth. At least you are asking questions and trying to understand.