[Hector is baffled. Why is this the conversation they are having?]

I got by. The fishing's not bad, and I kept a little garden for tea leaves. [He wasn't willing to devote more time to a larger garden, so he'd prioritized the substance that would help keep him awake so he could keep working longer.]

I'd go inland for supplies before the winter. I never starved.

[The answer he's skirting around is, 'It's a miracle I survived on my own, and your father was positively exasperated by it.']